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[No. 9. J
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MEMORIAL
TROM THE
COMMITTEE APPOINTED
RAIL ROAD CONVENTION,
held at talladega, sept. 24, 1849,
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OE ALABAMA.
133 COPIES.
Montgomery:
brittan and de wolp,
STATE PRINTERS.
1850.
irir t&e
TO THE
UbKArtY
rUSHEAU OF RAILWAY ECONOMICS,
WASHINGTON, 0. C.
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MEMORIAL.
To the honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of
the State of Alabama, in General Assem bly convened :
The undersigned Committee appointed by a Railroad Conven¬
tion, which met at Talladega, on the 24th day of September,
1849, on behalf of the people represented in said Convention, re¬
spectfully state :
That the people of the interior counties of the State that are
remote from steam navigation, have been forced, by a strong ne¬
cessity, to direct their attention to the establishment of a cheap
and speedy communication with the sea-board.
The toil of the farming population inhabiting the country lying
between the navigable waters of the Tennessee and Alabama
rivers, has been well rewarded up to this period, and they have
rapidly increased in wealth and numbers; but they now discover
and begin to feel, that their past success is for the most part to be
attributed to the fertility of a virgin soil.
The barriers of mountains confining the fertile valleys on
either side, and stretching from the north-east towards the south¬
west, have always presented great obstacles to the success of the
farmers and planters of the interior of the State ; but it is only
now that they find themselves prevented by Mich obstacles from
entering into a fair and just competition with other citizens of the
State, who are more favored in respect of commercial facilities.
The consequences of this state of affairs are not less injurious
to the State at large than to communities immediately affected by
it. The gradual, but constant immigration from the interior of
the State westward affords a strong proof of the necessity that
exists for increased and more easy communication with the sea¬
board.
That class of community who remove to the West comprises
the most substantial and valuable citizens, and those who own
valuable slave property, while their places are filled by persons
who are driven from the more Eastern States for want of means
to procure or retain homes, where works of internal improvemen'
have enhanced the value of lands. By this means the tax-payin:
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ability of the State is reduced, while it cannot be reasonably ex,
pected of that class of persons thus introduced into the State, that
they will participate as fully in that feeling of State pride which
is now so needful to sustain the integrity of the State, as those
who have been longer identified with its interests.
The cause of this immigration is not to be found alope in the
fact that the lands of the interior counties are becoming less fer¬
tile. A more prudent and careful culture of the soil would soon
restore the value of every acre, if the farmer could feel that he
would be safe in thus expending his labor. Instead of this, how¬
ever, he is compelled to confine his labor to a channel in which
he must meet and contend with great and successful competition,
He is compelled to produce that commodity which is most adapt¬
ed to the climate and has the greatest value in the smallest bulk,
because of the want of facilities for getting his produde to market.
As soon then as the farmer loses the advantage of a fresh soil,
he must remove to a new country, or to a country where it takes
less of what he makes to convey his produce to market.
The difficulty of reaching a market with the productions of the
soil prevents, to a great degree, the expenditure of labor in the
restoration of the lands in the interior counties, That labor must
be comparatively profitless which is so nearly equally divided
between the culture of the soil, the improvement of lands, and
the conveyance of produce by difficult and expensive transportat¬
ion to market. *
It is believed that twenty per cent, is a small estimate of the
cost of transportation, upon the average value of the crops raised
by the people of the interior counties of this State.
It is not to be considered strange, then, that a country even §o
rich in all the resources of wealth as the interior of this State,
should begin to require the plumb and the level to be laid to its
bosom, in order to yield its treasures to the labor of its popu¬
lation,
The ruggediK'SS of the country lying between the rich lands
of the interior counties and the highest navigable points of the
Alabama river, presents great difficulties to the farmers of that
country in seeking their natural points of trade; and self-interest
will compel them to seek 0 market for their produce in the At¬
lantic cities, by a route which has been extended to our borders
by the superior diligence and enterprise of a sister State.—
Already, it is true, that the Georgia Railroad is attracting the
trade from points nearer to Wetumpka than to Rome, and the
latter place is becoming a better market and a more important
shipping point than the former.
Some of the richest and most populous counties of north*
eastern Alabama trade almost exclusively to Charleston and
Augusta, In those counties lands are increasing in value, the,
population is becoming fixed, and an increased prosperity iu every
respect marks the face of the country.
These things are noted by the people. While the people of
the interior of Alabama yield to no other portion of her citizens
in a resolute determination to sustain the faith and credit of the
State, and a disposition to encourage and foster our own
State institutions and our seaboard mart, they are not blind to the
fact, that such purposes are far more difficult to be carried into
execution by them than by other and more favored portions of
the country. It will only be by a course of policy that is deaf to
the appeals of the laboring classes, and blind to their sufferings,
that they will ever accept the alternative of an exclusive trade to
the ports of another State, in preference to a trade to be con¬
ducted at so great a sacrifice of their own interests.
The important facts thus briefly alluded to have made their
impression upon the minds of the people, and the consequence is
a spontaneous and uniform movement towards effecting the
speedy connection of the navigable waters of the Tennessee and
Alabama rivers by a railroad communication.
On behalf of the people, in whose name we submit this memo-
pialrwe can assert with truth, that the determination to which
they have come is not the result of any design to build up one
place to the detriment of another, nor to advance one interest to
the injury of another;, but they have acted mainly upon certain
prominent facts, which of themselves are sufficient to support
that determination,
On the 27th day of August, 1849, the representatives selected
by primary meetings from ten different counties," met in con¬
vention at the Shelby Springs, after a full opportunity had been
given to all counties having an interest in the matter to be repre¬
sented in that convention.
The action of that body, as shown in the record of its proceed¬
ings, was deliberative, careful and prudent, and the project em¬
braced in the resolutions adopted by that body, commends itself
to every mind as combining many of the elements of success.
But the Shelby Springs Convention did not regard the fact
of its early action upon this subject as conclusive, even upon the
counties represented there; and to elicit a full discussion of the
matter and to procure a free interchange of ideas upon the subject,
that Convention left the final decision of the question open to the
action of a Convention, to be hoiden at Talladega, on the 24th
day of September, 1849. The Convention met in Talladega at
the time designated, and in it were representatives from thirteen
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counties, chosen tot* tl\e most part at county meetings, different
from those in which delegates to the Shelby Springs Convention
had been selected. The project adopted at the Shelby Springs
Convention was readopted at the Talladega Convention, with a
slight amendment, after a thorough and labored investigation of
the subject in all its bearings, Qopies of the proceedings of each
of said Conventions are attached to this memorial. An examina^
tion of the proceedings of the Talladega Convention will show
that the readoption of the resolutions of the Shelby Springs Con¬
vention Avassanctioned with great unanimity.
The voice of these thirteen counties, thus jleliberately and
carefully expressed, the people regard as a full and authoritative
exposition of their wishes, and it can only be disregarded to the
extent that their wishes are considered unworthy to influence the
conduct of their representatives in the Legislature.
The counties represented in the Convention at Talladega cover
almost the entire country lying between the navigable waters of
the Tennessee and Alabama rivers, and therefore they have the
most immediate interest in the precise location of a road embraced
in the provisions of the law relating to the two per cent. fund.—»
That fund being already set apart in the most solemn manner ta
certain purposes, if it should be appropriated towards the con¬
struction of a railroad to connect the two rivers, the selection of
the precise route for the road would naturally fall to the people
inhabiting the intermediate country, after all the great points in
which the State is interested are settled. >
The question of the greatest difficulty to be determined by the
two Conventions, was that which related to the selection of the
southern terminus of the road, and it is at this point alone that
any further difficulty is apprehended. It must be regarded as a
point established, that the communication between the Alabama
and Tennessee rivers can only be effected by building a Rail-,
road.
Each of the leading propositions brought before the Conven¬
tion at Talladega assumed that Gunter's Landing on the southern
bank and most southern point of the Tennessee river, should be
the northern terminus of the road. It was also conceded, that
the road should run through Talladega county, and a proposition-
to locate it on the western side of the Coosa river was negatived
by a large vote.
The action of both Conventions having concurred thus far, it
was clear that there could be no real point of difference, except as
to the southern terminus of the road, and the hopes of the friends
of the project were not disappointed to the extent they were in¬
dulged, that a spirit of mutual concession and a regard for the
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interests of the whole country would control the decision of that
question. The Convention having maturely considered the sub¬
ject, selected Selma as the southern terminus by a decided vote,
with a spirit of concession creditable to the different contending
places ; their claims yielded to the deliberate voice of the major¬
ities of the counties, as expressed in the Convention ; and We
were instructed to memorialize your honoroble bodies to appropri¬
ate the two per cent, fund which remains undisposed of, towards
the construction of a Railroad beginning at Selma, and extending
through the counties of Talladega and Benton, on the east side
of the Coosa river, to a point at or near Gadsden, in Cherokee
county, to intersect the Tennessee and Coosa River Railroad.
Whether the southern terminus of the road is regarded as a
question involving the interest of the entire State, or as of par¬
ticular places only, it is due to the Convention that some of tile
leading views which influenced its action should be concisely
stated : 1st. Selma was regarded as the point most easily reached
by a railroad from the fertile counties of the interior of the State,
because it is situated in a level country, at the south-western ter¬
minus of an almost continuous valley, rising in the southern part
of Pennsylvania, and spreading into a plain near to Selma, and
along which valley is situate the best lands of the interior of Ala¬
bama. , The number and extent of railroads already in process of
construction along this valley and leading to it, furnish a reasona¬
ble assurance, that the line projected from Gunter's Landing to
Gadsden and to Selma will soon form a link in the longest, most
direct, and most important route in the United States, leading
from Boston to New Orleans.
2d. It is in the direct line of travel from the East to the South¬
west, and would command the transmission of the mails in those
directions.
3d. The valleys leading from the direction of the Tennessee
towards the Alabama river open upon the great valley traversed
by the proposed road ; and thus a cheap and convenient means is
afforded a large number of people of getting to market, to whom
any other road would be entirely useless, because of intervening
barriers of mountains.
4th. The proposed road will pass through a country as rich as
any in the world in iron, marble, coal and lime—a country well
adapted to manufacturing purposes, with highly productive lands,
in a high state of improvement.
5th. From Mobile to Talladega, by the way of Selma, is
nearer than by any other proposed point higher up the Alabama
river. v
6th. The face of the country from Talladega to Selma is
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more evert than it is in arty other southern direction, and it is
believed that the road can be built for less money to Selrcia than
to any other point.
7th. The coal trade alone which Would be established by the
construction of the proposed Railroads, would add greatly to the
wealth of the State and to the commercial importance of our sea¬
board mart.
This brief and imperfect summary of the most prominent fea¬
tures of the plan establish the fact, that the proposed Railroads
will not only succeed, but that they will add greatly to the wealth
of the State, and to the convenience of its citizens.
Therefore, in obedience to the resolution above referred to, we
respectfully petition your honorable bodies to appropriate the two
per cent, fund which is not disposed of to aid in the construction
of the proposed Railroads.
We believe the appropriation Would command the hearty ap¬
proval of a large majority of the people of the State. It is need¬
less to argue the necessity Which exists for the support and
encouragement of the State Government for such enterprizes, and
equally unnecessary to argue the practicability of such plans;
while we have the example of a sister State to teach us lessons of
wisdom at the expense of our commerce, we have strong proofs
of the correctness of that policy w'hich increases the capabilities
of the people to bear the burdens of Government as the Surest
means to provide for the support of the Government.
We hope that the great importance of these works to the peo¬
ple of the State at large will dictate a liberal course of policy in
the appropriation of the two percent, fund*
Respectfully,
JOHN T. MORGAN, j
ALEX. WHITE, 1
THOMAS N. POPE, ^ Committee.
WILLIAM CURRY,
IEORGE hill,
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