NP, NOTP 2/28/1862

From the New Orleans Times Picayune
 
February 28, 1862
 
Our Railway Connection with Texas
   We are so deeply impressed with the paramount importance of this subject to the best interests, not only of New Orleans and of Louisiana, but of this entire Confederacy, that we make no apology for so frequently making it the topic of remark in these columns.
   We have already acknowledged the receipt of the report for the year 1861, of the President and Directors of the New Orleans, Opelousas & Great Western Railroad Company, and at the same time promised to refer, with some particularity, to its contents. This we propose now to do.
   The Vice President, A. B. Seger, Esq., reports to the President, William G. Hewes, Esq., that the labors of the officers and employees, during the past year, have been eminently successful, in point of safety, economy and dispatch; that no material damage to the property of the company has been sustained from accidents, nor has the slightest injury occurred to either passengers or employees; that the work upon the track has been fully equal to the wear and decay, and the whole is at present in fine order; that the engines, passengers and freight cars of all kinds are also in good order, the repairs, at all times, having been fully equal to their depreciation from use, and that the station buildings and platforms are all in a good state of preservation.
   The report also shows that the gross earnings are $80,138.21 less than those last year. This arises solely from the interruption of the Texas steamers by the blockade, that part of our business having fallen off $85,622.37, while the local earnings have increased $5,484.16.
   This last statement is one pregnant with reflection, speaking volumes in favor of the immediate completion and extension of this great work of internal improvement between New Orleans and Texas.
   President Hewes, introducing this report, in one of his own, to the stockholders, states (as the reports which follow perfectly demonstrate,) that the affairs of the company are now in the best condition, and the prospects for the future very encouraging. The President says, in the course of his report:
   A telegraph line has been established between Algiers and New Iberia, to connect with another line extending to Texas, and both will soon be in full operation.
   A company having been recently incorporated for the purpose, there is now a fair prospect of an early construction of a road from New Iberia to the Sabine, which when in operation must add greatly to our revenues.
   He also says:
   The Legislature, as authorized by an ordinance of the late Convention, has passed an act for the payment, in bonds, of the balance of its subscription to the stock of this company, say $550,000. This is a very important measure, as it adds about half a million to the available capital of the company, and will prove highly advantageous to the State, as is clearly shown in the convention statement herewith. With this fund for the purchase of iron, we can go on with our present means, as fast as realized, in preparing the road bed for the rails, about 65 miles beyond our completed road being now ready. These resources are the remaining bonds of the company, balances yet due and unpaid on stock subscriptions, and 700,000 acres of very valuable lands. Applications are now on file for a large amount of these lands, and as we progress with the construction of the road through them, they will be rapidly disposed of.
A note to the President's report shows the gross earnings of the year were $401,783.00
The operating expenses 199,054.00
   Making nett earnings $202,729.00
or about 50 1/2 per cent.
Ferriage reduces gain to $164,079.00
or about 41 per cent. on gross earnings
   The number of bonds sold to date, (Dec. 31, 1861,) is 1165, and the floating debt is in a rapid process of reduction. Contracts are now making, the report adds, for the completion of the roadbed to Opelousas within the present year.
   This is a good showing, and should have the effect of securing at the earliest possible moment the entire consummation of the great work of railway intercommunication with Texas, of which the Opelousas road is a part. This road, when completed, will be two hundred and eighty-five miles in length, and will connect the Red River valley, Southwestern Louisiana, Northern and Northwestern Texas, and all Southern and Middle Texas. With its small capital of three and a half to four millions, it must pay heavy dividends. In a military point of view, this road is a necessity, for (as has been well said by another) without it Texas might as well be at the Rocky Mountains, if troops have to march 500 miles overland in case of war. The rapid concentration of troops, at any point in the Confederate States, is of the greatest importance. And commercially, this railway connection with Texas is a necessity to New Orleans and to Louisiana, if we are to maintain New Orleans as the great centre of trade of the Southwest -- the exporting and importing depot of the Southern States.
   From Chief Engineer and Land Agent Balley's report, we gather some interesting particulars. It says that, by July next, about 75 miles of roadway will be graded and ready for the track, and the whole 85 miles, extending from Berwick's Bay to Opelousas, can be graded by October or November next. The balance due of the State's subscription would furnish the rails for this 85 miles of road, and leave the Opelousas Company in a condition to complete their road to Texas without embarrassment or loss of time.
   The State now owns 1,400,000 acres of land within the limits of the Opelousas Railroad grant, or twice the amount belonging to the railway company. Fully 1,000,000 acres of this is within the "six mile limits," and if sold at a minimum of $2.50 per acre, the price fixed on the same by the late United States, after the building of the railroad, would realize to the State $2,500,000; add the remaining 400,000 acres at $1.25, and the total is $3,000,000. Nearly the whole of this land is at present unsaleable, and will be so till the railroad is finished, then it will sell rapidly.
   It should be remembered, too, that the extension of the Opelousas road ensures also the completion of the Louisiana division of the Texas & New Orleans Railroad, extending from Houston, Texas, to a junction with the Opelousas road.
   It is cheering, indeed, to be able to prognosticate, with so much certainty as we now may, the early completion of this great line of absolutely necessary internal improvement. The extension of the Opelousas road to Opelousas, the completion of the Louisiana division, extending from Houston to a junction therewith, and the construction of one from New Iberia to the Sabine, which is in a most promising way, thanks to the liberality of our enterprising fellow-citizens, may now be looked upon as fixed facts, and the fruition which is to flow from their influence may be considered as almost within our grasp.

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