Page images
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER XVIII.

TRANSPORTATION-RAILROADS.

Of all the agencies which modern civilization has brought to bear upon the development of the natural advantages and resources of a country, railroads are by far the most powerful. By their rapid, safe, and cheap transfer of the products of the soil, manufactories and mines, they equalize prices, and put those who are remote from market, almost on the same footing with those in close proximity, thereby stimulating production, spreading population, stirring up enterprise, and by affording facilities for intercommunication, enlightening, civilizing and refining the great mass of population. That they bring in their train certain evils, is not to be denied, but the great good which they accomplish outweighs by far the accompanying evils. Before their invention, population gathered about the great river valleys, or on the shores of lakes or oceans; and inland situations were uninhabited except by wild beasts and savages. But for railroads, the greater portion of the interior of the American continent, must have remained a wilderness, untamed by civilization, and affording no outlet to the great human wave, which, for three centuries, was dammed up by the Alleghanies. Breaking over this, it flowed along navigable rivers until the iron road made the prairies navigable, and spread the current of human intelligence, refinement and civilization from the Atlantic shore to the sparkling waves of the Pacific.

EARLY RAILROAD PROJECTS IN THE STATE.

The progress of railroad construction in the United States, from the opening of the Granite Railroad at Quincy, Massachusetts, in 1827, to the commencement of 1874, is shown in the following statement:

[blocks in formation]

These roads were built at a cost of $3,326,413 09, or at an average cost of $48,740 per mile.

The history of railroad enterprises in the State of Tennessee is one of singular interest, exemplifying the immense impetus which can be given in a particular direction, by the persistent and long continued efforts of a few men.

The movement towards awakening public interest in that direction, occurred as early as the year 1835. Col. Robert Y. Hayne, of South Carolina, whose famous debate with Daniel Webster on the Foote resolutions gave him a world-wide reputation, visited Nashville in that year, and delivered an address in Vauxhall Garden, which, as it was in advocacy of the doctrine of nullification, was received with great disapprobation by the union-loving citizens of that city, the public sentiment of which had been moulded, and, in a great measure, directed by the hero of the Hermitage. During the same year Col. Hayne again visited the city, and advocated in a speech, powerful for its argument the construction of a railway from Memphis to Knoxville, and from the latter place to Charleston, South Carolina, so as to connect the sea board with the Mississippi River, the great inland route of navigation The plan failed, probably on account of the obnoxious character of it advocate, but the effort served to direct attention to railroad enter prises.

A second effort was made two years afterward in the Legislature, b William Armour, representative from Shelby, to unite the Mississip with the seaboard, by constructing a line from Memphis to Nashvill

thence to Knoxville, and on through to the Atlantic Ocean. He succeeded in enlisting many in its favor, but the great financial crash of that year rendered a successful movement in that direction impossible. Public enterprise was killed. Stagnation brooded over every class of business, and it was with difficulty that money enough could be collected to carry on the State government. Produce of all kinds fell in price to a point hitherto unknown. The price of cotton in the Nashville market was about seven cents per pound, and tobacco, when shipped to New Orleans, often brought the planter in debt.

Notwithstanding the financial embarrassments of the country, there were a few men who cherished the project of opening an outlet to the Atlantic by a line of railroads, and who were regarded by the great mass of people as visionaries. Among these may be mentioned Dr. James Overton, a man of far-reaching sagacity, undaunted resolution, and unquestionable genius. In a contest for legislative honors, he advocated the building of a railroad from Nashville to Chattanooga, to connect with the Western Atlantic. This was in 1843, and Chattanooga at that period was a mere shipping station, in a wild section hemmed in by rugged mountains, but lately abandoned by the Indians, and in every respect unpromising. But the keen foresight of Dr. Overton had pointed out Chattanooga as the grand focus to which must converge the lines of traffic from the southern states, and that by opening communication with that point, Nashville would command a large trade from the cotton-growing districts of Georgia and Alabama. But the people did not so regard it, and his scheme was looked upon as the delusive dream of a visionary fanatic. He was defeated, and was nicknamed "Old Chattanooga," a cognomen which he retained to the period of his death—in life, a name of ridicule, depreciation, mockery; in death, one of crowning honor, pointing out the wisdom, the sagacity, and the almost prophetic foresight of him who bore it.

Though the labors of Overton were fruitless in practical results, he sowed seeds that were soon to germinate and bring forth an abundant harvest. About the year 1845, the depression in business circles which had continued so long began to be relieved. The growing trade of Nashville made other outlets than the Cumberland River a necessity. Other portions of the State began to show signs of an awakened interest in the subject of railroads, doubtless stimulated in some degree by the action of Georgia, in chartering a road to run from Augusta to Chattanooga. The subject was brought before the Legislature, and, under the pressure of influential citizens of Nashville, it passed an act

on the 11th of December, 1845, to incorporate "a railroad from Nashville, on the Cumberland River, to Chattanooga, on the Tennessee River," and by the 17th section of that act authorized "any state, or citizen, corporation, or company, to subscribe for, and hold stock in said company, with all the rights ́and subject to all the liabilities of any of the stockholders."

The act was amended by the Legislature on the 9th of December, 1847, in which provision was made that the town of Nashville, through its Mayor and Aldermen, be authorized to subscribe $500,000, and was also further authorized to raise money on loan, by pledging the faith of the corporation, by pledging a portion of its taxes, by mortgage or otherwise, to an amount not exceeding what might be demanded for the calls upon the stock, and that the loan might be created for such a length of time, and payable in such manner as the Mayor and Aldermen might deem best. The Mayor and Aldermen were also authorized, should they deem such a course best, to issue the bonds of the corporation, provided the bonds so issued should be in sums not less than $500 each, and that they should not be at any greater rate of interest than six per cent. per annum, and should not be payable at a greater distance of time than thirty years.

These measures were resisted by the minority, and were characterized as iniquitous, visionary and unconstitutional. A bill was filed in chancery to enjoin the subscription to the road, or the issuing of bonds by the corporation. On appeal, it was taken to the Supreme Court, and finally decided at the December term, 1848, the opinion being delivered by Judge Turley. This opinion, able in its arguments and irresistible in its conclusions, decided that the Legislature of Tennessee had the constitutional power to authorize the corporation of Nashville to take stock in the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad; that the making of this road was a legitimate corporate purpose of the corporation, and that it was legally authorized to pay for its subscription to the stock of said road in either of the modes pointed out by the act of 1847.

It was about the time the charter was obtained that Vernon K. Stevenson, a merchant, unknown to fame, undertook to canvass the city and create a public sentiment in favor of the enterprise. He entered upon his work with a zeal and an energy that foreshadowed

He visited every house, the high and the low, the rich and the poor, not even neglecting the purlieus, where vice reigns rampant,

and secured the signatures of fully two-thirds of the population in favor of the subscription. Godfrey M. Fogg, who was one of his most earnest and efficient co-laborers, and who was acting at the time as chairman of the city finance committee, had the honor of first signing his name in assent of the proposition. For two years Mr. Stevenson canvassed this question, often repelled, but never discouraged; often perplexed, but never in despair; hopeful, constant, persistent, working in season and out of season, until he at last succeeded in accomplishing his purpose, that of moulding the public sentiment in favor of building the road. Acting under the authority of the Legislature, the city readily voted $500,000, to be expended in the construction of the road. This appropriation being secured, Mr. Stevenson, in the winter of 1847-8, visited Charleston, South Carolina, for the purpose of soliciting aid from that city. At first the opposition to his scheme was violent, and in advocating it, he even had to endure the irritation of ridicule, it being considered presumptuous in the people of Tennessee to ask for an appropriation from a state, not contiguous, in aid of an internal improvement from which they would derive no immediate benefit. Undaunted by the manifestations of opposition, he had the tact to secure a large attendance of the citizens in a public meeting, which meeting was continued for several evenings, and, though no orator, his plain, practical, luminous statements, enforced as they were with earnestness, directness and candor, wrought conviction in the minds of a majority of the citizens, and before leaving the city he obtained an appropriation of $500,000. The success which he had attained in the accomplishment of his cherished design, inspired him with renewed energy. Stopping at Augusta, he secured from the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company $250,000, and from the corporation of Murfreesboro $30,000, which enabled him, with the private subscriptions that were afterwards received, and the aid which the State rendered by endorsing the company's bonds, to enter upon the work of construction.

Nor must we omit to mention the great service rendered by James C. Jones, ex-Governor of the State. He canvassed many counties in aid of the enterprise and secured a large subscription. His popular oratory and fervid eloquence won many friends for the road, and awakened enthusiasm all along the route.

In the month of January, 1848, the company was organized, and Mr. Stevenson was elected president, and continued in that position until the breaking out of the civil war. His arduous and long-con

« PreviousContinue »