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Report of the Chief Engineer. I have received the report of the Engl and that of the Superintendent of Road. These reports are brief, and we llow such portions of them as are in to an understanding of the actual can on and progress of the work. The basi of the Road exhibits very satisfactory te sts. The receipts for the year ending 30th ept., 1849, were: from [reights, $85,609.89; from passengers, $37,848.47; and from mails, $8,571—showing an increase over the previ ous year of $16,020 . —Savh. Rep. Chief Engineer's Office, W. A. R.R. t favidaes. October 13, 1849. To His Excellency, George W. Towns, Sir: I have been delayed a few days in wri ting out the Annual Report for the year end ing the 30th alt., that I might present a report from Mr. Benjamin C. Morse, Principal As sistant Engineer, giving a succinct account of the progress of the new extension of the road, from Daltono Chattanooga, of which he has had the immediate charge,and which is hererto appended, showing the manner in which the work has been executed, and the time when it will, probably, be completed. Mr. Morse’s Report furnishes all the necessary information as to the new extension, yet I cannot permit the occasion to pass without remarking, that it was early perceived, that if the Road was not fully completed by the first day of the present month, the time specified in the contract, the delay would arise from unforseen difficulties in the Tunnel, and the Bridging. And it will be seen from the length of the Tunnel, 1,477 feet, and the length of excavation at the East end, 830 feet, that the whole work of the Tun nel would have been completed in time, if the west end had been as favorable as the east end. Col. Allen Cochran, Mr. John D. Gray, Col. Walter L. Riddle and Mr. Allen Kenady and Col. Asa Bates, the contractors, have spared no pains or labor in pressing the work as rapidly as possible. At the Tunnel, they have worked all day and all night without in termission , for which purpose they have kept up a double force, at great expense. They have accomplished all that men could accom plish under the same circumstances. . The bridging, a very marked feature in this Road, after it was once fairly commenced, has pro gressed in a most satisfactory manner, under that very* a@@amplished and efficient bridge builder, Col. Asa Bates. Indeed, I have felt that our State was peculiarly fortunate in pro curing the services of such contractors, to fin ish much the most difficult part of her great work, from which ordinary men would shrink Winshed,and which they would abandon in despair. We may now regard the work as so far advanced as to be speedily completed. A few more weeks and we shall have a hole rough Littl Blue Ridge, which separates us the valley of the Mississippi, and by the next month a train of cars will be rut o Chattanooga. I adopted the policy of wishing the Road beyond the Tunnel, with a few of using it, at once, and before the com otion of the Tunnel, for the double purpose f turning the trade in this direction as early possible, and of completing the Road, with the time prescribed to us by the State of ennessee, which fixed the time for reaching Chattanooga on the first day of January 1850. ‘The iron rails were received in good time, and this ‘s believed to be the first instance, in which our Railroads at the South have not been delayed by the want of punctuality in the iron-mongers. Our rails are purchased of the Coalbrook Dale Company, of Great Britain, and shipped direct to the port of Sa vannah, where every facility was cheerfully af forded for pushing them forward. General good health has prevailed along our entire line, from Atlanta to Chattanooga. In the spring, the smallpox broke out at the Iron Works, and at Cartersville, in Cass county.— There were also a few cases at Atlanta, but not a single case occurred among our Railroad peo ple. Such was the panic, however, in the public mind, that travel and business nearly ceased for a time. Upon the first alarm, I had all the Railroad people vaccinated, and the matter proving worthless, the vaccination was repeated, and proved effectual. None of our officers or deserted his post—all stood firm, and on their duty with their usu zeal. Dution of the last General As sembly, it was made my duty to ascertain from the manuscript record of the Act of the State of Tennessee, granting to this State the right of all, whether or not the said manuscript Act th not to the State of Georgia five 3 of law ra depot at the teminus of Road. To gave this resolution my attention after the adjournment. I understand a State of Tennessee granted to Georgia all the rights and privileges conferred upon the Hiwassee Railroad Company in her first Act, es through the efficient agency of Gen. aniel Newman and in her last act she granted to Georgia all the rights and privileges con ferred upon the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company. There has been no spe cific grant of five acres for a depot at the ter minus. ‘The charter to the Hiwassee Compa ny, restricted that Company to five acres at any one point, and hence L apprehend, has a risen the idea of a grant of five acres—it was a restriction rather than a privilege. This re striction does not exist in the charter of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Compa ny, hence I have been enabled to procure ap of land of about eleven acres adjoin ing the town, which together with railroad a venue generously given us by the corporation of Chattanooga with an exclusive right to the same, and the six acres purchased by the Nash ville and Chattanooga Railroad Company, ma king in all twenty acres of land, will be suffi cient for all the purposes of both Roads. ‘The privileges necessary for us on the River have not yet been fully settled. It is a matter of importance that every facility of transferring produce from the boats to the cars, and mer chandize from the cars to the boats should be insisted upon, and that this transfer should be made without expense to the shipper. The disposition manifested in more quarters than one, to levy black mail upon the business and commerce of the country, should be resisted by all wise and proper means not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the land. My account current for new extension, here to annexed as exhibit A., shows the receipts and disbursements for the completion of the Road to Chattanooga. The contract for embanking Noondy and Proctor was abandoned, and the contractor left the country,which rendered it necessary to re set the work. This produced considerable de lay, but the fills at these places are now pro gressing rapidly and will be completed at an early day In view of the policy indicated in my last Annual Report, I have put under con tract the rebuilding of the Chattahoochee Bridge which is 1,772 feet long, by making a new bridge on stone piers of the best masonry only 600 feet long and embanking the balance. To accom plish this in the best manner, and at the least expense, it became necessary to change the line, which is itself also a decided improvement in the atinement of the road, as it avoids one of the worst curves our trains has to encounter. These improvements have been paid for out of the net earnings of the road. During the past year most of the Nashville and Chattanooga railway has been put under contract, and it is understood to be progressing in a satisfactory manner. The Memphis Branch Railroad has been com
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Augusta Daily Chronicle and Sentinel
Augusta, Georgia, US
Wed, Nov 21, 1849
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Brad W.
USA 03 Jul 2026
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