| From the New Orleans Times Picayune |
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| December 13, 1861 |
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| Railway Connection With Texas |
| We referred, some days ago, in
the course of an article, descriptive of a pleasant trip to Berwick's
Bay, by the Opelousas Railroad, to the fact that a considerable start
had been made to continue the road from the other side of the bay
westward. Since that we have had the pleasure of receiving and reading
the Annual Report of the President of the N. O., O. & G. W. R. R.
{New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Western RR}
Company to the Governor of the State. |
| It gives a favorable view of
the financial condition of the road, and concludes with some interesting
statements on the subject of the continuance of the work westward from
Bersick's Bay. Notwithstanding some discouragements in the sale of the
bonds for the payment of the floating debt, the Directors determined,
as, in their opinion, the work admitted of no delay, to contract for
crossing the bay, and for continuing the road through the parish of St.
Mary to New Iberia, in order that there should be no disappointment in
effecting a through communication with Texas, should he Texas & New
Orleans Railroad Company push forward their work to that place. The
Directors were assured that this would be done in a very short time. |
| It may not be generally
remembered by our readers that the line of this important road is fixed
by its charter to run from Algiers to Berwick's Bay, hence to New
Iberia, Vermillionville and Opelousas, and thence to the Sabine river.
"Late events," says President Hewes, in his report to the Governor, "the
interruption of our sea communication with Texas, and the difficulties
of the land route, have now made evident to all the vast importance of
the continuation and completion of the Opelousas Railroad, and it is
hoped that, in the present dearth of personal securities, heretofore
obtainable at high rates of interest, capitalists will now come forward
and invest in the bonds of this company, which are so well secured, and
the interest on which has been, and will continue to be, punctually
paid." |
| During the past year, the
grading of the road has been extended from the western side of Berwick's
Bay to New Iberia, and thence to Bayou Vermillion, a distance of more
than sixty miles. Contracts for rails, partially fulfilled, have been
interrupted by the war, and so the work is at present at a stand still.
For the future, the directors tell us their hopes and expectations are
that the State will, as authorized by the late convention, pay in bonds
the remainder of its subscription, as fast as the roadway is prepared
for the rails. It is very desirable, they truly say, that this work
should be done, so that, on the termination of hostilities, the iron may
be at once procured, and the road, in its whole extent, be put into
immediate operation for the immense business that is sure to follow its
completion to the Sabine. |
| The duty of the State of
Louisiana, of the city of New Orleans, and the merchants, planters and
land owners on the line of the Opelousas Railroad, to come forward and
devote all their energies to the early completion of this important
work, has come to be a patriotic duty. We are in the midst of a war that
is rapidly approaching our immediate boundaries. Our communications with
the contiguous State of Texas are virtually stopped; for the blockade
prevents that by sea, and we need not advert to the difficulties which
beet our land intercourse with that State. |
| Independently of the necessity
to New Orleans and Louisiana of a railway communication with Texans,
commercially considered, it is in a military point of view a very
stringent necessity. As Chief Engineer Bailey, in a note laid before the
convention during its session in this city, very forcibly said: "Without
such a connection, in case of war, Texas might as well be at the Rocky
Mountains, if troops have to march overland; and the rapid concentration
of troops at any point in the Confederate States is of the greatest
importance." |
| Since that remark was made by
the Engineer, events have illustrated its truth. We have seen with what
great privation and fatigue, though with most indomitable perseverance
and patriotic devotion, the gallant volunteers have come from the far
interior, may from the farthest verge of the Lone Star State, to join
the ranks of our brave defenders, in the camp and in the field. Had the
Opelousas road had its western terminus at the Sabine, how much of all
this privation and fatigue would have been saved. |
| If New Orleans is to be
maintained as the great centre of trade in the Southwest, the exporting
and importing depot of the Confederate States, and if trade and traffic
with Texas, so rapidly and wonderfully developing her large agricultural
resources, are worth securing and possessing, surely it is a duty not to
be neglected to secure the completion of this important railway
connection at the earliest possible moment. The city of New Orleans has
paid up her subscription in full, and, as sensibly adds Mr. Chief
Engineer Bailey, in his note to the convention, why should not the
State, in view of the immense importance of the work, do the same? |
| We hope the Legislature,
during its present session, will give such a response to this question
as shall have the benign effect of finishing, at an early day, the great
link which is to connect the Sabine with the Mississippi. |
| The accomplishment of this
work is not alone a State necessity. It is eminently a national duty to
secure it, and that forthwith. The Confederate Government should make it
an object of prime and paramount importance, for it concerns the nation
as well as the State that Texas should possess, an avenue over which to
transport the abundant stores of her agricultural products for the
supply of every part of the Confederacy. Our trade interrupted with that
great storehouse the West, we have as our boundary State, a full and
sufficient substitute, had we but the facilities we should have for
communication with her. The treasures she has to bestow, and which she
is reaching out to us so invitingly, if we will but go and take them,
are boundless, and are enough for all who need them. There is nothing
for which we have been heretofore almost slavishly indebted to the West
that Texas cannot supply us the staple products of the field, the
cereals, cattle, pork, and other provisions. |
| As a matter of national
necessity, then, it behooves our General Government to consider the
completion of this great work as one of the most important subjects that
can possibly be presented for their deliberation and action. |
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