line of 151 miles. Chattanooga is already connected by railroad with the cities of Charleston and Savannah. About 100 miles of the above road are completed, and it is expected that by the first of January next the Tennessee river will be reached, and that the whole line will be completed in a few months after that event.

The above road is the appropriate extension of the Georgia and South Carolina lines into the Mississippi valley, to which it opens an outlet on the southern Atlantic coast. For the want of other lines of communication, the Mississippi river and its branches have been the outlet of the trade of Tennessee. The completion of the roads now in progress will liberate this trade from the long circuit it has been compelled to take, by way of the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers, to market, and bring it into direct communication with its best customers, the cotton-producing portions of the southern States.

The road is important, not only for the reasons stated, but as a connecting link between two great systems of railroad occupying the northern and southern States. At Chattanooga and Winchester this road will connect with the railroads of Charleston, Georgia, and Alabama. Its northern terminus, Nashville, is the radiating point of a number of important roads, all of which will soon be in progress, extending towards Cincinnati, Louisville, Evansville, and the Mississippi river.

This road has communicated a new impulse; and, in fact, it may be said to have given birth to most of the important projects in progress in the central portion of the State. It constitutes the channel of communication with other roads, and supplies them with necessary outlets and connexions; without which there would be no sufficient inducement to warrant their construction. It has been prosecuted with vigor and energy, and its affairs have been managed with an ability that has contributed not a little to raise the confidence of the southern people in their capacity to undertake and prosecute successfully railroad enterprises. Railroads in East Tennessee.-The eastern portion of the State of Tennessee has no geographical connexion with the rest of the State, and its railroad projects make up no part of the general system. The most important of these projects are the East Tennessee and Georgia, and East Tennessee and Virginia roads. Together they traverse the entire State from north to south, by a line of about 240 miles, of which 15 miles lie within the State of Georgia.

East Tennessee and Georgia railroad. This road commences at Dalton, and is completed to Loudon, on the Tennessee river, a distance of 80 miles. It is in progress to Knoxville, its northern terminus, a farther distance of 30 miles, making the whole length of its line 110 miles. This was one of the early projects of the South, under the title of the Hiwassee railroad, which broke down after the expenditure upon it of a large sum. A few years since it was recommenced under new auspices, and has been carried forward successfully to its present termination.

East Tennessee and Virginia railroad.-The line of this project commences at Knoxville, where it will form a junction with the road above described, and extend in a northeasterly course to the Virginia State line, a distance of 130 miles. Here it will meet the Vir

ginia and Tennessee railroad. The entire line of the former is under contract, to be ready for the iron as soon as the connecting roads shall be opened. The line of the East Tennessee and Virginia road could not be brought into profitable use, and would, in fact, hardly be accessible without the opening of the connecting roads above referred to. In addition to the general provisions of the State, in aid of railroads, the sum of $300,000 was granted to this road for the purpose of building several expensive bridges. It is believed that the work will be completed within three years from the present date.

The above roads traverse a very fertile, but comparatively secluded portion of the country. In addition to its agricultural resources, it is rich in the most valuable minerals. Its great distance from market has proved a serious obstacle to its prosperity; but, with the avenues which the above roads will supply, it must soon become one of the flourishing portions of the country and the seat of a large manufacturing, as well as an agricultural interest.

The above roads derive their chief public consideration from their connexion with the great national line, which has been already described, and of which they form an important link. This great line will form the shortest and most direct route between Mobile and New Orleans, and the North; and must consequently become one of the most important routes of travel in the whole country. The lower part of this line will undoubtedly be connected with Chattanooga by a short branch, giving connexion with the roads intersecting at that point.

The Tennessee and Alabama road is a work of much consequence, as it will be connected with the Nashville and Chattanooga road at Winchester, with the Memphis and Charleston at Huntsville, and with the Alabama and Tennessee at Gunter's Landing. From Winchester to Huntsville the distance is about 46 miles. For this distance the whole line is under contract, and well advanced towards completion. From Winchester a road is also in progress to McMinnville, a distance of about 35 miles. From this point it is proposed to extend a railroad northerly, through Central Tennessee, by way of Sparta, for the purpose of forming a junction with the southern extension of the Lexington and Danville railroad by way of Burkesville, Kentucky. This is a project entitled to State aid. It will be seen that, with its connexions, it would form a direct route for a railroad between the northern and southern States.

Another proposed line, radiating from Nashville, is the Nashville and Northwestern railroad, extending from that city to the Mississippi river, near the northwestern angle of the State. This project also is entitled to State aid, and is regarded as essential to the system which Tennessee has proposed for herself. Its line traverses an excellent region of country, and would furnish an outlet for it in the direction either of Nashville or of the Mississippi river. The portion of this line towards Nashville is an expensive one; and this fact may, for the present, delay the commencement of the work.

The internal improvement act of the State contemplates the construction of three roads extending from Nashville in southern and southwestern directions-the Nashville and Southern, the Nashville and

Southwestern, and the Nashville and Memphis roads. Of these the first-named has made the most progress, its route being under survey preparatory to placing it under contract. It is intended to make this road a portion of the New Orleans and Nashville line. Its line traverses one of the best portions of the State, able to supply abundant means for the work, and its construction may be regarded as beyond any reasonable doubt.

The Nashville and Southwestern road will probably extend from Nashville to the bend of the Tennessee river. For a portion of the distance, this and the Nashville and Southern may be united in one trunk line. At the Tennessee river the above road will form a junction with the Mobile and Ohio road, and, through this, with the Memphis and Charleston road. By means of these connexions continuous lines of railroad will be formed, uniting Nashville with Memphis, New Orleans, and Mobile.

The Nashville and Memphis road will take a more westerly direction than either of the two last named. Its object, in addition to the accommodation of the local traffic upon its route, is to open the shortest practicable communication between the capital of the State and its principal commercial town. The construction of this road is believed to be demanded on the considerations above stated. Its proposed line traverses a very excellent section, capable of affording a large trade; and the city of Memphis must always remain the entrepôt of a large portion of the merchandise imported into the State, and the point to which must be forwarded a large amount of its surplus products designed for exportation.

The Nashville and Louisville road is a very important work, and will be more particularly described with the roads of the State of Kentucky, a comparatively small portion only of the line of this road being in Tennessee. For this project sufficient means for construction have been provided, and the work is to be immediately placed under

contract.

The line of the Mobile and Ohio railroad traverses Western Tennessee from north to south, and will supply valuable accommodations to that portion of the State. This road may be regarded as an Alabama project, and has been particularly described in the notice of the roads of that State. The Tennessee division is immediately to be placed under contract, and as it runs through a rich planting district, abundant means can be readily raised for its construction, in addition to the State appropriation.

The proposed Memphis, Clarksville, and Louisville railroad is another important project in West Tennessee. It will probably intersect the Louisville and Nashville road at Bowling Green, Kentucky. In connexion with the latter, a very direct line of road will be formed between Memphis and Louisville, which will constitute a convenient avenue from the former city, in a northeasterly direction, and which will become a leading route of travel in the southwestern States. It traverses a fertile section of country, capable of supplying a lucrative traffic. It is probable that this road may be constructed as a branch of the Louisville and Nashville road.

KENTUCKY.

Population in 1830, 687,917; in 1840, 779,828; in 1850, 982,405. Area in square miles, 37,380; inhabitants to square mile, 26.93.

This State commenced, some years since, a system of improvement founded principally upon the plan of rendering navigable her principal rivers—the Green, Licking, and Kentucky. Although large sums were expended upon these works, they have, with the exception of the improvements on the Green river, proved of little value. They are almost entirely unremunerative, as far as their tolls are concerned; although the Green river improvements have been of great advantage to the country traversed by it, in the outlet they have opened to a market. As a system they have proved a failure, and all idea of the prosecution of works of a similar kind has long since been abandoned.

Railroads of Kentucky.

Louisville and Lexington railroad.—The only railroad in operation in the State is the line from Louisville to Lexington-made up of the Louisville and Frankfort and Frankfort and Lexington roads. These roads were commenced at an early period in the railroad history of the country; and it has been only after repeated efforts and failures that they have been recently completed. The projects shared the fate of all the pioneer western roads, having been abandoned, and their completion postponed for many years after they were commenced. The length of these roads is 93 miles, and the cost about $2,500,000. The disastrous results which attended the enterprises referred to exerted a most injurious effect upon the public mind of the State. Discouraged by the failures which had been sustained, the people became almost indifferent to the subject of internal improvements, except so far as the construction of Macadamized roads was concerned, for the number and excellence of which, the State is justly celebrated. When the public mind of the West was again turned to the subject of railroad construction, it was with the utmost difficulty that the people of Kentucky could be convinced of the importance of these works, or induced to take any steps toward their construction. The losses suffered on account of the Louisville and Frankfort, and Frankfort and Lexington, railroads, were fresh in mind; and the people distrusted the success of the new projects from experience of the old. The example of the neighboring States, whose success in their recent efforts demonstrated the capacity of the West not only to build railroads, but to supply a lucrative traffic to them, and the rapid progress of those regions of country enjoying the advantages of these works, gradually inspired confidence, and aroused the people to action; and the State of Kentucky is now one theatre of the most active efforts to secure the construction of railroads. Every part of the State is fully alive to the subject, and its surface will soon be as thickly checked with lines as are the States of Ohio and Indiana.

The leading lines in the State, now in progress, are

1. The Louisville and Nashville railroad.-The line of this road will be about 180 miles long. Its route has been determined, and will pass

through a very fertile portion of the State, capable of supplying an immense traffic to a railroad, and entirely wanting in suitable outlets to markets, excepting that portion of the route near Bowling Green. The connexions it will form will be of sufficient importance to give the work a national character, as it will probably be the most conspicuous connecting link between the roads of the two extremes of the confederacy. The road is to be placed immediately under contract; and as ample means are already provided for this purpose, its construction, at the earliest practicable period, may be set down as certain.

A very important branch from the above road-exceeding in length even the main trunk-is the proposed Memphis, Clarksville, and Louisville road, which has already been described under the head of "Tennessee." This road will probably leave the Nashville and Louisville road at Bowling Green. It will be seen that the two would form a very direct line between Louisville and Memphis. The Memphis extension is regarded with great favor by the people of Louisville, and by the friends of the Louisville and Nashville projects. As a large portion of the proposed extension is embraced in the State of Tennessee, it will come in for the State aid; and as it traverses a rich section of country, and will receive the efficient support of Louisville, there can be no doubt of its speedy construction.

Another line of road proposed, for the purpose of connecting Cincinnati with Nashville, and attracting much attention in central and southern Kentucky, is composed of the Covington and Lexington line, through the towns of Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Gallatin, Tennessee. A reference to the annexed map will at once show the important relation it bears to the railroad system of the whole country. The city of Nashville is to be the centre of a great southern system of railroads radiating in every direction toward all the leading southern cities situated on the Atlantic coast and the gulf. In a few months this city will be in direct communication, by railroad, with the cities of Savannah and Charleston. Roads are also in progress to Mobile and New Orleans, to various points on the Mississippi, and to other portions of the State. The city of Louisville will be no less favorably situated,

with reference to the railroads of the northern and eastern States. On the north and west, the New Albany, and Salem and Jeffersonville roads, will open a communication with the roads of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, and with the leading cities of all these States. On the east, the line of railroad to Lexington will connect with all the railroads radiating from that point, some of which will open outlets to the eastern States, and to the great Atlantic markets.

The cost of this road will amount to about $5,000,000. Sufficient means have been already provided to warrant its construction. The city of Louisville has subscribed to its stock to the amount of $1,000,000, and the counties on its line have taken stock with equal liberality. The route traversed by this road runs through one of the most fertile and densely settled portions of the State.

The Covington and Lexington, and Danville and Nashville.-The two first links, having an aggregate length of 136 miles, are already in progress. Active measures are in progress to secure the necessary means for the last. This route will pass through Glasgow, an import