NP, TD 6/2A/1861

From the New Orleans True Delta
 
June 2, 1861
 
Completion of the Southern {(of Mississippi)} Railroad
   The Vicksburg Whig of the 30th say:
   It is with great satisfaction and pleasure that we announce this morning, on the direct authority of the president of the Southern railroad, that that important work is now completed in all its length. The bridge over the Chunkey river, a rapid and impetuous stream i the hills of Lauderdale county, about fifteen miles from Meridian, has been, after being washed away in its progress of construction several times by the severe and unprecedented freshets which have marked this spring, at length finished, under the direct supervision of R. C. Green, Esq., the chief engineer and general superintendent of the road, who for the last month has night and day given the work his personal superintendence, and has built a strong, and permanent structure that we learn can defy all the force of the stream.
   The completion of this great work, while it must redound to the prosperity of Vicksburg and of the whole state for all time, is especially important at this juncture of our nation affairs. As a military road, connecting the Mississippi river with the great thoroughfare, the Mobile & Ohio road, itself connecting the mouth of the Ohio and the Gulf of Mexico, it rises into paramount importance. It opens the way for trade and commerce and a social intercourse to the heart of Alabama. It affords direct communication by rail between New Orleans and Mobile, those twin cities of the gulf, between which intercourse by water will soon be, if not already, precluded. It unites the waters of the Tombigbee with those of the Ouachita in Louisiana. It is a lint to bring the capital of the republic and that of Texas almost within hailing distance of each other; and in every aspect its completion must be hailed as a new and most important era in the commercial, social and military interchanges of the south: It is and will ever remains, a proud monument to the intelligence, the enterprise and noble public spirit of those who have, amid many discouragements, persevered to the final completion.

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