lence, and successful management of her railroads. In these respects she ranks first among the southern States. Her success is mainly owing to the fact, that her great lines of railroad were completed within a comparatively brief period after they were undertaken. From the sparse population in the South, and the absence of large towns in the interior, the completion of a road is necessary to success. Until the connexions proposed are formed, the work is generally unprofitable. Successive links, as they are opened, do not yield a large revenue, as is the case with many northern lines, which find between two neighboring villages a remunerating traffic. To this fact is, in some degree, to be attributed the failure in the South of many of the projects of 1836 and 1837. Portions only of the lines of railroad commenced at that period, were completed. The commercial revulsions which followed checked their further prosecution. The several links brought into use were not of sufficient length or importance to develop and command a remunerative business; and, in some intances, projects were abandoned even after a portion of their lines had been opened for business. The reverses which have been alluded to, were chiefly confined to the projects of the newly-settled southern and western States. These States were then a wilderness as compared with their present condition. At that period success was impossible, not only from the lack of capital adequate to the enterprises, but of those qualities necessary to superintend and carry out these enterprises, and which can only result from experience. The effect of the reverses sustained, was to discourage for a time all attempts to construct railroads. But the long period which has since elapsed has brought with it greater means; a wider experience; the successful examples of other States; more distinct and better-defined objects; and a more intimate acquaintance, and hearty co-operation among people interested in such works. The operation of time has settled our commercial depôts, and established the convenient channels of commerce and travel. At an earlier period these were assumed in the projects undertaken, and the results frequently proved these assumptions to be wide of the truth. New lights have arisen as guides to renewed efforts. The southern people are again inspired with confidence and hope; and the movement now going on throughout the southern States, founded upon a proper knowledge of their wants and abilities, and guided by wider experience and more competent hands, is destined to achieve the most satisfactory results.

The success of the Georgia roads, as already stated, was owing to the fact that, after a severe struggle, her leading lines were completed without great delay. As soon as they were brought into use they at once commenced a lucrative business, yielding a handsome return upon the cost, and have proved of inestimable benefit to the people of the State. Their roads have not only enabled them to turn their resources to the best account, but have done much to develop that spirit of enterprise and activity for which the people of Georgia are particularly distinguished.

The leading roads in operation in Georgia constitute two great lines, representing, apparently, two different interests. The first extends from Savannah, the commercial capital of the State, to the Tennessee

river, a distance of 434 miles, and is made up of the Georgia Central, Macon and Western, and Western and Atlantic roads. The latter, by which the railroad system of the State is carried into the Tennessee valley, is a State work. The second line traverses the State from east to west, crossing the other nearly at right-angles, and is made up of the Georgia and the Atlanta and La Grange railroads. This line may be considered as an extension, in a similar direction, of the South Carolina railroad, and rests on Charleston as its commercial depôt, as does the former on Savannah. To a certain extent the Western and Atlantic link may be said to be common to both lines. The first-described line, however, has important branches, which connect it with a much larger portion of the State than the latter. At Macon it receives the Southwestern railroad, an important line, already constructed to Oglethorpe, which will be continued to Fort Gaines, on the Chattahoochee. A branch of this line is in progress to Columbus, an important town on that river, and the principal depôt of trade for western Georgia and eastern Alabama. Upon the completion of these roads the Central line will extend to the northern and western boundaries of the State, and will receive an important accession to its already flourishing traffic.

The three great roads of the State, which have been in operation for a comparatively long period-the Central, the Georgia, and the Macon and Western-have, for many years past, been uniformly successful, and take high rank among our best-managed and best-paying roads, averaging, for a series of years, eight per cent. dividends. Notwithstanding their imperfect mode of construction, which has required repairs equal to an entirely new superstructure, their cost per mile is less than the average of roads throughout the country. This is owing in part to the favorable character of the country for such enterprises, and the prudent and skilful manner in which they have been constructed and managed. All these have proved profitable works, chiefly from their local traffic. The rapid extension of connecting-links, which must use the above as their trunk lines to market, must, in the ordinary course of business, add very largely to their present considerable revenues.

Among the most important roads in progress in the State, may be named the Waynesboro, the Southwestern, the Muscogee, and the Atlanta and La Grange.

The object of the Waynesboro road is to effect a communication, by railroad, between Savannah and Augusta, the latter the terminus of the South Carolina and Georgia railroads, and situated at the head of navigation on the Savannah river. A portion of this line is already in operation, and the whole is nearly completed. It is an important connecting-link between other roads, and will greatly add to the facilities of business and travel in the southeastern portion of the State.

The Southwestern road will provide an outlet for the rich planting district of southwestern Georgia, one of the best cotton-growing regions in the South. This road has already reached Oglethorpe, and is to be extended to the Chattahoochee. It will then have an outlet in each direction of trade. The proposed extension of the road is regarded as the appropriate line to supply railroad accommodation to the south

western portion of the State. The Southwestern is already in possession of a large revenue from local traffic alone. This will be materially increased by the farther extension of its own line, and of connectingroads.

The Muscogee road extends from the city of Columbus, eastward, to its junction with the Southwestern, a distance of 71 miles, striking the latter about Fort Valley, 28 miles from Macon. It traverses a rich planting country, and is an important work, both as a through and local road. At Columbus it will ultimately form a connexion with the roads now in progress and operation in Alabama. Its through traffic, derived from the business centring at Columbus alone, will constitute a valuable source of revenue. It is nearly completed, and its opening is regarded as an event of considerable importance to other roads in the State.

The Atlanta and La Grange bears pretty much the same relation to the Georgia as does the Muscogee to the Central line. It extends from Atlanta, the terminus of the Georgia and Western and Atlantic roads, to West Point, the eastern terminus of the Montgomery and West Point road, a distance of 86 miles. A portion of this road is already in operation, and the whole is well advanced. Its completion will extend the Georgia system of roads to Montgomery, Alabama. As a connecting link, it is justly regarded as a work of much public utility. It traverses a very beautiful and highly cultivated portion of the State, and cannot fail to have, with all the roads of the State, a lucrative local traffic.

The only important road in Georgia already in operation, and not particularly noticed, is the Western and Atlantic, extending from Atlanta to the Tennessee river. To the State of Georgia must be awarded the honor of first surmounting the great Alleghany or Appalachian range, and of carrying a continuous line of railroad from the seacoast into the Mississippi valley. From the difficulties in the way of such an achievement, it must always be regarded as a crowning work. Wherever accomplished, the most important results are certain to follow. The construction of the Western and Atlantic road was the signal for a new movement throughout all the southern and southwestern States. By opening an outlet to the seaboard for a vast section of country, it at once gave birth to numerous important projects, which are now making rapid progress, and which when completed will open to the whole southern country the advantages of railroad transportation. Among the more important of these may be named the Memphis and Charleston, the East Tennessee and Georgia, and the Nashville and Chattanooga roads, already referred to. The former will open a direct line of railroad from Memphis, an important town on the Tennessee river, to the southern Atlantic ports of Charleston and Savannah, and will become the trunk for a great number of important radial branches. The Nashville and Chattanooga, traversing the State of Teunessee in a northwesterly direction, has given a new impulse to the numerous railroads which are springing into life, both in Tennessee and Kentucky. These railroads will soon form connexions with those of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and thus all the northern and western States will be brought into intimate business relations with

the southern cities of Charleston and Savannah. Through the East Tennessee and Georgia road a connexion will be formed with the line traversing the United States from north to south. The influence of such a connexion upon the growth and prosperity of these cities, as well as of the country brought into communication with them, can hardly be estimated.

A railroad is also proposed from St. Simon's sound, on the Atlantic-said to be a good harbor-to Pensacola, in Florida. One object in the construction of this road is to build up the town of Brunswick upon that sound. As this road would connect two good harbors, one upon the Atlantic coast and the other upon the gulf, it will prove an important work. It would also open an extensive territory at present but slightly developed, for the want of a suitable outlet.

A railroad is contemplated from Savannah to Pensacola. Its object is to open a communication between that city and the southern portion of the State, and to attract the trade of a large section now threatened to be drawn off by rival works. The project has its origin in the supposed benefit it would confer upon the city of Savannah, which is expected to aid largely in its construction.

FLORIDA.

Population in 1830, 34,730; in 1840, 54,477; in 1850, 87,401. Área in square miles, 59,268; inhabitants to square mile, 1.47.

In another part of this report full notice is given to this State, embracing the works of internal improvement therein, whether constructed, in progress, or contemplated to be made, and also those heretofore made and now abandoned. It would be superfluous to repeat that notice here. Reference is made, therefore, to the communications of citizens of this State, contained in the Appendix at the end of this report, to the documents accompanying the same, and to comments of the undersigned, prefixed thereto, for full information on these and other subjects respecting this State. A paper respecting the "Gulf of Mexico" and the "Straits of Florida," prepared from notes furnished by a distinguished and intelligent engineer officer of the United States, is likewise inserted in the Appendix, and contains important matter relating to this State.

ALABAMA, MISSISSIPPI, AND LOUISIANA.

The roads of these States belong to a general class, from the similarity of their direction and objects, and from the intimate relations existing between many of their important lines. As already stated, the great lakes are the radial points of the internal improvement system of this country. In conformity with this fact we find, that on reaching the Gulf of Mexico the general direction of the great lines extending into the interior gradually changes, in harmony with this fact, and that those arising from the Gulf of Mexico are at right-angles both to this and our great northern lake boundary.

In examining the character and prospective business of roads running at right-angles to the parallels of latitude, compared with those following the same parallels, some marked points of difference are found. In

the latter case, where there is no variety of pursuits, and where the whole population is engaged in agriculture, there can be little or no local traffic. The products being identical, all the surplus is the same in kind. But upon a route following a meridian of longitude, an entirely different rule prevails. Such routes traverse regions abounding in a diversity of productions, all of which are regarded as essential to the wants of every individual in the community. Such lines may be said to coincide with the natural routes of commerce, over which a large traffic must always pass, although the territory traversed may be entirely devoted to agriculture. The grains, provisions, and animals of the north are wanted by the southern States engaged in the culture of cotton, rice, sugar and tobacco; and these last-named products are received by the people of the north in exchange for what they have to sell. In this country, therefore, the routes running east and west may be termed the artificial, those running north and south the natural routes of commerce. It is this fact that gives particular importance to the great line of communication which it is proposed to extend from the Gulf of Mexico to the lakes, thus uniting a country the extremes of which abound in the fruits of the tropics, and in the products of high northern latitudes.

A railroad extending from the Gulf of Mexico constitutes a great national route of commerce, and furnishes a channel of distribution over the whole country, for the vast variety of products of the regions traversed, and at the same time constitutes an outlet for such surplus as may not be required for domestic consumption. Such are the extent and range of human wants, that they require the whole aggregate production of every variety of soil and climate for their supply. Owing to the variety of climate, this country is capable of producing nearly every article used in ordinary consumption, and an abundance of all that are of primary importance. Upon the completion of a railroad from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Michigan, a person living midway between the two will be enabled to have his table daily supplied with the luxuries of both extremes-the delicious fruits of the tropics, and the more tempered but equally valuable products of northern latitudes. The differences of climate will then, practically, cease to exist. The speed of the railway train will scatter over the whole country, freshly plucked, the fruits of every latitude, and one climate will practically exist for all, in the possession of an abundance of the products of each.

Extended lines of railroads are equally important in another point of view. It always happens that while in the aggregate there is an abundance of production for the wants of all, there will be failures of crops in different portions of the country. Such must be the case in a country of so vast an area as our own. With ordinary roads only, it is found impossible so to distribute the surplus produced as to secure abundance at points where production has failed. The limit to economical transportation over the ordinary roads is measured by a few miles. The greatest extremes of want and abundance, therefore, may exist in adjoining States. All these evils are remediable by railroads, so that they will not only secure to us a practical uniformity of climate, but of seasons also, giving to us the greatest variety, and at the same time the greatest certainty, of uniform supply.