Blue Ridge Railroad [pp. 728-729]

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BLUE RIDGE RAILROAD.
board, than all the Atlantic States combined, and hence we are less dependent on
railroads for home purposes than any other State; but in order to have rapid
and convenient intercourse with our sister States, and mutually benefit each by
building up our seaboard cities, and giving them access to our fine harbors for
'their produce and importations, we have thus in so short a time, with a very
small population, made giant strides in the line ofrailroads.-Pensacola Observer.
4.-BLUE RIDGE RAILROADs-SOUTH CAROLINA ENTERPRISE.
After a pleasant trip on the Greenville and Columbia Railroad, which owes its
origin, its progress, and completion, to Hon. Judge John Belton'O'Neall, so distinguished a gentleman in the judiciary and literature, in all that contributes to the
great morals of the country, in temperance, in constitutional order, in conservatism, and in all respects a man of work and character, I find myself again happily
among my friends in the beautiful city of Columbia.
I met Hon. Thomas C. Perrin, the president of the road, and Sup. E. F. Raworth, gentlemen whoahave conducted the work, after its completion, with so much
skill and success, and who are now looking forward to the great connection which
is in progress from Anderson C. H. to Knoxville, Tenn., fostered by the State of
South Carolina, and destined by its opening into the extensive region of the
Mississippi and Ohio rivers, to bring into the State of South Carolina the products of that great country, and thus realize the expectations of the great and
distinguished men who originated the Louisville, Cincinnati, and Charleston Rail road, which in times past elicited the interest and anxiety of the greatest men
of the country.
On the subject of this great Southern and National improvement there was a
convention held on the 6th day of July, 1856, at Knoxville, Tenn., numbering
380 delegates from nine States. "Never did any improvement combine so many
interests, or call forth such an array of talents in its behalf. The illustrious
Calhoun, one of the great triumvirate, whose talent for more than a quarter of a
century balanced and held in check the powers of the federal government, took
a conspicuous part in the public meetings and newspaper discussions, exhibiting
in this, as in all the subjects which he touched, his wonderful prescience and
sagacity, and with his characteristic zeal and ardor, actually doffed his senatorial
robes and took the field as a road man."
For this interesting reminiscence I am indebted to report of Hon. Walter
Gwynn, 1856, a graduate of West Point, who, while he was in the army, which was
ten years after he was graduated, was employed in the engineer department, and
has devoted thirty-five years of his life to the great subject of the internal im provements of his country, commencing with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
and running through all the great improvements of the South. This would
seem to indicate that Mr. Gwynn is an old man, but I could not discover any
gray hair or other evidence of age. Such is the result of a useful life, employed
in the'wholesome exercise of advancing the field, the great interest of the
country. I have read all the reports of the Hon. Judge Edward Frost and Hon.
Walter Gwynn with great interest, and would commend them to the commercial
men and patriots of the South.
From a recent report of the Hon. Walter Gwynn, I learn that about one half
of the Blue Ridge Railroad has been executed. He says:
"In South Carolina rather more than three fourths of the grading have been
done. Of the t-unnel excavation, over six tenths in cubic yards, and seven tenths
in lineal feet have been completed; and of the square drain masonry, three
fourths; and of the bridge masonry, two thirds are done, and one fourth of the
track laid.
"In Georgia upward of seven seventeenths of the grading, a fraction over
one seventh of the tunnel excavation, two thirds of the square drain masonry,
and two thirds of the bridge masonry, have been done.
The combined length of the road in South Carolina and Georgia is but one