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his opinion is confirmed by the testimony of those who are acquainted with the topography of the State, from actual observation.

The Talladega Reporter, published in the mountain region of Alabama, and edited by Hon. M. H. Cruikshank, a gentleman of intelligence and thoroughly conversant with the history and resources of that portion of Alabama, has the following reference to the subject:

"It is perhaps not generally known that Wills' Creek, one of the tributaries of the Coosa River, has its source within a mile of the Tennessee River, and that the intervening space is comparatively level. Old settlers have all insisted that the waters of the Tennessee River might be brought through to the Coosa by way of Wills' Creek, at comparatively small cost. What a grand idea there is in that suggestion! Think of boats loading away up in East Tennessee, on the borders of Virginia or Western North Carolina, and coming down the Coosa, thence to the Alabama and on to Mobile! What a line of trade! How much undeveloped wealth would be brought to light? How many towns would be built up, and what teeming hives of industry would spring into life!" Colonel Gaw alludes to this "Alabama Water Line" in his report, as follows:

"In examining on the map the anomalous course of the Tennessee River, it is observed to approach very closely to the rivers of the Gulf slope.

"At Guntersville the distance between the Tennessee and Coosa rivers at Gadsden, is only 45 miles." (The distance by a straight line from Gunter's Landing to Gadsden is not more than 25 miles, though the navigable waters of the Coosa and Tennessee approach still more closely.)

"As the obstructions of the islands below Gadsden, on the Coosa, will be surmounted in time, it becomes an interesting question as to whether a water connection by canal can be made between the Tennessee and Coosa rivers at Guntersville and Gadsden, thus making a direct water communication from the Tennessee valley to the Gulf.

"The topography of this part of the country indicates the feasibility of this work, and from the records of the Gadsden and Guntersville Railway survey (32 miles in length) sufficient data might be obtained to determine the magnitude of the undertaking, but the commercial advantages that would attend the construction of this work are so great as to demand an examination of the country with this special view.

"Another locality inviting attention is that between Ashville, North Carolina, mentioned as the head of future slack-water navigation on the French, Broad, and Catawba rivers, in North Carolina, emptying into

the Atlantic Ocean. This distance is about 40 miles. No opinion can yet be advanced as to the practicability of this enterprise, but it is entitled to notice in this bird's-eye view of the Tennessee Valley.

"It is by such a broad and comprehensive view of the subject that obtained a proper estimate of the interests involved in the removal of the difficulties to navigation as Muscle Shoals.

"These interests are not confined to the Tennessee Valley, but may in time be made to affect the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, for the impetus which would be given to commerce and trade in the Tennessee Valley by this improvement, would demand the slack-water improvement of its tributaries pointed out, and then, in time, as the country became fully developed, would lead to the consummation of a direct connection by water of the Tennessee Valley and the waters of the Atlantic and Gulf."

The comprehensive view taken by Colonel Gaw in his report is commented upon approvingly, and expanded upon, by Commodore Mathew F. Maury, in a recent preliminary report upon a "Physical Survey of Virginia." The report is published from the "Office of Physical Survey," of the Lexington (Virginia) Military Institute.

Commodore Maury says:

"The physical geography and climates of Virginia admit of a route (between the Atlantic and the Mississippi Valley), which, better than any other, satisfies these requirements, and completely fulfills these conditions (cheapness in peace and safety in war).

"The former admit, and the latter call, for two great national routes, each consisting, one temporarily, the other permanently, perhaps, of a rail and a water line between the tide-water harbors of Virginia and the navigable tributaries of the Mississippi and Alabama rivers.

"Each of these routes is partly completed, one leading from tidewater to the Southwest, and which it is proposed now to extend down the Holston into the Tennessee, and down this stream to the Ohio River, with a branch at Gunter's Landing, through the Coosa Canal and the Alabama River to the Gulf of Mexico.

"The other route leads to the Northwest, and consists of the James River and Kanawha Canal as its water line, and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad as its iron way. The latter route has been fully described, the former has been merely alluded to.

"The Coosa and the Tennessee route call for the completion forthwith of improvements required to give uninterrupted steamboat naviga

tion from the Gulf of Mexico through the Alabama and the Coosa into the Tennessee, and thence into Virginia.

"A company has been incorporated for improving the navigation of the Coosa River, so as to open it for steamboats from Rome, in Georgia, via the Alabama River to Mobile. A canal has also been proposed, to pass steamboats from the Coosa over into the Tennessee at Gunter's Landing. These two rivers approach each other within 25 miles. I am not aware that any surveys have been made for a canal across this isthmus. But be its topography never so difficult, the work is a national necessity, and therefore sooner or later must be built. The practicability of all the other parts and links in these two routes, has been determined by actual examination and survey. A corps of United States engineers is, at the national expense, now improving the navigation of the Tennessee River for steamers of 750 tons, from its mouth to Chattanooga. The extension of these improvements thence to Saltville, in Virginia; the construction thence of a double-track freighting railway to the James River Canal at Lynchburg, are the improvements called for in this direction. They are required to furnish the majority of the people in the Gulf States with a cheaper and shorter route in peace than any they now have to the Atlantic seaboard, and with a safe one in war.

"These links being complete, they will form a composite line of railway, river and canal, of 874 miles between Hampton Roads and the great Southern bend of the Tennessee River at Gunter's Landing, in Alabama. The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, with connections extending to the Gulf of Mexico, to the Mississippi River, to the Cumberland and Ohio, lies along this route, and though but a single track, it is already competing with other routes for the transportation of cotton from points as far distant as Memphis and Selma, delivering it in Norfolk as cheaply as by existing routes it is carried to New York."

Commodore Maury continues: "There is at present natural navigability from Mobile up the Alabama River to Wetumpka, on the Coosa; here the ledge, which crops out to form the Muscle Shoals of the Tennessee, interrupts navigation and forms a portage of 180 miles; after which the river again becomes navigable, and steamers ply on it regularly thence to Rome, Georgia. A canal over from the Coosa to the Tennessee would open an inland communication between the Chesapeake Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, that would be of the utmost importance in war.

"It would be from Montgomery and Mobile almost as direct as an air-line, with only 176 miles of railway, and that a national double

track for the accommodation of trade in peace, the speedy transportation of supplies and munitions and troops in war.

"Rather than risk the dangers of the Florida Pass, shippers in Mobile now prefer 160 miles of rail from Cedar Keys to Fernaridina, in Florida, with a delay of several days and all the expense, loss and inconvenience involved in two transhipments-one from ship to rail-the other from rail to ship.

"Let us inquire what is the distance saved by this route across, instead of around, this peninsula. Only 336 miles of sea transportation; and for that, 160 miles by rail is substituted-e. g.:

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"From Mobile to New York is a sea voyage. Ordinarily the proportional expenses of 336 miles in such a voyage is covered by the cost for 40 miles of railway transportation.

"But these 336 miles lead through the Florida Pass; and rather than incur the risk of that dangerous navigation, four times the equivalent of railway transportation, with the delays and expenses of two transhipments, are preferred.

“As a great national work, both commercial, political and defensive in its aspects, this fact seems not to have made a lodgment in the public mind—viz: that if this great Southwestern route were completed on the scale and in the manner now suggested, there would meet at Gunter's Landing two inland and national water lines, as useful in peace as in war-one from the Gulf of Mexico, via the Alabama and Coosa rivers, through a steamboat canal of not over 30 miles long, to the Tennessee. The other, through all the western tributaries of the Mississippi, above and below the mouth of the Ohio, thence up the Tennessee to the junction of the Coosa Canal, and so up the Tennessee to the Holston at Saltville, and thence by rail and water through Virginia to Hampton Roads."

It does not lie within the province of a work confining itself tổ a description of the resources of Alabama, to enter upon an argument to prove the superiority of the "Alabama Water Line" over all others, for the transportation of Western products to the Gulf. But it may be proper to allude to the absolute necessity of opening up this route. When the necessity is once established, then it follows that its bearings, even before completion, upon the interests of the State whose entire

length, both ways, is traversed by the route, is a proper subject for consideration, in treating of the advantages offered by Alabama to settlers. With a cheap water-line cutting through every section of the State, from east to west, and from north to south; with tremendous water power down the Coosa and the canal for 200 miles; and with the cotton growing, and the minerals cropping out upon the banks of the streams, and at the very gates of the locks and dams, it follows that those who desire cheap lands, convenient homes, and opportunities for enterprise, have nothing to do but to unlock the door whose key is already forged. The necessity for the "Alabama Water Line" is, therefore, a matter for consideration in this connection.

NECESSITY FOR THE ALABAMA WATER LINE.

Want of transportation for Western products-Views of Sir Morton Peto-Opinion of the Census Superintendent-Difficulties of the Laks route-The Mississippi route-Mobile Bay-Tonnage of the West— Views of a Canadian-Demand for new routes to the Gulf, etc.

SIR MORTON PETO, in his interesting work on the Resources and Prospects of America, makes the following truthful observations:

"How far is the amount of tonnage employed in inland intercourse in America adequate to the wants of the country? In considering this point we have to regard the very great lengths over which traffic has to be carried; and looking at those distances, no reasonable doubt can be entertained that the inland navigation of America is very inadequate to the wants of the people. It has not, in fact, kept pace with the population and progress of the country; and if it were not for the railroads, the great producing districts of the United States would be at a stand-still for want of means of transport for their produce. There is a period of the year when the canals are frozen up. The whole task of conveyance then falls upon the railways; and the consequence is, not only an immediate rise in their rates, but absolute inability to conduct the traffic. The results are often most disastrous. In one case 40,000 barrels of flour were detained at Toledo (nearly half way between Chicago and. New York) for several months, in consequence of want of carriage. A vast mass of produce is yearly destroyed from the inability of the carriers to forward it. The owners are ruined, and parties in the Eastern States, who advance money on this produce, charge excessive rates to

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