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and extending from the base to the highest peaks. Scientific and prac tical geologists have examined these wonderful deposits, which have been opened at many points to a depth of more than twenty feet, and have pronounced them to constitute, literally, a mountain of ore of pure quality, inexhaustible in quantity, there being millions of tons, and re sembling in appearance gray pig-metal itself. It has been analyzed and pronounced equal to the best Lake Superior ore, and well adapted to the manufacture of steel rails and boiler-plates, and especially useful to the Government for plating its iron-clad vessels.

This ore can be transported to Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, at which places there is a great demand for it. It can also be shipped by the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad to the Obio River, and thence distributed to the iron-manufacturing establishments in Ohio, or shipped by river to Pittsburgh, where parties have proposed to purchase one thousand tons per day.

General Haupt, himself a Pennsylvanian, and feeling a just pride in the great resources of his own State, in speaking of the iron of Virginia, says: "The iron-deposits are very numerous and of superior quality. Pennsylvania, rich as she is, is poor in iron-ores as compared with Virginia, and capitalists are not generally slow to invest where large returns can be considered certain."

SALT.

Salt has been manufactured in Webster and Braxton Counties to a limited extent only, owing to the want of facilities for transportation ; but in Mason County, bordering immediately on the Ohio River, to the extent of 2,500,000 bushels per annum. There will be no difficulty in extending this branch of production to an unlimited extent, as the coal is in close proximity with the salt-wells, and transportation will be easy upon the completion of our road.

OIL.

Oil is found in nearly every county west of the Alleghany Mountains to the Ohio River, and only needs equal means of transportation to cause as full and profitable production of it as has been attained in Western Pennsylvania, where millions of dollars' worth are produced every year and sent thence to all parts of the country, as well as affording a matter of considerable export-trade.

MARBLE.

The extension of our road into Highland County will develop fully the immense quarries of marble, both white and variegated.

TIMBER.

Timber is abundant along the whole line of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad, from the Blue Ridge Mountains to the southern sections of Indiana and Illinois; but is particularly abundant in the counties west of Rockingham and Augusta; in Highland, Pocahontas, Pendleton, and other counties of West Virginia to the Ohio River. Indeed, immense forests of timber occupy a large portion of the country from the eastern base of the Blue Ridge Mountains to Point Pleasant, and every variety of timber known in this country is found.

CONNECTIONS.

At the railroad-center of Saint Louis it will meet many narrow-gauge railroads, feeders, now being constructed, viz: the Saint Louis and Cairo, the Saint Louis and Fort Scott, the Saint Louis and Leavenworth, the Leavenworth and Denver, the Denver and Rio Grande, (to be 1,800 miles in length;) the Grass Hopper Falls and Lincoln, the Lincoln and Columbus, the Topeka and Lincoln, the Saint Louis, Arkansas and Louisiana Railroads. The other 3-foot gauge roads now in the course of construction are the Chicago, Homer, and Southern and Danville, Olney and Ohio River Railroads, besides several leading lines of narrow-gauge railroads now projected and being constructed, and, in all, constituting not less than 5,000 miles of feeders, which will pour their rich treasures into the lap of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis road, which is designed to be the great narrow-gauge trunk line from tide-water at Washington and Richmond to the basin of the Mississippi at Saint Louis and Chicago. And in addition to these roads, many branches will be constructed in Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

The Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad from Washington City and Richmond to Saint Louis, the Saint Louis and Leavenworth, the Leavenworth and Denver, the Denver and South Park, to Provo, in Utah, and the Utah and Northern Railroad, from Provo to San Diego, on the Pacific coast, all of which roads but one are now being constructed, will, together, constitute a grand, low-freight trunk-line across the continent, and, in connection with the Denver and Rio Grande, (170 miles finished,) will connect Washington City and the city of Mexico, the capitals of the two republics.

OTHER CONNECTIONS.

The Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad will connect with the Ohio River at Point Pleasant, where almost constant navigation will be found, and the commerce from the Mississippi and its numerous tributaries, extending for thousands of miles into the West, Northwest, and Southwestern States, will furnish a vast quantity of heavy freights to be transported over our low-freight line to the seaboard. At Cincinnati, Chicago, and Saint Louis our road will connect with many standard-gauge railroads now constructed and doing a large and lucrative business, which will necessarily furnish this road with thousands of tons of freight, for the following reasons:

1. The Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad will be a narrow-gauge road, carrying two to three pounds of paying freight to one of non-paying.

2. It can be operated for 45 per cent. of gross receipts, while standardgauge roads carry one pound of paying-freight to one of non-paying, and require from 60 to 70 per cent. of gross receipts to operate the road.

3. This line will be the most direct, not being more than 27 per cent. out of a straight line, while other trunk-lines between the East and West vary from 37 to 50 per cent. from an air-line.

Length of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad.

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Should the Government indorse the bonds of railroad company to the amount of $15,000,000, the annual interest at 5 per centum would amount to $750,000. Should the railroad company issue its own bonds, unindorsed by the Government, which could probably be negotiated at not more than 30 cents on the dollar, there would be required an issue of bonds to the amount of $18,750,000 to secure the amount named above, $15,000,000; the interest on which said bonds, at 7 per centum per annum, would amount to $1,312,500.

Statement showing annual loss to company in issuing its bonds not indorsed by Government.

Annual interest on $15,000,000 worth of bonds indorsed by
Government and sold at par, interest being at the rate

of 5 per cent....

Interest on company's bonds not indorsed...

Annual loss to company

$750,000 1, 312, 500

562, 500

From the above statement it will be seen that the principal and annual interest saved to the company by the Government indorsing the railroad bonds, with compound interest added, will amount in a few years to a sufficient sum to add a second track to the road.

Anticipated business of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad.-Receipts on 60 feet grade east, on single track, with 100 miles sidetrack.

Two trains leaving Saint Louis per hour, or one from Saint
Louis and one from Chicago, each carrying, with double.
Farley engine, 200 tons net freight, will transport in 300
days....

..tons..

At 74 mills per ton per mile, the charge on grain from Saint Louis or Chicago to tide-water (800 miles) would amount to $6 per ton, and for 2,880,000 tons, as above, would amount to..

An average of 500,000 tons going west, at 1 cent per ton per mile, (800 miles) ...

1,000,000 tons of coal from the coal-fields of West Virginia to tide-water, a distance of 220 miles, at 1 cent per ton per mile....

300,000 tons of coal from Indiana coal-fields to Cincinnati and Saint Louis, at an average distance of 150 miles, at 1 cent per mile.....

Passengers

Express.
Mails

Gross receipts, (annual)..

2, 880, 000

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The above charge on grain is more than 40 per cent. less than that charged by other roads from Saint Louis and Chicago to tide-water. The charge on the Erie Canal is 9 mills per ton per mile, 6 for transportation and 3 for toll.

Cost per ton on grain from Saint Louis to Richmond by the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and the James River and Kanawha Canal when finished. River-transportation, 903 miles, at 3 mills per ton per mile, and

15 cents for transfer...

Length of James River and Kanawha Canal, 485 miles; freight, 9 mills per ton per mile, (3 for tolls and 6 to carrier, same as charged on Erie Canal for 1873,) for 485 miles ...

$2.86

4 36

Entire charge....

7 22

Cost of moving a ton of grain from Saint Louis to Washington City or Richmond (distance being equal) by the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers and the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad.

River-transportation, as before, 903 miles

By railroad, 330 miles, at 9 mills per ton

Entire charge...

Difference in favor of river and Washington, Cincinnati Railroad ....

$2.86

2.97

583

1.394

Freight by rivers and James River and Kanawha Canal.....
Add 50 cents per ton insurance...

7221 50

7721

Charges to be made by the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Rail road, from Saint Louis to tide-water, four years after the completion of the road.

71⁄2 mills per ton per mile, which, for the whole distance of 800 miles, amounts to

$6.00

By the rivers and the James River and Kanawha Canal, (as shown above)....

7721

Leaving a difference per ton, in favor of all rail from Saint Louis or Chicago to tide-water amounting to more than 5 cents per bushel on wheat, and 4 cents on corn, of .......

1 721

Charges on grain from Chicago to New York, via the lakes.

On wheat, per ton...

7 23

On corn, per ton

6 921

Add 50 cents per ton insurance, and we have, as the total charge on wheat

7 73

And on corn

7421

Wheat can be shipped from Washington or Richmond to New York, by steamer, per ton, for $1.73, and corn for $1.425.

From the above statement it will be seen that grain can be transported from Chicago to tide-water, by the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad and by steamer to New York, for the same price now charged via the lakes and Erie Canal.

H. Mis. 84-2

CAPACITY FOR FREIGHT OF THE WASHINGTON, CINCINNATI AND SAINT LOUIS RAILROAD.

Four trains leaving Saint Louis or Chicago every hour, each
train carrying 200 tons, will, in 300 days, transport each
way..

Both ways..
The ordinary rule for freight-trains is that they should follow
each other every five minutes; but on through trains from
Saint Louis or Chicago every 15 minutes will leave time
for all way trains to do estimated business of the road.
Capacity of Erie Canal, (one way)..

Both ways for 200 days, average time annually open
James River and Kanawha Canal, for 280 days, (average time
open) ...

Both ways...

Festiniog Narrow-Gauge Railroad-gauge one foot, eleven
and one-half inches. This road, with a grade of 62 feet to
the mile, transported in 1869, 9,380 tons of freights per
mile, which, for 1,000 miles of road, would amount to
Passengers transported, per mile, 6,807.
(No night or Sunday work.)

...

Tons.

5,766, 000 11, 520, 000

3,900, 000 7,800, 000

5, 000, 000 10, 000, 000

9, 380, 000

The charge for freight was one-third cent per ton per mile, and for passengers one cent per mile; the dividend, 40 per cent. on cost of road. Russian railroad reports show that roads of 3 feet gauge carry regularly 355 tons of train, exclusive of engine and tender, on grades of one in eighty-five, some of which grades are 5 miles in length. This is 236 tons of paying freight per train, allowing two pounds of paying freight to one of non-paying.

The Ullenborg road, in Sweden, with a gauge of 34 feet, reports a business of 8,834 tons of freight and 5,946 passengers per mile, at a speed of 35 miles per hour.

Major Adelskold, state engineer for Sweden, says: "In every case where small-gauge railroads have been built they have realized every expectation."

Col. W. H. Greenwood, engineer and general manager of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, (170 miles of which is finished, the entire length to be 850 miles,) says that he has no hesitancy in declaring the capacity of his road fully equal to that of a broad-gauge road. It is only a 3-foot gauge, and yet he was unable to see any difference as to capacity in favor of a broad gauge. He could do as much business on his road as could be done on nineteen-twentieths of the broad-gauge roads.

Mr. Spooner, engineer, says: "That during the whole time he has had control of the Festiniog Railroad it has entirely demonstrated the theory of the immense saving on the narrow-gauge system, in having carried more freight and passengers at less cost than any line of railway now in use, and that the cars can run at the rate of 35 miles per hour with perfect safety, and can be maintained at not more than one-half the cost of the present system, to do the same business."

It will be seen by the reports of work actually done on narrow-gauge roads, that the capacity of the Washington, Cincinnati and Saint Louis Railroad, which is a 3-foot-gauge road, and has a grade of 62 feet to the mile coming east, will be greater than that of the Erie Canal or of the

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