AMERICAN RAILRO AD J O URNAL.

281

~Cormsptmrlents will oblige us by sending in their
communications by Tuesday mar-nmg at latest.

PRINCIPAL CONTENTS-
The'Ga_uge Q,,11c_stio11. . . . . .. . . . . . . . . .226
lronShipBui1d1ng..... 

Thelron Trade............ . . . . . . .........._.‘Z7’7
Projected Communication across the Isthmus of
P‘

an-a.--o

nlltulnnuu

Panama . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5318
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. . .. . . . . .. . . . . .. .278
The Jamaica SW’. 1.) Railway . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .278
Westerii and tlantic Railway, Ga. . . . . . . . . H281
Railroads in Ohio........ . . . . . . ..  . . . . . ..28l
Foreign Correspondence  .. ..  . .... .  .282
Montgomery (Ala) and West Point Railway. .283

Railway Passenger Trains leaving Boston daily,
exceptSundays................. 
Mansfield and Sandusky (0.) Railroad . . . . . . . .284
Cleveland and Pittsburg Railway . . . . . . . . . . . . .285
Break in the Erie Canal .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .285

ARIERICAN IEAILIKOAD JOURNAL.
PUBLISIIED BY D. K. MINOR, 23 Chambers street, N.Y.
Sutttrclay, lllay 2,_18«1»6.

“iv €§£E£}I'7i}'{¢i Kti'§§llEE?z{ii EEQ1" ,”’<:. c}§§'§i}C”‘
The following extract from a letter, dated Atlanta,
Ga., April 16, '46, and the notice accompanying it,
contains information very useful to those who de-
sire to reach the interior of Georgia, Tennessee, or
Alabama. The fact stated in the letter, that the post-
master general has refuscrl to pill the mail upon this
road, deserves the attention of the business commu-
nity. Why is it that this otlicer refuses to give the
people the advantage, in the mail service, of this
important road of 80 miles ‘l Can any one answer
us 2 It appears to us that a more liberal, or rather
a more jlztsl, course should be adopted by the depart-
ment towards railroad companics——pay them in pro-
portion to the service rcndcrcd——allow them a _f(Lz'7'
compensation for their immense of speed, and greater
7'cg1.tlctril_7/ of delivery—that is all they ask.

“ I send you, herewith, says the writer, an adver-
tisement of this road, which with that of J. Edgar
Thomson, for the Georgia road, will give all the ne-
cessary information for travellers who desire to pass
over and beyond these roads. The South Carolina
railroad of 136 miles, the Georgia railroad of 17:?
miles, and the Western and Atlantic railroad of 80
miles, form a crmtimtozts line of 388 miles from
Charleston to the interior of Georgia—-one of the
most important lines for freight, as well as travel,
now in the Union. The Western and Atlantic rail-
road is owned exclusively by the state of Georgia,
having no private stockholders. It will be extended
5 miles more in a few months, and will probably
reach Cross Plains 100 miles from its commence-
ment by the end of the year. More than $3,000,000
have been expended by the state, on this work, and
it is destined to reach Chattanooga on the Tennessee
river, 140 miles. At this place, (Atlanta) a junction
is formed with the Georgia railroad. At the end of
this year there will be another line connecting this
point with the seaboard, viz: the Macon and West-
ern. railroad, of 101 miles long, and the Central
railroad, 190 miles, and thus forming another con-
tinuous line at the end of this year of 376 miles.

“There is an interesting fact connected with the
Western and Atlantic railroad. The postlnztfstel‘
general has refused to put the mail on it, and pas-
sengers from the northern and eastern cities can
reach all the places mentioned in my advertisement
ahead of the mail.”

The following is the notice referred to:

The W’eslern and Atlantic Ra,il7'0(Lcl.——Tl1is road is
now in operation to Oothcaloga, a distance of 80

miles, and connects daily (Sundays excepted) with,

he Georgia railroad.

_ cause, residing in Cleveland.

From Kingston, on this road, there is a tri-weekly
line of stages, which leave on the arrival of the cars,
on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, for Warren-
ton, Huntsville, Decatur and Tuseumbia, Alabama,
and Memphis, Tennessee.

On the same days, the stages leave Oothcaloga
for Chattanooga, Jasper, Murfreesborough, Knox-
ville and Nashville, Tennessee.

This is the most expeditious route from the east to
any of these places.

CHAS. F. M. GARNETT,
C/ticf E'n.gt'n.ee-r.
Atlanta, Georgia, April 16th, 18-10.

Railroatls in Ohio.

Vile have received the following reply, to a letter
of inquiry on the subject of railroads, in Ohio, from
an intelligent gentleman, and warm friend of the
His letter is accom-
panied by a letter sheet pen and ink map of the
state, upon which he has very accurately sketched
the canals and railroads, and which we should like
exceedingly to give to our readers with his descrip-
tion, remarks, and views, but cannot, though we are
greatly obliged to him for it.

Few people indeed are aware of, or can realize,
the extent of the Ohio canals. No state in the Un-
ion has done as much in the construction of canals,
in proportion to its resources, or population, as Ohio.
We shall give a list and description of them here-
after, but, as it is truly remarked by our correspond-
ent, when speaking of canals as a means of com-
munication, “ {Jury m'e_/'(t7‘bc}ti1ul the spirit oftltc age,”
and the people of Ohio must now adopt the more
recent and more Q/f.t:im:.l system of railroads, if they
would realize the full benefits of their unparalled
position. The views of the writer in relation to the
advantages ol the two routes, to Sandusky or to
Co1uml..u<x, are undobutedly correct so ‘far as Cleve-
land, or the immediate interests 01' those sections of
the state through which the roads will pass, are con-
cerned. A railroad to Columbus will doubtless
benefit Cleveland more, and a larger number of the
population of Ohio, than a road to Sandusky, at the
present time; and it is therefore much more likely
to be built, but it occurred to us, that by directing
the energies of the people of that region to those
parts of the great wzzslcam line, which must, at no dis-
tant day, connect New York and Chicago and Citi-
cage and the West, more would be effected in the way
ofrctaitning the business of the west, and south of
the line to Chicago, than by the line to Columbus,
which would leave all Michigan open to, and indeed
almost connected with the line through Canada; by
which connections and associations will be found dif
fieult to be broken or resisted, when this directwestern

SIn——-Your favor of the 14th ult. is received,
andI hasten to reply. To make myself the
better understood, I have sketched a map of
the internal improvements and navigable wa-
ters of Ohio, which, though not strictly correct
in detail, is nearly so, at least sufficiently cor-
rectfor my present purpose. On the east, you
will perceive, we are tolerably well supplied
with the means of transportation by the Ohio
river and the Ohio canal and its branches, on the
north by the Wabash, and Eric canal. and lake
Eric, on the west by the Junction and Miami
canals, and on the south by the Ohio river.——-
Although these modes of conveyances are far
behind the spirit of the age, they are far bet-
ter than nothing; our state is yet in its infancy,
and they must answer the purpose until we
have become old and rich enough, to supply
their places by time and space annihilating
railways; these we have already commenced,
they are represented upon the map by the full
drawn red lines. The tier ofcounties, ofwhich
Sandusky, Tiflin, Finnley, Kenton, Bcllf'on—
tain, Urbano, Springfield, Xenia, Lebanon,
and Cincinnati are the county towns, are sup-
plied by the Mad river and Little Miami
roads; and Richland county and apart of Hu-
ron by thc Mansfield and Sandusky road.
These roads, it is true, are not yet completed.
yet there is no doubt but that they soon will be ;
the first, however, before it can do a heavy
business, and do it with dispatch, must be re-
built, the latter will be finished its entire length
in the course ofncxt month, and is a good
road in general and capable of sustaining an
average speed of 20 miles an hour. I-Iaving
stated what We have already done, I will pio-
ceed to state what we have tried to do. The
“ Ohio railroad” was commenced about 1838,
and after nearly completing the superstructure
from Manhattan to Huron, 60 miles, the com-
pany failed, and almost the entire originnl out-
lay is a dead loss, even though the work should
be resumed to-morrow. The superstructure
is laid upon piles standing, from 6 inches
to 15 feet above the surface and already con-
siderably decayed; a very large portion of‘ the
grading was to be embankment, none of which
has been done. The superstructure was laid
for a seven foot track, (which no one would
think of preserving, under present circum-
stances,) and its removal would cost as much

line shall, as it must, be completed. We are quite

convinced, however, that, under the circumstances, it

will be easier to construct the road to Columbus than
to Sandusky, because it will connect the two princi-
pal commercial citics with the political capital of
the state, and pass tliroiigh a region of country, the
'i1,i(I«?/Z11./Sl:7LC'SS of which zllmtc, in a ‘few years, will
support the road well; yet we are very desirous to
learn that early measures will be taken to construct
a road in the direction of Chicago, the precise route
we do not pretend to indicate, but a road which shall
be eventually connected with the New York and Erie
at one end, and Mr. Whitney’s Oregon. road, when
built, at the other, forming in a measure. a base line
into which all the roads across the states, from South-
westerly to Northeasterly, will pour their rich
freights, as well as the mighty west. _

as the small amount of excavation which has
been done; the items of clearing, right of way
and a part of the bridging are still worth
something if the same location should be pre-
served, the policy of which is at least doubtful.
For that road I felt a deep interest, al-
ways thought it an important link in the
great chain between the east and West, and
though my efforts were feeble, I fought for
it two years and bled too. If Cleveland had
taken the interest, in proportion to her power,
that her little neighbor Ohio city did, or had
made the same exertion that she is now ma

icing for the Cleveland and Columbus road, 1

have not the least doubt but that the iron horse

The writer says under date of Cleveland, April 11 :

would have this day been whirling from here