Early railroading : it was quite a different thing from that seen today

              With the view of accommodatmg
citizens who had g:one into the tur­pentine
busipess on the faith of the
IT 'WAS q,UITE A OU'FEB.ENT railway taking the products to mar-
TilING FROM THAT SEEN ket the directors in May, 186Q, cbar-
EARLY RAILROADING
TODA y ter~d n steamboat by the mo.nt~ to
"FRED A. OLOS ply between Riverside and Wlhmng-
What a peep one gets at other days ton. July 5th a regular. tri-weekly
than these in reading what at first freight and passenger tram :was put
glance would seem to be very dry on There were five locomotIVes, the
reading indeed-the proceedings of "Old North State," "Rutherford,"
the meeting of the Stockholders of "Cleveland," "Brunswick," and "Goe­the
Wilmington, Charlotte & Ruth- ton" each of from 18 to 20 tons. In
erford railway Octo bel', 1860.1 In the July a passenger steamer, the "Clar­older
days -every -railwny1laa" its dis- endon," was bought. for $7,0?0,. to
tinctive na~ but who nowadays run between Riv€'rside and WIlmmg­know!
of or speaks of that road! It's 'ton Il~ the directors did not have the
just ti part of the Seaboard Air I mo~cy to build the road between these
Line, an? so. are the Raleigh ~ Au- ~ two points. A barge, carrying ·6
gusta AIrLine and the Ral~lg~ & I loaded freight cars, was built, and
Gaston. Who ~peaks. of the Wllmmg- I was towed by the "Clarendon.'IrThe
ton & Weldon. I~ IS now ,?erely a latter could carry 8 loaded ears on
part of the AtlantIC Coast Lme. Who her deck
s.pea,ks of th~ ,Western North Care- An agent was sent to London to
hpa. Now. Its only the So~the~. buy directly from the manufacturers
1he Atl.antl~ & North Carolllla IS the iron rails for the 50 miles of road
only a hnk l.n the Norfolk ~outhern, from Charlotte ~ Shclby, alld he
In the ea~her days the e.ngllles were bought 4,500 tons, and nearly all this
kept as bright as new pms, and. all iI.on had be~.n delivercd and the track
had names. In front, on the. pIl?t- had been laid from Charlotte ,across
bar, was apt to be a half hf-e-slZe the Catawba river, 13 miles. On this
figure o.f a darkey, one of whose the western division, there were two
hands was made .to hold a flag. At loeolrtOtives, the "Bladen" and thl:!
the . breakfa~t, dlllner and. sUPll.er "Wilmington," each of 20 tons. They
statIons a leal dark~y, With whIte figured on getting the road done to
apron and broad smIle, b~at a tre- Shelby by April, 1861. Anson coun­mendous
gong. You went ~n and for. ty subscribed $150,000 to the road,
50 cent.s ~ot a meal which n;ake5 Union $60000 Mecklenburg $30000.
·mo~t of \M' ~del"ll ones)ook ,hke a 1'ho cost of the construction' in
Ius, yeal s bird n.cst. " Wo~ t you Anson was for 27 1-4 miles, $515,­have
~nother. partndge? querIed the 755; in Union 25 2-3 miles, $385,781;
attentive walter, .when you had eat- :\[ecklenburg 12 2-3, $302.235; bridge
on the one provided. across the Pee Dee river $65,000. The
But to get back to those 'proceed- length of the road Wilmington to
ings", at the meeting. It seems queer Rutherfordton is 268 3-4 miles and
I th.at labor was scarce in t~ose days, the directors 'say: "In the northern
'- WIth so many slaves, but m Decem- states such an enterprise would not
bel', 1859, agen~s were sent .out by tremble at a debt of $20,000,000,
the bouN! of lhrectors to hm.! 400 while we have the whole' cost of our
slaves. So great, however, was the roud provided for except $1007,000.
dcmand for labor that, with the best "We must look to the state' for the
pric£s o/fered,.only 160 could be ~e- neeessary help, for if we turn to
cured. The dlrec.tors say that WIth northern capitalists our bonds must
reluctance they YIelded to the neces- be sacrificed at a discount of 50 per
sity of procuring . "em.igrant" . la- cent. The state now lends us $8,000
borers" . and accordmgly orgamze.d a mile, but it is Il0t enough. ' To the
two white forces on the eastern dl- North Carolina rond the state sub­vision
nnd onc on tM western; these scribed capital requiring- no intel·est,
btli.n¥ Iri.shmen .. Thet·e. was a s1;Ir- to the extent 'of $13,500 a mile, to
pl"lsmg dJfIiculty m g-ettmg eross-bes the Atlantic & North Carolina road
ahead of the track-laying and this $]5000 and the Western North Caro­too
in a region in which the finest ti!ll- lin~ road $16,000 and heT aid to the
ber abounde~. They had to haul ties extent of $11,400 a mile is necessary
20 to 50 ml~es and even th;o'll la~lOr for our road." Henry W. Guion was
under the: dIsadvantage of haVIng 'I Jlresident; John C. MacRae chief en-them
belllnd the track-layers. , ""inee"_._ __
November 30, 18S!), the first sec-'" -
ti011 of 25 miles, from Riverside, WIlS
completed and thJE' state .aid, $200,000,
was recclved from the State Treas­urcr
for that section. The charter
prohibited the sale of bonds at less
than par and this compellcd the di­r,
ctors to bid for them, so they bought
the entire lot. The "aid" therefore
came to them in the form of state
bond~.
The second section was finished in
,lilly, 1860, and another $200,000 came
from the State Tno-asurcr. The track
wus in October, 1860, laid to ~ point
three miles west of Lumberton. Three
entire seuions WCL·C grac!ed by the
Irishmen (in Mecklenburg county)
and three by tIle hired slHv2s. ·Work
on thc masonry of the Pee Dcc river
bridg-e was in prop-Tess. Five other
S<!ctions hud b<!en let- to contractors,
leavin", ten more to be provided for.
The stone for the Pee Dee dver
bridge was quarried in the river
hed. very uear the bridgc.
r