Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

'l' ■ , JAIIE.-* A- WRIGHT, Editor. PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY MOHNING f ' t 4&• <' ■ MV SAMUEL S- JACK. ft " nr ■ Terms. • Three Dollars per annum,io six months or four Dol lars at the expiration of tho year Subscribers living out of the Slate, will be expected in all cases to pay in advance. No subscription received for less than one year, rnless the money is paid in advance ; unci no paper will be discontinued until all atrearg.'s are paid, ex re.pt at the option of the Publisher. Perspns request ing a (jiscon'iiiuattco of their Papers, are requested to bear in mind a settlement ot llteir accounts. Advertisements will be inserted nt the n«ual rates; when the itumbor of insertions is not specified, they >• will be e utinued until ordered out. * ILT At.n Letters to the Editor or Publisher, on mutters connected with the establishment, must be I’c.st Paid in order to secure attention. 117?* Notice of the sale of Laud and Negroes, by , Administrators, Executors or Guardians, must be pub , ■ifahed sixty days previous to the day ol rale. O’ The bale of Personal Property, tn like manner, must be published forty days previous to the day of tale. SIT Notice to Debtors and Creditors of an Estate, i lust be published forty days. O’ Notice that Application will bo made to the Court oi Ordinary for Leave to sell Land and Negtoes, must be published four months. »• d'j" Notice that Application will be made f r Lei ters of Adrjtin'st ration, niti-t G published thirty ifetY* ♦Hid Letters of Dismission, six months. tfF For A I vert i sin a —Letters of Citation, At 2 7:> Notice to Debtors ami Creditors, ' ll) days,) -I -•> Four Month Notice*, 4 G<) Sales of Personal Property by Executors* Adminis frators or Guardiens, •’ 2<> Sales of Land or Negroes by do. 4 '<■> Application for Letters ol Dismission. _ 4 50' Oilier Advertisements will be charge! 7 > <•> nts | fir every thirteen lines of email type, (or st <«pn. j vilrnt,) first insertion, ami 50 cents I >r < m.h v, < i kly ' ♦ 4ntintJt»nee. If published every other w< < It. G2A cis. . !.«r ench commit met’. If publish'd once a tn mill n will Lu charged each time ns a new advertisement. For a Single insertion one Dollar per rq mro. iiMwamt mxrwmi rr.nwwfi-rr 1 13 T ILIt» A3. S 511»It <> Vi'sl 21 XT. AR9RIW OF I>. Cl. KHGIIVU. < bid FMSiacer to the Wetumpka and Coosa Itnil Rond Company, to tins Ccsfislatice oT AlaTraitia. Gentlemen. —sin pursuance olThcj request ol the President and Dircc- ' tors of the Wetumpka and Coosa; Rail Road Company, I proceeded.! in the month of August last, to make ; an examination ou the Coosa riser between Fort Williams am! the 'fen ; ». Islands, with a view of as’sertaining ! f the extent and character ol the ob structions: as, between these points, the main difficulties are found to ex ist, to its navigation, from Fort W ill iams to Ronje in the State of Geor gia. The object of this exaffiihn-' tion was, to ascertain of the Coosa | river could be rendered an auxiliary : channel of communication to the; Wetumpka and Coosa Railroad; a | work designed by its friends and . projectors t> constitute an easy and 1 adequate channel of communication for the productions of North Eastern Alabama, North W estern Georgia, and Eastern Tennessee, with the! navigable waters of the Gulf of Mex ico. It has resulted in demonstra-j ting the entire practicability » f ac complishing the object in view, at an expense greatly disproportioned to the true magnitude of the undertak ing, and the numerous and perma nent advantages which would be derived from its accomplishment. | I have been requested to commu nicate to your Honorable bodies, a detailed statement of the character oft' is river, and a description of the obstructions it presents to a penna-; nent steam boat navigation between the points above designated, under the hope, that your Honorable bo-; dies will make an appropriation, at vour present session, to cilect the object contemplated. lief re proceeding further, how o.ver, 1 wou.d remark, that 1 should regard any attempt to render the river permanently navigable from Fort williams down to Wetumpka, ns attended with a heavy expendi ture ot money, and productive of Comparatively small benefits; except, perhaps as relating to the limited ; facilities of a downward transporta tion. In this opinion, I am not only sus tained by my own observations, made during the past summer, but ! by the report of a survey from Fort Williams to Wetumpka, made in 1831, by William .Nichols, Esq., who, in a detailed statement ol the I character cf the obstructions, in this ; part of the river, and the plan, and i kind of improvements necessary to * overcome them, estimates the cost lof improving it, at 415,280. The ! distance from Fort Williams to We jtumpka is about forty-five miles by I water, and the descent is 247 feet. With few excepiions, the river is al most a continual shoal; its current is very rapid—and the obstructions generally of a formidable character. Under these considerations and circumstances, then, the most advis able policy would secuUo suggest the abandonment of all plans and propositions to improve the river be tween these points, under the ex pectation of opening a permanent channe l of communication adapted to the wants of the country both a bove and below: and substitute, in its stead, a substantial and well constructed Railroad. From Fort Williams to the head of tiie Ten Is lands, a distance of one hundred ( miles, there are only two very con-I siderable shoals. These are the' Ten Island shoals, and Clan-he's; shoals—from which to Rome, in the ; State of Georgia, no obstruction in , the navigation exists, except an in considerable shoal near the mouth of Canoe creek, in St. Clair county. 'The Ten Island shoal present the greatest difficulty: although they are by no means formidable. The ob-1 strUclions at these islands are pre-; seated at several intervals, for adis-! tance of four mile’*': and are formed . by the passage of the river through i the mountains-, which present the appearance of having been rent a sunderat some former period, to af ford a passage lor its waters. They however, from their nature and cha racter of their formation may be easily renyoved, consisting, as they do, of alternate schutes and eddies. The several schutcs w ich occur in I this distance arc foimed by the de positc of irregular masses and frag ments of rock, (most of which are ! of a small size,) and the sand and J gravel, which, for years past, have | accumulated against them. The river, here has a strong current, and j the removal of the rock would admit of its more direct action upon the; sand-bars, which, by its constant, operation, would be soon washed a way into the deep eddies below.— ' Clatiche's shoals are the next most considerable. These are formed J by the passage of two straits, or, ledges, ofrock across the bed of the river, each of about one hundred yards in width, and at the distance jof about a mile from each other.— j Upon these ledges, or strata, are! protuberant or excrescent masses which rise near to, and above, the surface of the w ater, at a low stage. These protubcrancics are the prin cipal obstructions to the passage of ibdats. They may be easily remov ed by the process of blasting: and as many of them are in a depth of water, or from five to ten feet, at a low stage, little labor will be requir t'd upon the main strata to open a channel. Besides these two shoals, these are some five or six other ob-; structions of inconsiderable impor tance. They are to be found at the different Islands, and consist, chief- Wi s d o es 3, J m s 1 £c e, and od crat j o in., ROME, FKOYD COUNTV, GIIOIWiA, JANUARY 10, 1 ly, on loose rock and sand bars. At the three Islands, where, from the expansive width of the river, a dam will probably be required, for the purpose of directing the passage of the current between the cast bank of the river, and the nearest Island of the three, which lie nearly a breast across the stream. The oth er shoals w ill require but little labor to effect tiieir removal; inasmuch as they are mostly sand bars, and pre sent scarcely greater obstacles than many of the sand bars in the Ala bama river, during the summer months. The river is generally from three to four hundred yards wide; and with the exception of the shoals, has a great depth of water. Its cur rent is remarkably sluggish, having a descent omy 125 feet from the head of the ten Islands to Fort Will iams, a distance, as before stated, of 100 miles by the course of the river. Os the probable cost of removing the obstructions above enumerated, any opinion that may be expressed must be regarded as measurably conjectural. The character of the i obstructions is such, that it is diffi cult to estimate the amount of labor that would be required to effect their removal. I am, however, of the j opinion, that the sum of fifty thous and dollars would be amply suffi cient to remove all obstructions in the river from Fort Williams to Rome, in the State of Georgia, a distance of 250 miles by the course: of the river, so as to afford a perma-l nent steamboat navigation for ves- ’ seis drawing four feet water. This opinion is predicated upon an actu al examination of the principal i shoals, and from a comparison of, the difficulties they present with o thersofa similar character. The labor that will be necessary to re move them, may be advantageously 1 ; applied; as much so, at least, as la bor could be applied where the op erations arc under water. During:- the summer and fall months of the year, the river is remarkably clear and transparent; and as the opera tions will consist chiefly of blasting,! they may be conducted with almost the same facility as if out of w ater. | From these remarks, it will be perceived, that the Coosa river, as far down as Fort Williams, may cast- i ly, and at an expense quite inconsid-! erable, compared with the advanta ges its disbursements would confer, be converted into a subsiding chan nel of communication to the We tumpka and Coosa Rail Road, there by affording immense advantages and facilities to a very large and fertile extent of country now occu pying a most isolated position, as regards a market for its productions., This road was chartered in the ses sion of 1835, —36, and was origin ally designated to connect Wetump-I ka with the Coosa river above the ten Islands. At the last session of the Legislature an amendment to the charter was obtained giving the company the right to cross the river at any point between the ten Islands and Wetumpka, and to extend their road through the counties of Talla.- 1 dega and Benton to the line between the States of Georgia and Alabama. In the early part of last Spring, the first five miles of the road were lo cated; and prepared for contract, — and since August last the graduation upon this division has been steadily and earnestly progressing. During the past summer, experimental sur- I veys i ave been prosecuted to the [town of Talladega, where, owing to the advance of the season, and the necessity of employing the Corps of Assistant Engineers upon the lower part of the line, they have been sus pended for .the present year. The character of the route surveyed has been found highly favorable. I n the distance of forty-four miles,; bj r the line of survey, the route cross-, es the Coosa river, where it enters the valley region of country, and in the distance of twelve miles further, may communicate with the river near Fort Williams, which is situa ted above the principal and most difficult shoals. The estimated cost of constructing the road this dis tance, (56 miles) in round numbers, may be stated at Four hundred and fifty thousand dollars. With the construction o this road and the removal of the obstructions in the river before described, a cer tain and permanent channel fcom munication would be opened to Rome, in the State of Georgia, a distance of upwards of three hun dred miles from Wetumpka. Em braced with the range in the Coosa and its tributaries, comprising the counties of Talladega, Benton, Che rokee, parts of Randolph, Blount, St. Clair, Coosa, Shelby, ami Au tauga, in Alabama, and the counties of Walker, Murray, Cherokee, Cass. Floyd and P auldmg, i/t Georgia, is the estimated number of fourteen thousand five hundred square miles,! or nine millions two hundred and j eighty thousand acres, the produc- j tioris of w hich w ould all How through I this channel to market. 7’his ter-1 ritory of country is not surpassed in fertility of soil by the same extent of country in any quarter of the Union.' It consists of numerous broad and fertile valleys, well watered by bold streams, many of which might be navigated with flat boats almost to the base of the mountains:—thus ex tending tho advantages of water transportation throughout its whole extent: provided an outlet should be made for its productions after de scending to the main obstructions in the Coosa. This outlet is pro posed to bo made by the construction of the Wetumpka ami Coosa Rail road to Fort Williams, and the re moval of the obstructions to the nav- < igation of the river from this point to the head of the ten Islands. As a channel of communication designed to connect East 7’ennessec with the navigable waters of the Gulf of .Mex ico, it presents more important con-j siderations than any other work i now projected, or that may be here after projected in the State. From Rome, in Georgia, which is situated at the junction of the Hightower and Oostonnaulec, the latter river is said to be navigable as high up as Echo tag distance of about sixty miles above Rome. From this point to M'Nair’s, the contemplated termin ation of the Highwassee Rail road, forty-one and one fourth miles of which arc now under contract, and w hich is destined to be a bran h of the Cincinnatti, Louisville & Charle ston Rail road, diverging from Knox ville in the direction of Wetumpka, the distance cannot exceed forty miles. Surveys over a portion of this route have been made, ami the results as detailed in the reports ap pear highly favorable. The charac ter of country that exists here is ve ry similar to the valleys of our own state, as Jones’valley, the Caliawba valley, the Coosa and 7alladega val leys, all of which bear a close resem blance to each other in their topo-| graphical formation, /o connect,, then, Echota w ith the Hiwassee Rail road, would not only be found high- Vol. NO L ly practicable but might be effected ! at a small expense, probably not to j exceed the sum of two hundred thou sand dollars. An estimate now be fore me, of the cost of a Rail road I over eleven and three fourths miles jof the route here proposed, states i the .cost over this distance at $50,- ; 939,25 cts. 'The subject of acon 'ncxion of East Tennessee with the navagablc waters of the Gulf of Mex ico, is one of great interest to that section of the country. 7’here are twenty-six counties in East 7 ennes sec, the productions of which to a very considerable extent would pass through this channel in pursed of a market, llicir natural mark -t is South Alabama:—because their pro ductions arc of the character and kind consumed by the planting in terest of our own State, and are now procured through the channel of the Mississippi from the New Orleans and Mobile markets. Aware that this is the case, the citizens of East Tennessee have boldly stepped for ward, and earnestly engaged in tho construction of the Hiwassee Rail road, extending from Knoxvide in the direction before stated, under the expectation of uniting w ith oth er works forming a connexion with the navigable waters of the Gulf of Mexico, thereby affording mutual advantages to each section of coun try. A communication from the Pres ident of the Hiwassee Kail road company, Gen. Jacobs, addressed to the Wetumpka and Coosa Rai'road Company, proposing a connexion of the two roads, was received during the last spring, to which a reply was immediately returned accepting the' proposition, —I quote an extract from Gen. Jacobs’ quarterly report, to show die estimation in which the company over which he presides, view this road as opening to (hem a direct communication with South Alabama, He says: ‘Tiesirous to learn the disposition of the Wetump ka and Coosa Railroad Company in relation to an extension of their im provement so as to form a effhnex ion with the Hiwassee Rail road by order of the Board, I addressed a letter to that company, to which an answer has been received from Mr. Alwin A. M’Whorter, President of that Company; from which it is evi dent they look forward to this union with that interest which cannot fail to accomplish this desirable result. That such Railroad connexion will be greatly conducive to the interests ofbofh Alabama & Tennessee none can doubt; and that it will be effected, is equally certain. We may, there fore, look forward to the time as not far distant when the market of the whole South will be full and fair be fore us, presenting its rich rewards to the industry and enterprize of East Tennessee.” Bith these re marks I submit the subject to tho consideration ofyour Honorable bo dies, observing, .in connections that nature lias designed the union of the waters of East Tennessee and those of the Gulf of Mexico through the valleys of the Coosa and its tributa ries; —and it only requires (be aid of art employed to a small extent to ef fect an object so desirable, and so important to the interests of a very nu uefbus and respectable portion of the population of our state. Respectfully submitted by your most obt. servant D.. 11. BINGHAM. Chief Engineer of the IFctumpka and Coosa R. R. Wetumpka. Nov,