OR, Series 4, Vol. 1, Page 1022

Richmond, March 25, 1862
 
Hon. George W. Randolph
Secretary of War
 
Sir,
  As requested, I now make to you the following communication in writing: A connection between the Richmond & Danville Railroad and the railroads of North Carolina can be made at points exactly midway between Danville and Richmond and nearly midway between Raleigh and Weldon by completing the extension of the Roanoke Valley Railroad between Keysville and Clarksville, it is confidently believed, in less time and at less cost than can be done by any other means, while no other practicable means of connection will be at all as effectual or as useful for transportation. The greater part of the work on the extended railroad from Clarksville to Keysville has been already done. The whole distance is thirty miles. The grading and masonry on the line from Keysville southward have been completed for ten miles, and three miles and three quarters of the track at that end has been laid with iron and is now ready for use. The grading and masonry on two miles from Clarksville northward, including the abutments and piers of the bridge across the Roanoke River, built of substantial rock masonry, and the heavy embankments across the valley of the Roanoke, have also been completed. This leaves only eighteen miles of the whole line on which the grading and masonry are now to be finished. This part of the line has been cleared and grubbed out, and is stated to be the least difficult part of the work, requiring very few culverts, not perhaps more than two of any size, and the grading at no place heavy. The sills are procured and placed at convenient points along the line for the whole distance. If the iron required to complete the line was furnished and a sufficient force supplied, it is believed that an active and competent agent might complete the whole work so as to have it ready for use in thirty or at most in sixty days from the time it was fairly commenced. The cost of completing it would be principally that of the iron required, and it is understood that it may be had on reasonable terms. The Roanoke Valley Railroad -- which is in operation from Clarksville to Ridgeway, in North Carolina, on the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad -- and the Richmond and Danville Railroad Companies would furnish the rolling stock for the road as soon as it is completed and ready for use, or for any part of it southward from Keysville, whenever such part is completed and its use required by the Government. The Roanoke Valley Railroad Company, which has full powers for executing the work, will use those powers for the purpose, under the direction and control of the Government of the Confederate States, or of any department thereof, in any way which maybe required, so that no delay need occur for legislation or contract; and the company will be willing and are ready at once to execute to the Government its bonds for any sum expended in the completion of the work, which bonds have been already prepared and only require to be filled up and executed, and are secured by a mortgage on the whole railroad from Keysville to Ridgeway, a distance of fifty-two miles, and all the other works and property of the company, worth, it is believed, more than three times the amount of any such sum, after discharging the prior liens to which the property is subject. It is respectfully submitted that this is a work of great importance to the Government at this time especially, and that it ought to be undertaken and completed by the Government itself as speedily as possible; that it should not be left to the control of any other railroad company than the Roanoke Valley Railroad Company, and especially not to that of the Raleigh and Gaston Railroad Company, who propose to purchase it, and whose peculiar interests, at any event, would be to defer its completion as long as possible, or defeat it altogether.
With high respect and esteem, yours, etc.
Tho. T. Giles
 
P.S. -- Since the foregoing was written I have been informed that the station-houses along the extended railroad have been also completed. A communication was lately addressed to the President by Henry Wood, esq., president of the Roanoke Valley Railroad Company, on this subject, which was referred by the President to your predecessor, and by him referred to the Quartermaster-General. If that communication is called for and examined it will be found to set forth the facts herein communicated in a more authoritative and more particular manner than is herein done. It is understood that some steps are now being taken, or at least that it has been contemplated by the Department, to build boats to form a connection by means of the Staunton and Roanoke Rivers, or to construct a plank road for that purpose. It is confidently believed that neither of these schemes would be at all effectual, the navigation of the rivers being bad at all times, and for a considerable portion of the year nearly or quite impracticable, and a plank road destroyed in our climate by heavy transportation over it almost as speedily as it is built, while either scheme would probably cost more in time and money than the completion of the railroad, with no prospect even of any return of the money to the Government. In view of these considerations it is submitted that any such schemes, if about to be undertaken, should be at once abandoned and immediate steps taken to complete the railroad. This may be done by accepting the offer of the bonds of the Roanoke Valley Railroad Company; sending an officer at once to impress a sufficient number of hands for the work in the counties of Charlotte, Prince Edward, Lunenburg, Brunswick, and Halifax, where they can readily be obtained and will in many instances be cheerfully furnished; appointing an active and competent agent to superintend them, and by having the iron procured, as it is believed it may now be, in Norfolk and sent to the points required. I will furnish any other information or give any aid I can to the execution of the work.
T. T. G.

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