Newspaper Page Text
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KEOESAW GAZETTE,
PUBLISHED ON THE Ist AND 15th OF
EACH MONTH.
BY
THE RECORD PUBLISHING COMPANY.
A. L. HARRIS, MANAGING EDITOR,
8 & 10 MARIETTA ST.. ATLANTA, GA.
Devoted to the Material Interests and Attractions
for Tourists in the Mountainous Region of
Northern and Northwest Georgia,
SUBSCRIPTION :81a year; six months, 50 cts.
ATLANTA, GA., SEPTEMBER 1, 1889.
Homog-eneous.
Bill Blake has returned from Ger
many, and says he is ready to go to
work on the W. & A. R. R. again as
soon as General Manager Anderson
will let him.
Bill says that the Germans are the
most homog-eneous people he ever
saw; that they all drink beer, and
smoke, and talk about licking the
French. But he says they ain’t any
more homog-eneous than the W. &
A. folks, for they, too, are all of a
kind, —and the best kind at that.
We hope Mr. Anderson will let
Bill have his job again.
Wanted the W. & A.
A letter came from Florida to the
Atlanta post office, addressed to the
“Office of most direct R. R. Line from
Atlanta to Chicago.”
The post master had no discretion
under this address, as it could only
mean the office of the W. & A. R. R.
So he sent it around there. The pas
senger department answered the letter
in a manner which proved entirely
satisfactory to the writer and the W.
& A. R. R.
Now that Chattanooga is about to
have the benefits of water competition
by the opening of the Muscle Shoals
on the Tennessee River, Birmingham
is talking about digging a canal ten
miles long from her smokestacks to the
Warrior river.
Here’s wher£‘the funny part of it
comes in. A poor imitation is more
damaging to one’s reputation than a
confession of weakness.
Chattanooga has the call on Bir
mingham in nearly all the essentials
for a great city, and will distance her
far more easily than Chicago walked
away from St. Louis.
The passenger receipts of the West
ern & Atlantic Railroad for the month
of July this year were the greatest of
any July in five years. The monthly
reports for August are not yet all in,
but the receipts, for the first three
weeks are greater than for the same
portion of any other August in five
years, and the monthly report will
almost certainly be as good.
The Western & Atlantic Railroad
Co. has just issued another edition
of its famous book, “The Mountain
Campaigns in Georgia; or War Scenes
on the W. & A.” This has several
new battle cuts and is really a superb
work of art. It had already been
generally pronounced the finest rail
road book ever issued ; but it now beats
its own record.
Far Ahead as Usual. "
The question of economy is the big
one with railroad managers. In fact
it is a greater desideratum than* gross
earnings.
It has long been a thing sought af
ter to run a locomotive the most miles
with the least possible expenditure of
coal.
The Western & Atlantic Railroad
leads the railroads of America in this
as in a number of other desirable
things.
The average on American railroads
is about 30 or 33 miles to one ton of
coal. On one division of the L. S. &
M. S. Ry., we believe an average of
40 miles to the ton of coal has been
secured.
How do these figures look when we
give the information that during the
month of July, the Western &
Atlantic R. R. Co. handled its freight
and passenger trains with an average
expenditure of ONE TON OF COAL
TO 57 J MILES ? This is scarcely
above the average month on the W.
& A., which generally “beats the
record” in every particular.
The W. & A. is not telling every
body how she does things which are
ahead of every body, but she does them
all the same.
Then, too, while we consider the
above facts we must bear in mind
that there are less sparks and cinders
thrown out of the W. & A. smoke
stacks to worry the passengers than
on probably any other railroad in
America.
Sp’iliu’ for a Fight.
The emperor of Germany has been
on a visit to his grandmother, Queen
Victoria. Returning through Alsace-
Lorraine, which his grand daddy stole
from France, he made several speeches
so as to show himself off to the best
advantage. In one of these he com
plimented the Westphalians, and said
he hoped that the Westphalian sword,
which had always kept its edge, would
in the future, as in the past, give
evidence of its keenness, etc.
Really, this young buck, whom the
accident of birth has made the direc
tor of the destinies of over forty mil
lions of the greatest people on earth,
seems to be constantly thirsting for
gore. If war really has to come, in
accordance with his ambitious desires,
we hope that Germany will be licked
like the very well, we mean very
completely. Her rulers and people,
who hypocritically profess to want
peace, but who are really aching for
an excuse to go to war, should be
taught some lessons in the school of
adversity, which would be very much
to the interest of civilization.
Some of the grandest scenery in
America is exhibited from Lookout
Mountain, right above the city of Chat
tanooga. By the Western & Atlantic
Railroad from Atlanta, and the rail
road leading to the top of the moun
tain you now go upon grand old Look
out without the tedious hack drive
which was formerly an inevitable part
of the trip. See that your tickets read
over the W. & A. R. R.
The W. & A. gets there on time.
THE KENNESAW GAZETTE
Atlanta’s Canal.
The only definite and permanent
solution of the question of Atlanta’s
water supply in the future is the con
struction of a canal.
By tapping the Chattahoochee river,
west of Gainesville, the canal can be
dug along a ridge which ends at or
just beyond Atlanta.
Suppose a canal, forty feet wide by
four feet deep, should lead from the
Chattahoochee river, at the point re
ferred to, to Atlanta. Let this collect
the streams which could be turned into
it enroute. It could be turned into
a reservoir near Atlanta if desirable.
The drain could be through the sewers
of the city which could thus be per
petually flushed. A portion of this
would go off southward into the head
waters of the Ocmulgee river, and
reach the Atlantic Ocean. The rest of
it could be turned back into the Chat
tahoochee river—its parent stream,
and go to the Gulf of Mexico. This
could be sent down the valley of Proc
tor’s Creek to the river and utilized to
immeasurable advantage.
The Chattahochee river, under the
Western & Atlantic Railroad, at Bol
ton, is 284 feet lower than the railroad
tracks in the Union Passenger Depot
in Atlanta.
There is probably a further descent
of a few feet from under the W. & A.
R. R. bridge to the mouth of Proctor’s
Creek, which is about a mile further
down the river.
Therefore the water would descend
nearly 300 feet from its level in At
lanta to where it went back into the
river.
The distance is not more than eight
miles, so it can be seen that there
would be water power enough to run
factories from Atlanta to the Chatta
hoochee river, and immediately adjoin
ing each other. It is hard to limit
the number that it would be possible
to furnish with sufficient water power.
This would be cheaper than coal or
any other motive power. There would
be the further advantage of no danger
of the canal’s being broken by a flood,
as was the case with Augusta’s canal
last year; for the river, near Gaines
ville, would be forty miles distant, and
the gates which would let the other
waters into it could be adjusted so as
to guard against this very danger.
The writer has been informed that
General Sherman had in view the
digging of this very canal in case
he had retained possession of Atlanta
a few months longer. He needed the
water to keep his army healthy, and
could have put thirty thousand men
to work with picks and shovels to dig
the canal. In view of this fact, does
it not seem a pity that he did not
remain here with his army until neces
sity would have compelled him to do
something which would have caused
Atlanta to ever consider his visitation
a blessing ?
It would now be an expensive ditch
to dig, but it really seems that the
advantages for health and manufac
turing purposes would make it a source
of constant congratulation and benefit
to Atlanta after she got it.
The writer will merely add that
he would not advocate the building of
the canal for the purpose of running
boats upon it, and thus reducing trans
portation rates to Atlanta. The canal
would “start from nowhere and end
at nowhere,” but it would go through
a wonderfully important city and do
her more good than two more rail
roads. J. M. B.
Get Her out of the Way Quick.
At the battle of Nashville, Tenn.,
in December, 1864, when the Confed
erate army was melting away in wild
disorder, before the charge of the
Yankees, General Hood galloped up
to one of the commands, and grasping
the colors in his hand inquired : “Is
not this Cleburne’s division ?”
“It is, sir,” answered several’of the
soldiers.
“Then,” exclaimed the Confederate
chieftain, “this is the command that
saved the army at Ringgold. I want
you to try and save it again.”
“All right, General,” shouted the
soldiers, “we’ll do our best; but hurry
up and get the old shebang out of the
way as soon as possible.”
And then their “rebel yell” rose
high above the roar of the battle.
The Atlanta Constitution, several
days ago, had an editorial headed,
“Georgia leads the world.” With all
well posted folks this statement is
superfluous. It has long been known
that Georgia had the world by the
nose and was leading it gracefully but
irresistibly forward. The world of
course accepts this, not only as a not
kick-againstable fact but as a proper
one, and is actually proud of it.
But what we started out to say is
that the Western & Atlantic Railroad
leads the state of Georgia. We can
prove by the legislature and the news
papers and by other witnesses who are
even more competent that the W. &
A. is admitted to have more of the
attention of the people of Georgia
just now than anything else in
Georgia or the world.
The price of a ticket from Atlanta
to Chattanooga over the W. & A. is
only $3.
W. & A. of the Ocean.
Bill Blake returned from Europe
on the magnificent steamship, “City
of Paris.” Bill says Dr. Lee’s descrip
tion of her, which appears elsewhere
in this issue, don’t near come up to the
real glory of rhe boat. He says she is
the finest mover he ever saw on the
waters, and well deserves to be called
the “ W. & A. of the Ocean.”
The Western & Atlantic Railroad
is the only line by which passengers
coming from the west or north-west
make connection in the Union Passen
ger Depot, Atlanta. It is also an im
portant matter for those coming to
Atlanta to bear in mind that all the
street car lines in the city start from
within one square of the Union Pas
senger Depot, and passengers reaching
Atlanta from the west by any other
line are landed more than four squares
from the line of the nearest street car.