| From the New Orleans Daily Crescent |
| |
| March 12, 1861 |
| |
| The New Orleans, Opelousas & Great
Western Railroad |
| A copy of the "Ninth
Annual Report of the President and Directors of the New Orleans,
Opelousas & Great Western Railroad Company" has been laid on
our table. From the report of the President, Mr. Hewes, we learn that
the expense of operating the road for the past year was $258,272.
Deducting the cost of ferriage, it was $212,592, which is about forty
per cent. of the gross earnings. This, we believe, is somewhat less
than the usual average of expenses, and shows that proper economy has
been used by the officials of the Company. |
| The road is finished to
Berwick's Bay, a distance of eighty miles. From there to New Iberia,
forty-five miles, the grading will be finished, and the road ready for
the superstructure, in about two months. Between New Iberia and
Opelousas, forty miles, nearly twenty miles of graduation have been
completed. Beyond Opelousas it does not appear that any work has been
done. The Chief Engineer, Col. Bayley, says that by the 1st of April
there will be sixty-one miles of roadway ready for track laying, and
seventy-five miles by the 1st of July. |
| The floating debt of the
company is three hundred and forty thousand dollars, being a reduction
of fourteen thousand dollars from the floating debt of last year. The
gross earnings of the road for the year were $481,921 -- about six
thousand dollars to the mile. There are over six hundred thousand
acres of land belonging to the company. The President says that the
sales of these lands will probably nett an amount equal to the whole
paid-up capital of the company. The policy of the Board of Directors,
while anxious to complete the road as speedily as possible, has been
to keep from increasing the floating debt, but to go on steadily as
the resources of the company in bonds and lands are realized. The
President thinks that these resources are sufficient to build and
equip the whole road to the Texas line, a distance of two hundred and
fifty-eight miles. |
| When this is done the
stockholders will have a road worth six millions of dollars, which
will have cost only three and a half millions. |
| The Report of Vice-President
Seger shows the road from Algiers to Berwick's Bay to be in good
condition. The company is provided with a plenty of engines and
passenger cars for its present business. Instead of building a bridge
at Berwick's Bay, arrangements have been made for the construction of
a boat which will cross fifteen loaded freight cars at a time. |
| These are the principle items
of interest in the different Reports. When the road is finished to
Opelousas, it will be of great service and benefit, not only to the
people of that rich and productive region but to the commerce of this
city. Its full value, however, will never be realized until it is
finished clear through to the Texas line. A road from Houston, Texas,
running Eastward to the Louisiana line, is almost completed, and it is
intended that our road shall meet the Texan one on the opposite banks
of the Sabine river. Then, New Orleans will have a continuous railway
connection with Houston Texas, at which point other railroads radiate
in different directions, penetrating the best portions of the State.
It is needless to say what advantage it will be to this city to have a
railway communication with so productive a State as Texas, and one
with so promising a future before her; and we therefore trust the work
on our Great Western road will be pushed forward as rapidly as the
circumstances of the case will admit. |
|