WE have been accustomed to consider canals as the cheapest means of communication and conveyance through the interior of a country. At present an opinion is well established by experience in Great Britain and our own country, where trial has been made in the greatest extent and perfection, that the rail-road is on many accounts superior, and ought to be preferred. The evidence now within our power is fortunately so full and conclusive, that to have our doubts removed, we need only to examine it for ourselves. After the failures and disappointments which North Carolina has suffered in her past efforts, we shall at least have learned the valuable lesson, to inquire faithfully, and arrive at a full knowledge, before an application of the public funds. By a small expenditure properly directed in the employment of an Engineer, such as may be easily had in the United States, before commencing a public work, every thing relating to it may be estimated and fully ascertained to the satisfaction of all. This is the mode of doing such business, practised in other states and other parts of the world, where works of this kind are carried on. Such men as Judge Wright, James Geddes, and many others, who have been long proved to possess practical skill and integrity in their profession as Civil Engineers, are at any time attainable upon proper inquiry, and a reasonable compensation for their services. Nor should a single step be taken in commencing any work, until it is completely determined what are the terms, what are the means, and what are the advantages. We have had enough of precipitation, of unqualified undertakers, of schemes heedlessly commenced and then deserted in a half-finished state, and altogether enough of wasted supplies. This unfortunate mode of prosecuting plans of public improvement is rarely if ever witnessed in other countries, and there is not the least necessity for it here.

In the remarks now to be made, the object is to show in what respects rail-roads are preferable to canals.

1. It is obvious that in determining the course of a canal we must be continually hampered by the necessity of carrying it where there will be at all times a sure and sufficient supply of water. This occasions the meandering of canals along the banks of rivers, and leading them to intersect streams at proper places, so that their length is extended far more than would be necessary, could this circumstance so essential to them be wholly set aside. It is not possible to give any general rule for determining the proportion of the whole line of a canal necessarily lost with a view to securing the proper quantity of water. It must differ according to the circumstances of every case. Perhaps, however, it would not be extravagant to say, with regard to canals of much extent, that at least one fourth, if not one third, is likely to be added by this single object. It was estimated by the United States Engineers, that a canal from Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania, to pass by Washington to Baltimore, must be three hundred and ninety miles in length. By the same report, a rail-road from Baltimore to the Ohio would not be more than two hundred and fifty miles. In this instance the rail-way is only five-eighths of the canal in length. In this distance of three hundred and ninety miles by a canal, one hundred and forty miles are saved by resorting to the rail-road. An exactly similar difference will evidently not apply in other examples, but this is one to show what an excess in length, and consequently in expense, is sometimes incurred by a canal on account of water, beyond what is necessary to a rail-road. Let us remember, too, that such a difference has its effects, not only in the first construction and expense of a canal, but in all travelling and transportation upon it, and in the maintenance of it in repair through all future time*.

* See “Proceedings of sundry Citizens of Baltimore, convened,” &c.

2. It is proved by experience that upon an average of one mile with another, a rail-road is less costly in its construction than a canal. It is found in England, and there is reason to believe that it will apply no less in this country, that the expense of making a canal is two or three times that of a rail-road. The excavation, or removal of earth or rocks for the former is much greater than for the latter. The iron necessary is far less costly than we are apt to suppose, as will appear when something further shall be said upon the materials of public works, and the expense attending them. And let it be considered that a lock cannot be properly completed of substantial and durable materials for less than eight or ten thousand dollars, while the means of passing from one level to another by inclined planes or otherwise on a rail-road, are easily provided, in comparison with locks.

3. At least as large a burden, or as many tons, can be transported in the same time and by the same force upon a rail-road as upon a canal. On this as well as every other article of this enumeration of advantages in favour of the Rail-road, evidence will hereafter be given to the satisfaction of every man who would ingenuously and diligently inquire into this most important and interesting subject. It has been common to remark, and it has been until lately received as a maxim, that conveyance by water must always be less expensive than conveyance by land. This did continue true till by the perfection now attained in the construction of roads and carriages, it is no longer correct in a comparison of rail-roads and canals. Let it be considered that by firmness and solidity of construction in rail-roads, burden to any amount may be carried upon them without damage to the road, and by the evenness and level of the iron rails, and the smoothness and perfection of make in the iron wheels that run upon them, there comes to be less resistance from friction to the carriage, than from the water of the canal to the boat that passes through it. From these two circumstances together, it must result, that the same horse power will be able to carry even more upon a rail-road than upon a canal. It is hoped the reader will not imagine that this is romancing, or that it is said to answer a purpose. The correct comparison of advantages between these methods of transportation for produce and merchandise, and the evidence to satisfy our minds, if they be not already satisfied, will be more fully presented hereafter.

4. The expense of making canals, and for ever attending them, in repairing and keeping them in good condition, and in the erection and maintenance of bridges over them, is greater than any such expense necessary to rail-roads. When a canal is made through a country, means must be provided at convenient distances for crossing it, to prevent the communication between one part of a farm or neighbourhood from being cut off from another. This brings on a multitude of contracts between the public and the owners of lands along the line of a canal, for making and keeping up bridges through all future time. And if there be any road crossing the site of the canal, a bridge must be maintained at the public expense for ever, that the highways may not be interrupted. This expense of bridges must continue to be levied in perpetuity by tolls upon the canal, and through all time act as a burden upon the transportation of goods. In regard to rail-ways, these difficulties almost entirely vanish. Men and horses can cross them any where without injury, and all that is necessary for the crossing of wheels is a piece of timber let into the ground along the side of the iron rail, and high enough to prevent the wheels in passing over it from touching the rail before it descends upon some little stone pavement laid down upon the other side. In this manner provision is made for any road on which waggons or carriages cross a rail-way. I am not aware that the bridges over the great Western Canal of New-York have ever been numbered, but after having passed with personal observation from one end of that canal to the other, it is conjectured that in the whole distance of three hundred and sixty-three miles, the number of bridges is not less than four hundred. In stating this, it is thought likely to fall short of the reality rather than to exceed it. In these circumstances convincing evidence must appear, that the maintenance, and repairs, and attendant expenses of canals must always be greater than are requisite for a rail-way.

5. It is much to be apprehended that canals may render unhealthy the parts of the country along their route. The motion of water in a canal, if there be any, is exceedingly slow, so as to approach stagnation. This is especially the case in long levels, unless the canal be made with such ascent as to occasion a current, which for convenience of navigation is admitted as little as possible. Even the original rapidity of rivers, where the water is sometimes dashed by falls, and agitated by rapids, does not prevent them from producing disease at certain seasons, along their banks and in their vicinity. This effect may be experienced even in northern latitudes, but it is especially to be dreaded and deprecated in a southern climate like ours. No such consequence threatens the inhabitant or the traveller upon a Rail-road. It is a primary object in pursuing the line of such a structure to shun as much as possible the intersection of marshes and streams of water.

6. Another circumstance suggested by the peculiar nature of our southern country, gives an advantage to rail-roads in comparison with canals. Our principal rivers originate towards the western extremity of the state. Were a canal attempted from the same distance in the interior, the long summers of our southern latitude, drying up all our smaller streams, and rendering very precarious supplies of water even from the larger, would make it necessary for such a canal, that it might be fed with certainty, to confine its course to the margin of some main river. Thus it would be perpetually intersecting the deep ravines which occur at small distances along the banks of a principal river. The consequences must be, numerous and large embankments, deep cuttings, bridges or aqueducts, rocky excavations, locks and culverts, all of which are occasions of the heaviest expenses in the completion of canals. A rail-road along extensive ridges, generally tending towards the point of destination, must be attended with signal advantages in escaping most of these embarrassments.

7. It is now ascertained that rail-ways may be constructed with all the necessary strength and firmness, out of wood, at a cost little more than half of that which must be incurred in making them of iron. If this be true in the northern part of our country, it must be eminently so of our own state. The lasting and substantial pine abounding in our low country, and the no less solid oak of the western part, would leave us nothing to desire in compactness, durability, and cheapness of materials. The work too, would be of a sort that could be executed by our own people, under the direction of an engineer, as well as by any that could be found in other countries. It is computed that the interest of the money which must be paid for the iron more than for the wooden rail-way, is more than sufficient to defray the expense of renewing it, at the time when it shall become necessary. The consequence must be that the latter is the cheaper of the two in the end, and it requires far less funds for its first accomplishment.

8. Another disadvantage incident to canals in a comparison with rail-roads, is the interruption of business upon the former for a considerable time in the winter, from their becoming frozen. This is an evil which it is true prevails more in northern latitudes than in our own. It is one, however, from which we should by no means be exempt, especially in the higher parts of our country. But in the depths of summer we must be much more subject to deficiency of water in the streams on which canals depend for their supplies. On such causes as these the rail-road is wholly independent.

9. It is continually evinced by present practice, that steam can be employed in transportation by a rail-road. A locomotive engine of ten horse power goes four miles an hour with ninety tons in its train, and twelve miles an hour with twenty-five tons. As to canals for ships or steam-boats, they are wholly out of consideration, in speaking of such as are ordinarily constructed through a country.

It has appeared then, from the whole comparison here made, that for many reasons rail-ways are preferable to canals.

THE man who owns and cultivates a farm in the neighbourhood of a populous city, enjoys more favourable opportunities for supporting a family and enlarging his property, than one who lives at a distance from a numerous and busy population, or far back in the interior of a country. It is because the productions of his farm and his garden have a fair and prompt market, with no delay of payment. This acts as a stimulus to his exertions. He is encouraged to fertilize his grounds, to practise the best modes of cultivation, to be economical of his time, and not to be sparing of his toil. His trees are well selected, his orchards flourish, his meadows are luxuriant, and he is no less particular in the quality of his grains, roots and vegetables. He is so habitually in good spirits from knowing no necessity or debt, by unembarrassed command of his affairs, and by a regular growth of his prospects for himself and his children, that his labours, instead of being oppressive, are prosecuted with renewed interest, while he looks forward to their speedy and certain reward. It is no wonder, then, that such portions of our country as are in the vicinity of a dense and active population, should be remarkable for the prosperity of their inhabitants. The distant farmer shows his sense of this, and of his own disadvantages, while in cutting down the timber that encumbers his lands, and which is to be burned in heaps, as being only in his way, he remarks that were these masses of wood in certain situations, instead of causing him so much useless labour, they would speedily augment his fortune. What is here said of the farmer or planter, is no less applicable to all sorts of business. Mines of iron, coal, or lead, could they all be situated and worked near to seaport towns or large cities, or even very populous parts of the country, are more valuable than when remote from the prompt opportunities of sale. The advantages of all sorts of manufactories are estimable by the same considerations. Let us then suppose a farm, a workshop, or a mine, with all its means of being wrought, situated two hundred miles from the sea, to be taken up, and put down again a few miles from a commercial city. The land which, before such a change, sold for three dollars, would now sell for fifteen, perhaps thirty or fifty dollars per acre. The reason obviously is, that in its new situation, it has all the opportunities of a quick, convenient, and ready money market. It would be a matter of small consideration, that the land at present was in an inferior state of cultivation. There is no danger that it would not soon become rich in these new circumstances. It would every year grow more fertile under the increased alacrity, ingenuity and management of the owner. If it were not subject, by some peculiar properties, to invincible sterility, he would think but little of its former unproductive condition. All this is evidently not less true of the mine or the workshop.

Such a case can only be imagined, and it is for the sake of illustration alone that it has been supposed. But to prepare the way definitely for the use of this example, let me repeat, What is it that causes the difference between the value of the farm and all its productions, in the one situation and in the other? It is in their distance from market. All that we have supposed is the annihilation of distance. If the necessity of so long a transportation did not exist, the farm that is two hundred miles from the seaport town, would be at once as valuable in every respect as if it were within one mile of it. With us in North Carolina, the one would be more highly prized than the other, because it would unite the same opportunities of market, and the same profits on every thing sold, with the circumstance of living in a healthy country. Is there no way of annihilating distance, not in reality, but in all that the farmer would ask, I mean its effects upon his opportunities? Are there no means of reducing these great distances to almost nothing, with respect to the disadvantage to which they subject him? The answer plainly is, that it can be done by a canal or a rail-road. It may at first seem strange and extravagant to speak of annihilating distance between two places. It is important, however, that we should become familiar with those modes which facilities in travelling and conveyance propose for doing this. You are in New-Haven, and you have business which calls you to the city of New-York, which is eighty-five miles distant. You go to the steam-boat in the evening at six o'clock, and step into it. When bedtime comes, you lie down and sleep on as good a bed as you want, and the next morning you awake at four o'clock, with the intelligence that all you have to do is to step out of the boat into the city, attend to your business, and then return home again by the same means. What great difference, it may be asked, is there, so far as yourself alone are concerned, between taking up your house in New-Haven, and setting it down at the city of New-York, and then returning it again to its proper place? Is there any thing virtually incorrect in saying that the distance between your own house and New-York has been removed as to the practical purposes of business? A person may now travel by steam-boat and stage from Norfolk to Philadelphia in thirty-six hours, though the distance between these places is three hundred and fifty miles. By such methods of travelling as were once practised, at the rate of forty miles a day, he must have required nine days to accomplish it. When we say that by the improved methods of travelling, the distance has been annihilated, there is no longer that objectionable appearance of mystery or magic, which might at first have occurred to our apprehension.

Let it not be thought that the expense of such travelling has been studiously kept out of view. The exposition is for the purpose of distinctly showing what is meant, when by certain modes of conveyance, distance is said to be annihilated. The passage from New-Haven to New-York, must cost three dollars for the distance of eighty-five miles; and that between Norfolk and Philadelphia must cost twelve, every thing in the latter instance being found to the traveller, through the distance of three hundred and fifty miles. But where men go such distances on business, it is really so great a privilege to effect their objects on those terms, and in most cases they gain so much by it in the end, that the expense is more than compensated by the advantages. When they travel for pleasure, we shall scarcely deny, that their remuneration is greatly enhanced, or at least, that it is a matter which ought to have no influence on the subject.

A merchant in Norfolk, for we do well to illustrate by fact, reads in the newspaper that three days afterwards there is to be sold at auction in Philadelphia a large quantity of goods or property, in which he feels himself interested. In the last thirty-six hours before the time of sale, he passes to the city, defrays all the expenses of his passage with twelve dollars, makes his purchases, and possibly profits by them to the amount of some hundreds or even thousands. The cost of travelling it is presumed would no longer be named, and the distance between Philadelphia and his own residence, he will consent to say, has been reduced to little or nothing, by the facilities of the passage.

Travelling recently on the New-York Canal, from Albany to Lake Erie, a distance of three hundred and sixty three miles, I fell into conversation with a man by the name of Hooper, passing westward in the same packet boat*.

* It is hoped the reader will excuse the egotism sometimes resorted to. It is thought important to build our opinions and views upon the foundation of facts; and the writer wishes to be held personally responsible for the truth of the circumstances here presented. The case cannot be mis-stated, for it was noted down on paper at the time, with repetition.

It might be left for any one to estimate the comparative cost of transportation upon a barrel of flour, by the two methods. But let us stop to consider intelligently the particulars of this example; for as a fact, it is of no small importance in determining the merits of canals or rail-ways, and common roads. Let us admit, for the sake of comparison, that one boat is as expensive in the building and maintenance as three waggons, and this will be a liberal allowance to the disadvantage of the boats, and in favour of land carriage. It will then be true, from the preceding statement, that one horse by means of the canal performs the work of fifty horses upon a road, one man the work of twenty-five, and one waggon very nearly as much as seventeen waggons. Nor is this the full account of the matter; for the man, horse, and waggon do that in one day, which the twenty-five men, fifty horses, and seventeen waggons do in two days. Now if we suppose the day's work of the man to be one dollar, that of the horse half a dollar, and the waggon to be worth fifty cents a day, the value of the work done by the three united, is two dollars a day, and the value of the work done by the twenty-five men, fifty horses, and seventeen waggons in one day, will be fifty-eight dollars and a half, or one hundred and seventeen dollars in two days.

To display this more clearly, we shall set down the two comparative statements with numbers.

1 man $ 1 00 1 horse 50 1 waggon 50 For one day $ 2 00

This shows the expense of conveyance upon a canal for one day to be two dollars, while the cost upon a New-York turnpike-road is as follows:

25 men $ 25 00 50 horses 25 00 17 waggons 8 50   $ 58 50

This being doubled for two days makes $117.

It plainly follows then that when the cost of carriage on the turnpike amounts to one hundred and seventeen dollars, it is no more than two dollars by a canal; or which is the same thing, that which may be conveyed upon a canal or rail-way for one dollar, will cost fifty-eight dollars and a half upon the turnpike-road. Now it is a certain fact, that upon a turnpike in the State of New-York, two horses carry ten barrels of flour, which is an ordinary load for four horses upon our common roads. For the sake of bringing the difference home to ourselves, we must then continue and say, that when conveyance on a canal or rail-way is at one dollar, it will be at one hundred and seventeen dollars by our ordinary mode of transportation by waggons.

The liberty here taken in speaking of the Canal and the Rail-way as alike in their efficiency for transportation, is founded upon the present decisive opinion of engineers, upon such experience as is now daily exhibited both in England and America, and upon such evidence as has been given in the preceding number.

Were a rail-way constructed from the mountains to Beaufort on the sea-coast, produce could be transported from one end of it to the other, through a distance of three hundred miles, in three days. This must be evident as soon as we reflect that regular line carriages, with proper change of horses, travelling night and day, will accomplish the distance in three days, at little more than four miles an hour. It is unquestionably in our power to complete such a rail-road, without the least inconvenience to the people, in seven years. Shall we then delay a moment seriously to commence a plan, which if accomplished, must be of inestimable importance to the State? It is for the people to say whether they will employ as soon as possible such an engineer, as shall in a few months give us an enlightened, correct, and conclusive estimate of the manner, the means, and the expense.

IN the second of these numbers it was proposed to show, and it is hoped not unsuccessfully, that for inland transportation, especially in our climate, rail-ways are preferable to canals. They are cheaper in the first construction. The iron rail-way costs not more than half as much as a canal between such distant extremities as the eastern and western parts of our state. And if it be made of timber having a strap of iron on the top, the expense could again be reduced probably to one-fourth of what it would be if made of iron. Not only is the cost of rail-roads less at first, but it for ever continues so in maintenance, repairs, quantity of travelling, and the numerous bridges over a canal not necessary to a rail-way. It is my object now to give more full and convincing evidence of these truths. It shall be such evidence as fears no future examination. It invites and solicits investigation, not theoretical and fanciful, but practical, and such as is confirmed by the incontestible authority of experiments already made.

Anderson was a man of practical knowledge on these subjects. The conclusions which he states are worthy of our confidence as derived from actual observation. One horse, says he, can draw with ease upon a canal twenty tons, and he will do this travelling at the usual rate of horses in a waggon, on a hard smooth turnpike-road. He then says that the same horse, on a properly constructed railroad, can carry the same quantity of goods in the same time.*

THE town of Newbern has been proposed as a starting point for a rail-road directly to the city of Raleigh. Valid reasons are to be shown for such a measure. A wise people will proceed to act upon a plan only when it is shown satisfactorily that the public welfare will be the consequence.

Newbern is among such of our towns as are best situated for commerce by sea. It is centrally placed in our lower country between the northern and southern limits of that part of our state. Its opportunities at the present time are to be very differently estimated from what they once were, connected as it now is by the Harlow canal with Beaufort, the best seaport of the state. Were Ocracoke the only outlet of commerce from Newbern, little could be hoped from it. From the reports of Fulton, our late engineer, the depth of water for vessels passing through the inlet up to Newbern is at the utmost but eight or nine feet. The inlet itself, on account of the shoals in front of it, is not favourable for entrance from the sea. Though Ocracoke will probably be always used by coasting vessels, were this our only prospect we should have little reason to hope that Washington, Edenton, Plymouth, Newbern, and other towns around Albemarle or Pamlico sounds, could ever become of much consequence in a foreign trade. It is the prospect from Newbern to Beaufort that attracts and fixes the choice upon the former of these places, as the point from which it is expedient to commence a rail-road directly for the capital, and then to proceed westward through the middle of the state, till it reaches the mountains.

HAVING explained some of the reasons for commencing and prosecuting a rail-road through our State, it is now proposed to show more particularly the advantages to result to the people individually, whatever may be their situation, in different parts of the country. Were it to profit a few only, and not a large proportion of our population, this would be so serious an objection, that we might well be met with the inquiry, “What is this to me? Are all these pains to be taken, and this expenditure of funds incurred, and after all, is a particular part of the country only to be benefited, while I am to remain under the pressure of the same difficulties? If I am to pay my share into the Treasury for a public improvement, some of the advantages ought to be enjoyed by me in return. If it be not so, no matter how small a payment you ask, I shall feel myself oppressed for the benefit of another. Let us then examine the object proposed with our eye directed on this difficulty. It is one which has ever presented itself as insurmountable in the improvement of our rivers and the construction of canals. Our rivers are so numerous, that to provide by taxation for making them all navigable, must be left to some future period, when our population shall be more dense, their wealth increased, and their resources enlarged. To open any one of our larger rivers and dig the canals necessary to make it navigable to a seaport, the whole strength of the State must be concentrated upon it, not for one year only, but perhaps for three or four. In the mean time it is for one portion of the people only, that the expense falls upon the whole, and far the greater part must postpone indefinitely to future time their prospects of sharing in the benefits of such unwieldy plans. We all know that we shall never, as a people, consent to measures so partial and burdensome. And if the cost of a single river, even were we to direct our attempts upon it with united force, would be more than the people would be reconciled to endure, the expense of improvements upon numbers of them at the same time, would in reality, be oppressive in the extreme, amounting to a taxation, or else incurring a debt, to which it is visionary to suppose that we should ever submit.

Far different from such a system is the provision of a single rail-road for the accommodation of all the people, within a reasonable time. Such a structure calls for not more than one-fourth of the whole sum necessary for the improvement of any one of our important rivers with the requisite canals, especially if we would avoid the result of having our commerce terminate in the neighbouring states. We shall be required then to show it to be a real and unquestionable truth, that the plan recommended, is for the personal interest of each. That it is so to all perfectly alike, it would probably be admitted hardly reasonable to expect, but if all material difficulties shall be removed out of each man's way to a certain and easy market, it is not believed that he will be disposed to swell trivial differences of opportunity into causes of serious objection against that by which his great purpose shall be effected, and his essential interests evidently and completely secured. The following list of places and distances is to put it into the power of every inhabitant of our interior country to determine for himself and his neighbours how nearly they are interested in such a rail-road as is proposed, by showing him the distance of it from his own house in a direct line. The list is alphabetical, rendering it easy to find the name of the Courthouse, and several other places in the county in which he lives. From the distances of these in miles, as given in the numbers, he can form a judgment of his own. The letters N and S will show that the place he finds is north or south of the rail-road.

  Miles. Allemance Church, Guilford, N. 13 Ashville, Buncombe, S. 22 Beaufort, 0 Bennehan and Cameron, N. 25 Bethany, Stokes, N. 26 Bethany Church, Iredell, N. 3 Bird's Iron Works, Lincoln, S. 39 Boon's Ford, Yadkin, 0 Brevard's Iron Works, Lincoln, S. 27 Carson's Col. Burke, S. 12 Caswell, C.H.N. 41 Catawba Springs, S. 22 Centre Church, Iredell, S. 18 Charlotte, Mecklenburg, S. 38 Chatham, South line of S. 18 Concord Iron Works, Burke, S. 14 Concord Cabarrus, S. 26 Cross Roads, Randolph, 0 Danbury, N. 40 Dixon, Gen. Lincoln, S. 34 Flint Hill, Rutherford, S. 27 Forney's Iron Works, Lincoln, S. 30 Fullenwerder, Lincoln, S. 31 Germanton, Stokes, N. 34 Good. Cross Roads, Rutherford, S. 38 Graham's Iron Works, S. 30 Green, C. H. N. E. 6 Greensborough, N. 21   Miles. Greenvile, Pitt, N.E. 22 Grove, Duplin, S.W. 30 Guilford, North line of N. 32 South line of N. 6 Haywood, C. H. S. 50 Henderson, Montgomery, S. 28 Hillsborough, N. 20 Hopewell Church, Mecklenburg, S. 30 Island Ford, over Catawba, S. 6 Jones' Ferry, Edw. Haw River 0 Kinston, Lenoir, S. W. 6 Lexington, 0 Lincolnton, S. 25 Louisburg, N. 30 McDowell, Gen. Burke, 0 Montgomery, C. H. S. 26 Moore, C. H. S. 30 Morganton, S. 7 Narrows of Yadkin, S. 22 Nash, C. H. N. E. 27 Newbern, 0 New Garden Meeting House, Guilford, N. 18 Old National Ford, S. 52 Orange, North line of N. 32 Oxford, Granville, N. 38 Perkin's Iron Works, Stokes, N. 27 Person, C. H. N. 42 Pittsborough, Chatham, S. 5 Porter, Col. Rutherford, S. 26 Quaker Meeting H. Cane Creek, Orange, N. 8 Raleigh, 0 Randolph, C. H. S. 6 Redfield Ford, Chatham, S. 3 Red House, Caswell, N. 46 Rockford, Surry, N. 31   Miles. Rockingham, C. H. N. 40 Rockingham, Richmond, S. 51 Rutherfordton, S. 34 Salem, N. 21 Salisbury, S. 10 Sampson, C. H. S. W. 37 Smithfield, S. W. 9 South Carolina line, Rutherford, Co. S. 48 Statesville, Iredell, S. 5 Swanano Gap, S. 12 Tarborough, N. E. 33 Trenton, S. W. 12 Tuckasege Ford, Mecklenburg, S. 38 Virginia line, Ashe Co. N. 48 Wadesborough, Anson, S. 50 Washington, Beaufort, N. E. 26 Waynesborough, S. W. 9 Wilkesborough, N. 21 Williamsborough, Granville, N. 42 Williamston, Martin, N. E. 45

An example will best illustrate the use of this scheme, and render it perfectly easy to every one. A person is supposed to live at Concord in Cabarrus, or in the vicinity of that place. Looking into the list he finds that he will be situated twenty-six miles south from the rail-road. He knows then that as soon as that work shall be completed, he has at any time only to load his waggon in the evening, to make an early start the next morning, and with a little diligence he will be at the rail-road in the evening of that day. Lines of waggons run daily, receiving and carrying goods on the rail-way, regulated in times and distances by law, and therefore responsible for failure, rivalling each other in accommodation and cheapness of conveyance. The least rate at which they travel is with ten tons to a horse, the horses changing every ten or twelve miles, and at four miles an hour night and day. This is to have the goods carried precisely ninety-six miles in twenty-four hours. We shall be safe in saying it will be one hundred miles in that time. Now if one horse and one man or boy can carry ten tons one hundred miles in twenty-four hours constantly, it is easy to calculate, and so reduce it to a certainty, that the charge of conveyance from Lexington, which is two hundred and fifty miles, is not more than twenty-five cents and a half. It was intended to spread out this calculation to show the reader to his entire satisfaction the correctness of its principles, and the truth of its result. Our space will not admit of it in the present number, but it is our purpose to give it in the next, believing it to be the wish of every reader that it may be possible to convince him of a result in which, if it be undeniable, it is impossible not to see that he is most deeply interested. If a man live fifty miles from the rail-road, and this is the utmost distance at which any one can be in the back part of the state, except perhaps in Haywood, it will take him two days to arrive at it, and we shall say two to return.

There is some difference between this and being from home a week, a fortnight, three weeks or a month, upon a continual expense, away from his family, his horses often tugging and plunging through deep and heavy roads, and drenching rains till their hearts are broken, himself in continual exposure to the weather as it comes, by night and day, till his own is ready to break, to get his produce to an uncertain market, where every article he purchases has its price augmented by a succession of freights, cartages, and storages. He at length returns to his family, and they scarcely know him. How should they? He is haggard and weather-beaten. His beard is long and black, and full of dirt, because for many days he has not had time to attend to such trifles. His clothes which were new and clean when he left home, are full of mud, and after being washed, evidently show that they are nearly fretted out with rough usage. Perhaps he has not thought it worth while to change them through the whole time of his absence. His constitution too,—how much has it suffered and been broken down by this and all the other trips he has taken of the same kind in his lifetime? The wear and tear of his team, is waggon, and his gear, are no small items in the account of expenses, by which his profits are reduced. His shoes, which are worn out, or spoiled, cost him more than thirty-seven cents, all things considered. Yet this is the man, you will say, who will forbid, on pain of his displeasure and the loss of his vote, his representative in the assembly, to say for him that he will pay thirty-seven cents a year for five years, to put an end for ever, for himself, his children, and the whole country, to this wretched system of marketing. No, I shall reply this cannot be. Let the remedy for such evils and disadvantages be fully understood; let its efficacy be completely ascertained, and let it appear to be attended with such an expense only as has been stated, so that it shall not be oppressive, and the people in their wisdom and fidelity to themselves, will resort to it, and persevere in its application.

A PROMISE has been made to show that when goods, wares, or merchandise, are actually arrived upon the railroad at any point of it, from the neighbouring part of the country, the expense and time of transportation to the sea-coast, or to any other point upon the rail-road, are of so little consequence as to be scarcely worthy of notice. It amounts, as has been said, to little short of a complete annihilation of time and space, to place these goods, wares, or merchandise, at any other point on the rail-way. Is lime, for instance, wanted in those parts of the country next to it? This article is only to be prepared in Sorry, Stokes, or elsewhere, and brought to the rail-road by the nearest route. Then with the additional expense of two cents upon the bushel it may be placed in Raleigh.

If the reader will consent to accompany the calculation now to be made, it will furnish a specimen of such calculations. In all instances where there is uncertainty, the numbers will be taken to the disadvantage of the rail-road and of the diminution of expense by it. It will be thus seen that the rate of charge upon the hundred in which it terminates, is greater than it would be in reality, and that the conclusion at which we arrive stands upon safe ground. It were easy to make addresses to our pride or our passions, to become exuberant in figures of rhetorick, and to present a thousand phantoms to play delightfully before our wrapped imaginations. Were this done, however, to its fullest extent, no sooner would our minds be permitted to cool and return to sober feeling than we should say, and correctly too, “All this was very handsome, but how much dependence is to be placed on it? Something more than this is necessary to convince me that there is any thing substantial, and tangible, and practically true, in the utility of a rail-road, and in the ease of constructing it. This man certainly speaks to us with no ordinary powers of persuasion; but he has too much sense, and we shall do well to take care how we trust him. Let him give us plain truth, so that we may rest assured that we are not mistaken, and that we are not pursuing visions of fancy instead of substances.” To the substance, therefore, let us return, and deal in figures of arithmetic, not in figures of oratory.

To conveyance on a rail-road, are necessary, 1. Horses. 2. Waggons. 3. Men.

1. Let it be admitted that one horse with another will endure five years in service, for example, from the end of his fifth to the end of his tenth year. He is such as we may get for one hundred and twenty dollars. Hence twenty-four dollars a year must be made good for the perpetuity of such an animal. If he eats twenty-four barrels of corn a year at two dollars a barrel, this will cost forty-eight dollars. Should he require a ton and a half of hay, or any other forage for a year at fifty cents per hundred, it will be fifteen dollars more. The maintenance of a horse a year then will be,

For capital $24 For corn 48 For hay 15 Total $87

If the owner receive thirty per cent profit upon this species of capital, the profit upon eighty-seven dollars will be twenty-six dollars and ten cents, but we shall call it in a round number twenty-seven dollars. This added to eighty-seven dollars gives an amount of one hundred and fourteen dollars, which ought to be received annually upon the service of every horse, for keeping up the property, and obtaining a handsome profit upon it of thirty per cent. This will be admitted to be liberal profit enough, and such as he would not be allowed to enjoy long by open competition, but we shall suppose it. The sum of one hundred and fourteen dollars a year is nine dollars and a half a month, or less than thirty-seven cents a day, allowing three hundred and thirteen days to the year, by the exclusion of Sundays. This receipt of thirty-seven cents a day keeps up the capital, and yields a profit of thirty per cent upon it.

2. Let us next suppose that five waggons must be procured, all to be connected together upon the rail-road, and to be drawn by this horse, of which the value and maintenance have been computed. The cost of one of these iron waggons, according to Strickland, is one hundred and forty dollars, and therefore the five will cost seven hundred. The wheels are of cast iron, and axletrees wrought, and we shall suppose them to last thirty years by laying the axletrees anew sometimes. If the proprietor of the waggons be allowed twenty-four dollars a year for thirty years, it will more than make good his capital. We shall further allow him an interest of eight per cent upon this capital of seven hundred dollars. Six per cent is common interest, but we shall allow eight; and we all know that the profits upon such durable and certain materials ought to be different from that upon horses and other precarious and consumable property. This interest of eight per cent upon seven hundred dollars, is fifty-six dollars per annum. The twenty-four dollars capital and fifty-six dollars interest will be eighty dollars a year for the five waggons, which at three hundred and thirteen days to a year, is less than twenty-six cents a day, but we shall call it twenty-six.

3. We shall next suppose a man, or a youth of eighteen or twenty years, to drive and take care of the horse. Enough of such persons may be had at twelve dollars a month, or one hunded and forty-four dollars a year, each finding himself. This will be less than forty-eight cents a day, but we shall say fifty.

In a regular line of carriages for the transportation of goods, a horse passes ten miles with a load toward the sea in one part of a day, and after resting, returns with another load back to the place from which he first set out. By this means ten horses put in successively, and travelling each ten miles forward, and ten miles back, convey one set of goods one hundred miles in one direction in twenty-four hours, and a returning load the same distance back on the same day. Hence the ten horses carry loads through the space of two hundred miles in twenty-four hours. It is one half only of the expense of this work done by the ten horses, which falls upon a load on its way to market. To this it is equivalent to consider five of the horses as travelling forward in one direction twenty miles each, so as to complete the distance of one hundred miles per day, and this shows us the cost of conveyance to the owner of the goods. Collecting together these different items, we shall have the following estimate of expense for carrying ten tons a hundred miles in twenty-four hours:

5 Horses at 37 cents each $1 85 5 Waggons continuing through the whole distance 0 26 5 Men or boys at 50 cents per day 2 50 For 10 tons 100 miles a day $4 61

AS many persons have not had an opportunity of knowing the manner of a rail-road, it will be well to give a description of it. It is so simple in its construction, that any one will easily understand it.

To make a rail-road between any two places, the ground must be chosen as levels as possible. It need not however, be exactly level. “If it ascend or decend twenty-seven feet and a half, and no more in a mile, it is considered a level way.*” The breadth we shall suppose to be eight feet, but different rail-roads have different breadths. The earth must be excavated deeply enough to arrive at a firm foundation. If after the choise of the course by a good civil engineer, any bill be in the way, the ridge must be cut through, and the stuff that comes out of it, taken down to make an embankment across the adjacent valley, until the whole road is brought to a level, and made compact. Pieces of timber eight feet long and a foot square are laid across to serve as sleepers, having their upper surfaces level. In a rail-road at a place called Mauch Chunk in Pennsylvania, the sleepers were placed four feet apart; but at the Quincy rail-road in Massachusetts, the interval between the sleepers is eight feet**. Long pieces of timber are placed

* See Strickland.