| From the Wilmington Journal |
| |
| January 8, 1862 |
| |
| A New Line of Transportation from Richmond
to the Mississippi River |
| There is a direct line of
Railway from Vicksburg, Miss., via Jackson to Centreville on the
Mobile & Ohio Rail Road {the station must be
Meridian, Miss.}. From E. Citronelle {Citronelle
is far from the location under discussion} to Union Town {on
the Alabama & Mississippi Rivers RR}, in
Ala., a distance of forty-five miles, a considerable part of the
grading for a Rail Road has been done; but in consequence of the war
the work has been so much retarded as to amount, practically, to a
suspension; from Union Town there is a Rail Road to Selma; thence the
Alabama River to Montgomery; thence to Opeleika by Rail Road; thence
several lines to Augusta. Thus the completion of the Road from Union
Town to Citronelle gives an additional line to the valley of the
Mississippi. All the roads in the Atlantic States of the Confederacy
come together at Chattanooga; thence a single line to the grand
junction, Mobile & Ohio Road; thence the usual transportation to
Memphis. |
| For want of good
transportation good sugar sells in New Orleans at two cents a pound,
and molasses in the same proportion. If the Union Town and Citronelle
road was finished, the enhanced price of sugar to the planter would
more than pay for the work in a single year. The saving to the
consumer in the non-producing States by reason of a better supply
would more than pay for it in the same time, while the cheapened price
would extend the use of sugar and molasses to the many. The military
reasons are so obvious for the completion of the line that there is no
need to enumerate them. |
| From Augusta to Richmond there
is practically only a single route, inasmuch as both lines come
together at Weldon. If the Road {the extension
of the Roanoke Valley RR} from Clarksville to the Danville and
Richmond Road {the Richmond & Danville RR}, which is now under process of construction, was
completed, this would make a second route. If the Greensboro' and
Danville Connection was built {the Piedmont RR} then there would be two routes from
Greensboro'. N. C., to Richmond. |
| The completion of the Roads
from Union Town to Citronelle, and from Clarksville to the Richmond
& Danville Road would cost but little more, if any, than the
entire construction of the Greensboro' and Danville connection; the
former would give an additional line from the Mississippi River, and
the latter from Greensboro' to Richmond. |
| A North Carolina |
|