Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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. 6.. Easley I Messen o.. frnt i ie i torch, the more it's shooh, it shines VOL. 1.] EASLEY, SOUTH CAROLINA, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1884. [NO. 17. TO MY LOVED ONE. Grieve not, darling, nor let alander Darkly teach thee to suspect This tender heirt could ever wound Thy tofodness with neglect. For all my love Is given to thee, And this once wretched life [s now devoted to the one Who soon will be my wife. Tlieni )i(l t.hy hleart be not alarmed, Nor let doubts disturb thy love, For beauty boasts no charm ibat could One thought from t he remove, A TRUNK LINE TO CHICAGO.' Ex-Governor Ilagood Gives a Htistory of the Carolina, Cumberland Glap and Chicago Railway and Tells How It Is to be Constructed. The Aiken papers publish this week an interesting interview with ex-Governor Hagood, president of the Carolina, Cumberland Gap aid Chicago Railway, in which he gives a brief history of the enter prise and explains its present con lition. In 1882 five duly ( hartered rail road corporations were consolida ted under the name of the present company, the object being to con sruct a line of road from Aiken, in this State, to London, Ky. The stockholders of the consolideled railway are the stockholders of the original companies. A majority of the stock is held in South Caro lina, has been nearly all paid up, and has been expended in surveys and constructions in this State. Of the 125 miles of the South Car olina division of the railway, 59 miles are graded. Gen. Ilagood says: At the time of the consolidation a contract was entered into with the Alantic and North western ' onstruction Comn pany of New Jersey for the build ing and equipment of the entire line from Aiken to London, Ky., the Construction Company to be p~aid in bonds of the railway com pany. But it was stipulatedl by the Construction Company that it shiould not be compelled to com mence work until a contract was made for the sale of the bonds of the railway company. It will be seen that the construction of the railway, either in whole or in part, upon the prior negotiation of the sale of its bonds, and that the pro ceeds of such sales were soley re lied upon for the further prosecu tion of the enterprise. A financial agent was therefore at once ap pointed and commissioned to un (lertake their negotiation. The large amount of preliminary work necessarily prevented his pitting his scheme upon the market until the spring of 1883. le has been in London since then engaged in his work. During all this time the market for railway securities has been greatly depressed, and so con tinues. The quotations of the stock market daily exhibit this, and it has beeni almost an impossibility to induce capital to embark in aiy new railway enterprise. The fi nancial agent, however, reports that lie has succeeded in attract ing to his scheme the attention of capitalist undoubtly able to float it, that they are most favorably im pressed and, in his judgenent, iW is only necesasry to await the re action in railway matters, wh iclh must surely come, to realize a suc cessful termination of his negotia tions. Such was the condition of affairs when the stockholders of the C. C. G. and C. Rlailway ( oinpa ny recently held their first annial meeting at Aiken. They realized the unavoidable diffleu lties that their financial agent had encount ered and while adhering to the policy previously adopted of rel3 - ing chiefly upon a sale ot their bonds for the further prosecution of the enterprise, they determined not to rely upon that solely. The'r determined to again put their own shoulders to the wheel, and by their owni efforts proceedl with the work while awaiting the negotiations in England. They argued that ad di tionalecontrib~ut ion of'their means, and that to the full extent of their ability, was the stronge~st addition al argument that could be presen ted to foreign capital to come their aidl. They determined to raise money enough to finish the grad1 ing and trestle anid crosstie the road from A iken to the mountains.. It would certainly 'at the proper time hasten the Lvorable conclusion of our present negotiatibns ; and if these as inaugurated should fail, we would have secured a better basis Ou which to renew thern else where. While to build the whole line from Aiken to London was beyond our means, it was thought that to do so much as has been ien tioned was within our power, and the result would be to put at least one-third of the line in a condition to be speedily ol)erated il)on a paying basis. A railway thus far advanced by private contril)utions and unencumbered by debt can never fail to bond itself for enough to complete its construction and equipment Accordingly it was re solved to proeure the necessary legislation to permit the company to go before the )(ol)le along the line and, laying the whole matter before them, invoke their aid. The execut'ive c miittee were directed to carry this resolution into effect. They have procured an Act of the Le-gisUlature permitting towns, township and counties interested in the road to subscribe by pol)ular vote to the capital stock of the railway, and the movement is in auigu rated in the election now a bout to be held in Aiken. A fter war'ds we will go to other towns3 and counties interested. Gen. Ilagood, in regard to the subscription the town of Aiken is asked to make, says: So much of the work has been done between Aiken and Edgefield Courthouse that Capt. Kirk, the engineer of the railway, estimates that $30,000 will grade, trestle and crosstie to latter point. If not another dollar was subsciribed, and her $30,000 was thus ex)ended, Aiken would thus get assurance of a direct com inunication with the Richmond and Danville system, where we cross their Charlotte, Columia and Au gusta roadI at TIrenton. Ilow much tiis would benefit the town in facilitating access to it by those who so largly patronize it as a san itarium, you can judge better than I. Passing on beyond Trenton and reaching Edgefield, if' you stop~ there you will open to your tr'ade a region of' country from which you are now as effectually dlebarr ed as if the C'htrlotte, Columbia anb Augusta Road, which crosses the path, were a Chinese wall. Bu-t we (10 not propose to stop with the Aiken subscription. We, as ] have already said, will go befor( the p eople aloug the line. of the whole South Carolina division, and we have the assurance of the lead ing men of every section we pass through-of men who knows the popular sentiment of their see tions-that the response Will be liberal. To make assurance doubly sure with regard to the eflcient appli cation of such money as Aiken may vote, Gen. Ilagood has fild with the intendant of the 'rown a paper binding the railway company not to use any part of the subscription made by Aken until ad(lditional sub scriptions to the amount at least of $100,000 have been made to capita stock of the railway company,work cannot be commenced on the road nitil the question of snbseribtion has been decided, which may not be until the approaching summer, but when the work does begin it will start at Aiken. The policy of the roa( is to do its work % ith free and not convict hibor.. In reply to a question as to what. will probaly be the value of stock in the road, Gen. Ilagood said If the whole road is com pleted connecting us wtth the trade centres of the Northwest, it will be shorter by about 170 miles thani any route to the Southern seaboard now existing. It will also be a road of easy grades, cheaply oper ated. This onght to insure it a )rofitable participation in the larga through freights from that region. The road will also run directly through the coal and mineral re gious of Kentucky and Tennessee, and receive a heavy freightage thence. It also runs through the valuable agricultural region tf the Frenich Broad country of North Carolina. Entering South Caroli na, it runs the manufacturing coun try at the foot of the nountains, and through the wealthy agricul tural counties of Anderson, Abbe ville and Edgefleld-the last of which by the late census, is credit ed with sending more cotton to market than any other county in .the State Such 1 roadl should certainly pay. We are hiowever', now making the ef.. fort to build the South Carolina division without having in sight, at this time, money enough to bnild the whole. We propose to-go at the constr'uction of the [CONTINUED ON 2ND PAGE.]