ants," because the superior advantages of its location, that Legislature resolved, rendered it too valuable for any one man to own; which 4,000 acres the Legislature of Kentucky afterwards appointed the Hon. Jos. R. Underwood, our present Senator in Congress, and two others, Commissioners, to lay off into town lots of suitable sizes, with streets, alleys, &c., all of which has been done. As a site for a great commercial city, Columbus possesses unequalled natural advantages. Those 4,000 acres are elevated from four feet to one hundred and fifty feet above the highest floods.— Within the town boundary there are numerous bold running springs. The interior is a high, undulating and healthy country. Except the strip of bottom immediately upon the bank, Columbus is surrounded by a body of land from 20 to 25 miles in width, fronting upon the Mississippi River and extending from the mouth of the Ohio down about forty miles on the Kentucky side, which, in point of health, fertility of soil, good water, beauty of scenery and every local advantage and convenience, is inferior to no land in the world. Nor could the local situation of those 4,000 acres be improved, bettered, or in any respect rendered more convenient or advantageous as a site for a large city, even if the most experienced and scientific engineers had power to call into existence a site or foundation shaped as they might desire it. Columbus is the only point on the Mississippi River where the banks on either side never fall in, nor form sand bars, by the washing of the river. Owing to the peculiarities of the banks, the course of the river, and attendant circumstances, those banks, never have been and never will be washed off or added to. The Hon. Mr. Breese, in a report to the United States Senate, remarks in reference to the mouth of the Ohio, that there "terminate the valleys of the Tennessee and the Cumberland, which come down from the South as if to meet their kindred streams from the North-of the Ohio from the East, which throws its branches to the Alleghany Mountains, on the one side, and almost to the borders of the Lakes on the other of the Upper Mississippi which descends almost from the Frozen Sea of the North, and of the Missouri with numerous branches stretching to the Rocky Mountains in the West." * * * * The concentration at Columbus of the vast waters of 20,000 miles of navigable rivers-of the railways from Charleston, Savannah, and Mobile, and those from the commodious port of San Francisco, and from St. Louis, Chicago and Louisville-also, those regular lines of smaller steamboats, from Columbus to all the important points above, upon the Ohio and Mississippi, will thus form a direct communication between the whole interior of the Mississippi valley and this "central point." Those railways will open a direct avenue for western produce to the interior of the whole south, and those supplies will be conveyed from Columbus as far east as Charleston and Savannah, in preference to being shipped by the river to N. Orleans, and thence ARY around by sea to those ports, with all the additional charges for freights, commissions, &c., &c. All the bagging and rope, flour, pork, and other articles of western produce for the interior of the south, will pass on these roadsfor by the road you are at the markets for consumption in.the interio; whereas, when shipped down the river to New Orleans and other places, it would have to be again re-shipped by their commis sion merchants to the planters of the interior. Thus, the consumers and merchants of the interior will make their purchases of Western supplies at Columbus, and the produce of the Southern States, for Western consumption; (also, the merchandise purchased in the Southern cities, and that purchased in the Eastern cities, and shipped by way of Southern seaports) will be forwarded, by rail road, to Columbus, there to be sold, exchanged for Western productions, or forwarded still farther West. Again, the interest of the planters of the whole tobacco growing region of the West, will induce them to select Columbus as the point at which all the tobacco of the Mississippi valley shall be exposed to sale, and by bringing the foreign and domestic dealers in tobacco to make their purchases at this point, would save to the planter the innumerable charges and taxes in the shape of freights, drayage, cooperage, sampling, inspection, &c. Columbus is, geographically, in the centre of the United States, and is at the centre of the commerce and navigation of the whole West and South. It is at the upper end of the lower country and the lower end of the upper country-for it will be the point for transshipment of freights and passengers between the larger and smaller classes of boats, and to and from the rail roads and boats. The aggregate of all these varied transactions will make this the largest and most important commercial city of the West. Columbus being the nearest point of the Mississippi River to Louisville and Nashville, and the only site upon that river in Kentucky suitable for a city, is therefore, the only place on the river at which Kentucky would terminate a rail road. A short distance above, though nearly opposite to Columbus, is an eligible and beautiful site for a city on the Missouri side. It is above overflow, and possesses more local advantages than any other point on that side within sixty miles of it. Those railways "will multiply and furnish innumerable markets with produce and merchandise now limited to one. They will enlarge the circle of trade, by giving greater speed, certainty and security to the traveller and the trader, and will bring into closer communion the social, political, and commercial relations of communities of common origin, common institutions, and common sympathies." I am, dear sir, with high respect and high regard, (Letter. From Messrs. Gaines and McRae, &c.) MOBILE, Dec. 14th, 1848. Sir: As Mobile has assumed to construct the road to the Kemper county. fine, and no stimulus should be withheld to induce her people to the most efficient action, we present you with a copy of a letter, (marked I,) from Col. Watts, one of the State Commissoners of the Southern Rail Road, leading from Jackson, Miss., to the Alabama line, in the direction of Montgomery, showing the progress which is making in that work, now carried on by the State. We also present you with a table of Statistics, taken from the census of 1840, (marked II,) showing the resources of the counties in Mississippi, with which Mobile would connect herself, by the junction of the Mobile and Ohio Rail Road with the Southern Rail Road. These roads will intersect each other about equi-distant from Jackson and Mobile; one hundred and twenty miles from either place. By the junction of these roads, Mobile will connect herself with the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, in fifteen hours, and with Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, in twelve hours-and at the same time with the heart of the richest interior cotton growing region of the western part of the State. Some of the counties embraced in this table, are already tributary to Mobile, but allowing for the increased resources of these counties since 1840, the table shows about correctly, the increased trade with which Mobile will connect herself. When the Southern Rail Road is extended, if Mobile does not connect with it, she will lose the trade which she now receives from Southeastern Mississippi, and a part from the richest portion of Southwestern Alabama. A merchant from Jackson cannot now go to New Orleans and return, spending one day in the city, under six days. By the rail road he could come to Mobile and return, spending a business day here, in thirty-six hours. In fact, he could reach New Orleans by this route quicker than by the Mississippi, and at about the same cost. The great importance to Mobile of a connection with the Mississippi River at Vicksburg, and with the capital of Mississippi, in such short time, will be better perceived by yourself, than it can be portrayed by us. With our best wishes for the success of the great enterprise in which you are embarked, and over which you have the honor to preside. Very respectfully, your ob't serv'ts, GEO. S. GAINES, SIDNEY SMITH, Esq., President M. & O. R. R. C. Col. John J. McRae, (I.) JACKSON, Mississippi, Nov. 13th 1848. DEAR SIR:-A meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Southern Rail Road Company, was held on the 11th inst., (Nov. '48,) I have the pleasure to communicate to you information, which I know will be interesting to you. The work on the road is progressing rapidly. We have about one hundred and fifty hands employed, including those purchased by the State, and the contractors for the timbers. The bridge across Pearl River was completed last week, and has been examined and received by our board. In a few days we will have the iron laid down two or three miles. Major Weir, one of the Board of Commissioners, returned from Philadelphia, a few days since. At that place he entered into contract for fifteen miles of iron, to be shipped to New Orleans immediately. The grading of the road will be completed fourteen miles in sixty or ninety days, and I think we will have the road entirely completed that distance by the first of March. The survey of the road has been completed about forty miles, and will be continued next summer to the Alabama line. The friends of the road are sanguine in completing it in a few years to the Alabama line. Yours, truly, JAS. E. WATTS. |