USA > Kentucky > Jefferson County > Louisville > The city of Louisville and a glimpse of Kentucky > Part 8
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Still, we believe that as a medium for the transportation of heavy freights and imperishable commodities, such as coal and the different products of iron, the river will never be wholly superseded by rail routes ; but otherwise it is but a question of a very few years when nearly the whole of the volume of interstate and littoral commerce will be diverted from the rivers. Each season adds to this prospect, whose realization is forecast in the increasing parsimony of Con- gress toward the river improvement systems inaugurated in a more liberal period, when the commerce of the South and East was interchanged along these great natural highways.
WATER-WAYS.
The most important facts in the commercial history of the State from the earliest period until the era of railroads began have been the remarkable facilities afforded by its water-ways. The entire river system of the Mississippi Valley has its center within the borders of Kentucky, and her territory is penetrated by more miles of navigable rivers than any other State in the Uniou. She has nearly fifteen hundred miles of streams that are navigable at all stages of water, and ahout four thousand miles can he made navigable by locks and dams. These give access to the whole Missis- sippi system of inland navigation, which includes about twenty-five thousand miles of streams now navigable or readily rendered so with the usual methods of river improvements. The north-western border of the State has a continnons river frontage on the Ohio and Mississippi of 723 miles. Of the navigable water-courses within the State, all of them draining toward the Ohio river, the following are the principal : Tbe Green river and its tributaries, navigable by locks and dams for 268 miles ; the Tennessee river, navigable from its mouth to Florence, Alabama, a distance of about 250 miles ; the Kentucky river with its three forks is susceptible of navigation for 400 miles from its month ; the Cumber- land river, navigable from its month to a point about one hundred miles above Nashville ; the Big Sandy river navigable from its month at Catlettsburg to Louisa, a distance of about seventy-five miles ; the Licking river, navigable from its mouth at Covington, to Falmonth, a distance of 125 miles, Each of these rivers penetrates or connects with a vast dis- trict abounding in the richest deposits of iron and coal, and immense tracts of valuable timber. Reguiar lines of steamboats accommodate the traffic natural to the territory.
KENTUCKY RAILROADS.
The first railroad built in Kentucky, and the first completed west of the Alleghanies, was the Lexington & Ohio Railroad, now know as a part of the "Short Line" division of the Louisville & Nashville system. It was begun in
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October, 1831, at the Lexington end, and completed to Frankfort in December, 1835. It was laid that distance with flat rails fastened to stone sleepers. In 1851 the line was completed to Louisville, and in ISSI was purchased hy the Louis- ville & Cincinnati Sbort Line, that had been completed in 1869.
The Louisville & Nashville road was begun in 1851, aud finished to Nashville, 185 miles, and opened to business in 1859. Two years previous to the latter date the company had built a branch road to Lebanon, Kentucky, which made up the entire Louisville & Nashville system at the commencement of the war. The Bardstown brauch was purchased in 1865. The Richmond branch was opened in 1868, and the same year the Memphis, Clarksville & Louisville road was leased as a part of its new Southern system. Two years after, the Memphis & Ohio road was secured, and what is now known as the Memphis division was formally opened. Both of these leased lines were purchased by the Louisville & Nashville in 1871-72. The Cecilian branch was thus secured in 1871, and in 1879, the Edgefield & Kentucky road and the Evansville, Henderson & Nashville road were both bought by the company, and, together, now form the Kentucky
Frutu Harper's Magazine.
Copyright, 1550, by Harper & Brothers.
A NEW KENTUCKY HOME.
and Tennessee portions of the St. Louis division. As already stated, the Louisville & Nashville Company purchased the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington road in 1881, thus connecting the Company's lines with all the Eastern roads at Cincinnati. With the suhsequent extensions of the lines of this Company outside the State on the South, by which it now controls a system aggregating 3,034 miles, the scope of this article does not permit me to deal.
The Chesapeake & Ohio traverses the entire length of the State, from east to west, and penetrates the vast coal, mineral, and timber regions of Kentucky. The original line extended from Newport News, in Virginia, via Richmond, to the Big Sandy river, and was formed in 1868 by consolidating the Virginia Central and the Covington & Ohio Rail- roads, comprising a line 512 miles in lengtb. In 1875 the line became involved, and was placed in a receiver's hands. In 1878 it was sold, and a new company organized, with Mr. C. P. Huntingte 1 at its head. He rapidly developed the western connections of the road, and now it forms a continuous line 927 miles long, composed of the Chesapeake & Ohio, to the Big 'Sandy river, the Elizabethtown, Lexington & Big Sandy, and Louisville, Frankfort & Lexington, to Louisville, and the Chesapeake, Ohio & South-western (formerly the Elizabethtown & Paducah), extending from Lonis- ville to Memphis, via Paducah.
Tbe Kentucky Central Railroad, originally known as the Lexington & Maysville Railroad, was begun in 1851, Lexington having subscribed $200,000 towards its constructiou. The line was compleed from Lexington to Paris in 1853, and in October, 1854, it was entirely finisbed to Covington. The branch line to Maysville was completed a few years later. The entire road now forms the Cincinnati division of the Chesapeake & Ohio system.
The Cincinnati Southern was begun in January, 1872, and pushed to completion as rapidly as possible thereafter. The line cost nearly twenty million dollars to construct, and was opened for business between Cincinnati and Chatta- nooga in 1878. Like the Louisville & Nashville, this road has established ample Southern connections of great advan- tage to Kentucky.
The existing railways of the State form a system wbicb wants but a few connecting links to give it an admirable relation to the rest of the country. The North and South lines consist of the following roads, beginning on the east : The Eastern Kentucky, from Riverton, in Greenup county, to Willard, in Carter county, thirty-five miles of road built to develop the coal and iron districts of this section, with the expectation of eventual continuation to Pound Gap, and connecting with the South-eastern system. The Maysville & Lexington Railway, running south as far as Lexington, and connecting there with the system of roads about to be described. Tbird in the series on the west, we have the Ken- tucky Central Railway, now extending from Covington, a junction with the Knoxville branch of the Louisville & Nasbville at Stanford, along the banks of the main Licking Valley and its South Fork. The continnation of this road by either Pond Gap or Cumberland Gap, to the railway system of Eastern Tennessee and the Valley of Virginia, is
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likely to be accomplished at an early day. The Cinciunati Southern Railway, from the mouth of the Licking directly south to Chattanooga, affords an admirably built road, traversing the State, forming as it does a main line to the South and South-east. The Lexington & Big Sandy is completed as far as Mount Sterling, in Montgomery county. This road when finished will give Kentucky cheaper and more direct communication, by way of the Chesapeake & Ohio railway, with the Atlantic ports.
The Kentucky & Great Eastern Railway is a prosperous road, on which considerable work has been doue, extending up the south bank of the Ohio river from Newport to the Big Sandy river. The completion of this road will add greatly to the wealth of the river liue of counties, and will give them a shorter road to the Atlantic ports than they now have.
The Louisville, Frankfort & Lexington Railroad extends through the counties of Jefferson, Oldham, Shelby, Frank- lin, aud Fayette. From Lagrange, in Oldham county, a branch extends from this road to Cincinnati, kuown as the Louisville & Cincinnati Short Line, that liue passing through the counties of Oldham, Henry, Grant, Carroll, Gallatiu, Boone, and Kentou.
The Cumberland & Ohio Railroad, narrow gauge, now built from Shelbyville to Bloomfield, when completed, will pass through the counties of Heury, Spencer, Shelby, Nelson, Washington, Marion, Taylor, Greene, Metcalf, Barren, aud Allen. Its leugth in Kentucky will be 165 miles.
The Louisville & Nashville Railroad extends, with its branches, a distance of 365.4 miles through Kentucky in different directions. The main stem, from Louisville to Nashville, has a length, within the limits of the State, of 139.6 miles, running through the counties of Jefferson, Bullitt, Nelson, Hardin, Larue, Hart, Edmonson, Barren, Warren, and Siuipson. The Memphis branch runs through the counties of Warren, Logan, and Todd, having a length in the State of forty-six miles. The Kuoxville branch extends iuto South-eastern Kentucky, running through the counties of Nelson, Marion, Boyle, Lincoln, aud Rockcastle. It has been completed to the city of Knoxville, Tennessee, where it makes connection with the entire railway systems of the East aud South, and of all the cities of the South Atlantic sea- hoard at the Gulf of Mexico. This road, from its junction with the Louisville & Nashville at Lebanon Junction to the State line, is 170 miles in length. The Richmond branch runs through the counties of Lincoln, Garrard, and Madison for 33.4 miles, to within a short distance of the rich iron region of Kentucky. The Bardstown branch runs through the county of Nelson, a distance of 17.3 miles. The Glasgow branch, 10.2 miles, runs to Glasgow, the county seat of Barren county. The Louisville & Nashville Railroad is undeniably one of the most important thoroughfares on this continent. It is ouly secoud to the Mississippi river as a way for commerce between the Northern and Southern States. By means of the magnificent railway bridges over the Ohio river at Louisville and Henderson it connects with all the great Northern roads, and at Nashville and Memphis, its Southern termini, it connects with all the important roads in the South.
The Chesapeake, Ohio & South-westeru Railroad extends from Louisville to Paducah, a flourishing city situated on the banks of the Ohio river, fifty miles from its juuctiou with the Mississippi, and is the principal market town of Western Kentucky. This railroad penetrates Western Kentucky in such a manuer, therefore, as to afford easy access to a large portion of that section. It runs through the counties of Hardin, Grayson, Ohio, Muhleuburg, Hopkius, Caldwell, Lyon, Livingston, Marshall, and McCracken. It passes directly through that section of the valuable coal fields of Western Kentucky, which lies within the area of the counties of Ohio, Muhlenburg, Hopkins, and Grayson. The entire length of the Chesapeake, Ohio & South-western Railroad is 225 miles, all of which is in the territory of Keutucky.
The Paducah & Memphis Railroad, which has been absorbed hy the Chesapeake, Ohio & South-western road, ruus through the counties of McCracken, Graves, Hickman, and Fulton, connecting at Memphis with all the South-westeru railroads.
The Evansville, Henderson & Nashville Railroad, from Henderson, on the Ohio river, to Nashville, Tennessee, under lease to the Louisville & Nashville, passes through the counties of Henderson, Webster, Hopkins, Christian, and Todd. At Hendersou the ferry takes cars to the Northern system of roads. It forms the most important link iu a great trunk line known as the St. Louis & South-eastern Railway. The New Orleans, St. Louis & Cairo Railroad passes through the counties of Ballard and Hickmau.
The Mobile & Ohio Railroad, connecting the city of Mobile with the Ohio river, penetrates Kentucky through the counties of Hickman and Fulton. At Columbus, in Hickman county, a ferry fitted for the carriage of trains gives passage of cars from St. Louis directly through to the South-eastern cities.
RAILROADS NOW BUILDING.
It is in roads with eastern connectious that the State lacks most. There is but a single railway, the Chesapeake & Ohio, crossing the eastern line of the State. It is to this difficulty of access from the seaward that the State owes the small share it has had in the immigration of capital aud labor that has filled the lands of less attractive regions. Three routes have been begun, which, when completed, will fully remedy this grave defect, namely : A road from Louisville to the South-east, via Cumberland Gap, completed to Livingston, and requiring a continuation of about one hundred miles to connect with roads leading from Morristown, Tennessee, to Charleston, South Carolina ; a road from Mount Sterling to Abingdon, Virginia, via Pond Gap, requiring about one hundred and sixty miles of road to complete the connection. There is a project for building up, east and west, a road along the northern range of counties of the State, giving a con. tinuous route to Henderson, and the roads connecting at that point to the connections with Charleston and Savannah from Morristown, Tennessee ; also a project for a road from Chicago to Charleston, crossing Kentucky from Gallatin county to Cumberland Gap; the contract to build the one-hundred-and-forty-mile extension of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, from Ashland to Covington, Kentucky, and the contract for the masonry for a bridge across the Ohio river at Covington, have been let. The Chesapeake & Nashville Railroad, a part of the Huntington system, which will extend from Nashville to Cincinnati, and form an air line through the eastern part of the State, is now under process of con- struction.
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A railroad has been projected from a connection with the Chesapeake & Ohio, at Lexington, via Harrodsburg, Lebanon, Campbellsville, Greensburg, Glasgow, Scottsville, and so on to Nashville, Tennessee. This projected line is under the auspices of that well-known railway operator, Mr. Huntington, of the Chesapeake & Ohio and transconti- mental lines, and will doubtless be constructed at an early day. When it is completed it will form a competing line with others crossing the State from north to south, thus cheapening freights and transportation, and preventing monopoly.
The Kentucky Union and the Kentucky & Sonth Atlantic Railroads are two of the most promising lines of new roads projected through the mountains. The first starts from Hedge's Station, on the Chesapeake & Ohio road, and runs theuce south-eastwardly through Powell, Wolfe, Breathitt, Perry, aud Letcher counties, to Pond Gap. The line of the second - the Kentucky & South Atlantic- starts from Mount Sterling, and running first nearly east to French- burg, to which it is now completed, there deflects south-eastwardly, and proceeds through the counties of Menifee, Wolfe, Breathitt, Perry, and Letcher, to Big Stone Gap, which is only some ten miles south of Pond Gap. The two roads will probably cross each other in Breathitt county, which is said to be the richest of the coal and iron counties. After passing through the gaps in the Cumberland chain of mountains, both roads will proceed as nearly as possible on an air line, the first to Abingdon, the other to Bristol, both those towns being on the East Teunessee & Virginia Rail- way, one of the main trunk lines connecting the Eastern States and cities with the South and West. Both these lines
From Harper's Mszazine
A BLUEGRASS SHEEP PASTURE.
Copyright, 1586, by Harper & Brothers,
of road, through the mountains, which are intended to develop the richest portion of the coal and iron fields' of that region, have been constructed a distance of ahout eighteen or twenty miles, and both of them are to be pushed to com- pletion at the earliest practicable day. The Kentucky & South Atlantic management announce that the work is to be pushed from both ends of their line. A large force is at work on the western division not far from the Three Forks, and a still larger force at the other terminus, near Bristol, whence it is promised that the work will be pressed with all possible speed to Big Stone Gap, Hazard, and so on, to a meeting with the force working up from the western terminus. It is promised by the contractors that this road will be completed and put in operation by or before the Ist of August, 1888. Judging by the amount of capital said to be at the back of both these roads, combined with the skilled and experienced building companies who have undertaken their construction, it is safe to say that both will be completed by or before January 1, 1888, and the vast amount of mineral and other wealth of the entire region through which they run, a region extending from the "bluegrass " of Kentucky on the west, to the " bluegrass " of Virginia on the east, and stretching from the Ohio river on the north, to the Tennessee line on the south -all this boundless and inexhaustible wealth amply justifies their construction on competing lines. From the western boundaries of Powell and Estill
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counties to Pond and Big Stone Gaps are to be found exhaustless treasures of the best iron and coal in the world, not to speak of the vast forests of the very best timber.
The gold medal of the Centennial International Exposition, at Philadelphia, in 1876, was awarded the Haddock Coal Mining Company, of Breathitt county, "for the best Cannel coal in America," mined right on the line of the Kentucky Union Railroad. In fact, these two iron highways will bind together the railway system of the entire North- west with that of the Gulf and South Atlantic States; it will connect all the rest of the world with the mountain counties of Kentucky, filled with the best car-wheel iron ores, coking and Cannel coals, and all sorts of hardwood timber. A branch railroad, eight miles in length, has been completed from Midway, on the road from Frankfort to Lexington, to the town of Versailles, in Woodford county, and has now been transporting freight and passengers for several months. It is in contemplation to extend the line first northwardly to Georgetown, and later to Harrodsburg, thus placing it in connection with the Cincinnati Southern, and other systems both North and South.
The construction of the Indiana, Alabama & Texas Railroad, whose termini are at Princeton, Kentucky, and Clarks- ville, Tennessee, was begun at the Clarksville end some three years ago. Ten miles from Clarksville it enters Ken- tucky at a point in Christian county, some four miles from the Todd county line, on the Tennessee State line, and runs thence north-westerly through the county of Christian. This road, completed to Princeton, is sixty miles in length, about fifty of which are in Kentucky. It is a narrow-gauge road, and the president of the company, Major E. C. Gordon, resides at Clarksville. All the way from Clarksville to Princeton it runs through one of the very finest agricultural regions in all Kentucky, and is therefore certain to prove a paying road. As a feeder to the Elizabethtown & Paducah, or Louisville & South-western on the one hand, and the Memphis branch of the Louisville & Nashville, with which it connects at Clarksville, on the other, it is bound to prove a complete success.
Another new road in the same section of the State is the Elkton & Guthrie branch of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. This road is twelve miles long, is admirably constructed and equipped, and was built in 1884. This road runs through one of the finest agricultural sections of the State, with an intelligent, thrifty, and prosperous population ; the transportation to market of whose surplus products, with their general commerce with the outside world, will be sure to make this branch road a paying property, especially to the Louisville & Nashville, of which it is a feeder. Still another line in the same quarter of the State, the most of which has been built within the past two or three years, is the Owensboro & Nasliville Railroad, eighty-three and one-half miles of which are in Kentucky, and about forty miles of which have been completed during the past year.
This is also a well-constructed road, and running as it does through the wealthy counties of Daviess, McLean, Mublenburg and Logan, it is one of the most important lines in the State, independent of the fact that it connects the wealthy counties of Southern Indiana with the finest agricultural and manufacturing sections of Tennessee. These considerations combine to make it probably one of the best paying lines in the South.
Still another new railroad has just heen built across this part of the State, from the Obio river at Henderson, into Tennessee. The line of this road was surveyed last summer from Evansville and Henderson down through Morgan- field and Dekoven, in Union county ; Marion, in Crittenden county ; Eureka, at the crossing of the Chesapeake & Ohio and the Cumberland river, in Lyon county : Aurora, at the crossing of the Tennessee river, in Marshall county ; Murray, in Calloway county, and so on to the terminus at Jackson, in Western Tennessee. It is called "The Ohio Valley Rail- road," and, extending in a south-westwardly direction from the Ohio at Henderson, will open up a portion of country, which is one of the richest in minerals, such as coal, iron, and the finest building stone, and agricultural products, such as corn, tobacco, wheat, fruits, and live stock of all kinds to be found in any part of the State. The line will be 200 miles in length, aud the cost will not exceed $2,000,000, according to the very careful estimates of the civil engineers who surveyed it. It is understood that the work will be completed at an early day. About one hundred miles of road are already in operation.
The Louisville Southern, it is stated, will be completed and trains will run regularly by February 1, 1888, from Louisville to Harrodsburg Junction, a distance of eighty miles. The road will traverse the five counties of Jefferson, Mercer, Shelby, Anderson, and Woodford, which pay one-fifth of all the State revenues and contain one-seventh of all the population of the State. This indicates how great will be the traffic that this line will bring to Louisville. The road will be the most costly in the matter of equipment in Kentucky. It is supplied with heavier steel rails than any rail- road in Kentucky, the rails all being sixty pounds. It will be equipped with elegant cars and in this respect will sur- pass the Cincinnati Southern.
The Louisville, St. Louis & Texas Railway will be completed from Louisville to Henderson by June 1, 1888, un- less the company is delayed by the bridge over Green river at Spottsville. This railroad will pass through Webster, Brandenburg, Stephensport, Hawesville, Lewisport and Yelvington. The report of the Auditor of State shows that the population and taxable wealth along this line of road exceeds that along the line of any other railroad of its length in the State. As an agricultural region, the country to be traversed by this line of road is probably not surpassed on the continent. The productions of the counties through which the roads will pass, and those tributary thereto, amount annually to over 30,000,000 pounds of tobacco, 9,000,000 bushels of corn, and other products in equal proportion. Seventy tobacco factories, a very large number of distilleries, cotton mills, and other mannfactories of various kinds are located in the cities and towns along the line. The timber along this line is of the best quality. Cement rock, oolite, brown and building stone are of the finest quality, and found in immense quantities, the brown stone having been awarded the highest medal at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. From Cloverport to its western terminus, the road will pass through a continuons coal field ; it is found in veins from four to six feet in thickness, and at an elevation of from twenty to fifty feet above the located line. The celebrated Breckinridge Cannel coal is found in great abundance eight miles back of Cloverport, to which a railroad is already constructed. The supply of these coals is inexhaustible. The quality is unsurpassed, it being considered equal to Pittsburgh coal for steam, manufacturing and domestic pur- poses. This coal is only seventy miles from the city of Louisville. Coal is now being bauled from West Virginia by rail, a distance of 306 miles, and sold at a profit in the Louisville market, where 800,000 tons are consumed annually.
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Parties owning large bodies of these valuable coal and timber lands bave made provision for their immediate develop- ment, and are ready to contract for the shipment of coal in large quantities. From this source alone an enormous traffic awaits the completion of the road to the coal field. The road will he of standard gauge, laid with steel rails, aud constructed with every regard to permanency aud economical operation.
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