INTRODUCTION TO A VIEW OF THE WORKS FOR THE TUNNEL ||London Bridge, will instantly show the great utility, and the conUNDER THE THAMES FROM ROTHERHITHE TO WAPPING. INTRODUCTION. Fig. 1 is a view of Wapping, with the churches of Shadwell and St. George's in the East at a distance, and a transverse section of the Tunnel, with a view of the workmen in the different cells of the shield. Fig. 2 is a view of the western archway of the Tunnel, lighted by gas, as it now appears. THE constant demand of information concerning the unprecedented undertaking of a Tunnel or road-way under a navigable and tide river, must serve as an excuse for the few details which are here submitted. A very superficial knowledge of the immense mercantile concerns carried on in the neighborhood of the river Thames below sequent importance, of an easy conveyance by land from shore to shore at that part of the river; and it appears that the only effective resource which could be contemplated as of permanent utility, is that of a Tunnel under the bed of the river, of sufficient capacity, however, to form a constant and uninterrupted public highway. The project of a Tunnel under the river at Gravesend was put forward in 1799, but the scheme was soon abandoned; this was followed by an attempt to form a Tunnel from Rotherhithe to Limehouse in 1804, under the authority of an act of Parliament, at which time a shaft of 11 feet in diameter was sunk to the depth of 42 feet, and from difficulties then encountered it was for a time suspended, and afterwards continued at a reduced die ameter of 8 feet, to the depth of 76 feet, at which depth a small driftway was carried therefrom under the river to the extent of C 928 feet, and to within 150 feet of the opposite shore, when new difficulties having arisen, the engineer reported that further progress was impracticable, and the work was discontinued. Various plans were subsequently proposed for working the Tunnel in the bed of the river, all of which, after a time, were abandoned. These proceedings are adverted to as establishing the fact of the importance attached to such an enterprise, as an object of great public utility. Notwithstanding the discouraging results of the attempts before mentioned, immediately that Mr. Brunel in 1823 proposed and exhibited his plan for constructing at once, and on a full scale, a double arcade, forming an easy road-way under the Thames, it was not only well received, but liberally supported by gentlemen of rank and science, undismayed by the extraordinary risks which an enterprise of such magnitude must present. The spot between Rotherhithe and Wapping, selected for the intended communication, is perhaps the only one situate between London Bridge and Greenwich, where such a project could be attempted without interfering essentially with some of the great public mercantile establishments on either side of the river; the situation is about two miles below London Bridge, in very populous and highly commercial neighborhoods, where a facility of land communication between the two shores is very desirable, and where a successful issue must be very advantageous, not only to the immediate neighborhoods, but also to the adjacent counties. While the necessary steps were taking to obtain an act of incorporation, and raise money to carry the plan into effect, the Committee of Subscribers employed a competent person, unconnected with the Engineer, to take borings across the river in that part, in three parallel lines; and on the 4th of April, 1824, he reported, that there was upon each line a stratum of strong alue clay of sufficient density and tenacity to insure the safety of the intended Tunnel, and of considerable value when the excavation commenced; upon this encouraging report the Committee approved of the locality proposed for the Tunnel. This very satisfactory account relative to the soil found in the line of the intended excavation, induced Mr. Brunel to enlarge the dimensions of his original plan, and consequently the apparatus by which he intended to protect the whole of the excavation, until it was perfectly secured by the brickwork. The act of incorporation of the Company having been obtained on the 24th of June, 1824, and Mr. Brunel duly appointed Engineer to the undertaking, he began his operations by making a shaft of feet in diameter, which he opened at 150 feet from the river. This he effected by constructing first a substantial tower of brickwork of that diameter, 42 feet in height and 3 feet in thickness, besides the coating; over this he set up the steam engine necessary for the drainage. He afterwards sunk the whole into the ground in the way that the shafts of wells are usually sunk. By this means he succeeded in passing through a bed of gravel and sand 26 feet deep, full of land-water, constituting in fact a quicksand in which the drift-makers had been compelled to suspend their work, and ultimately to reduce the dimensions of their shaft from 11 to 8 feet, as already men tioned. While this operation was in progress, Mr. Brunel received an intimation from eminent geologists, warning him of the existence of a bed of sand lying at a greater depth, and advising him to keep as near as possible to the bottom of the river. This information corresponded with the account given by the drift-makers respecting the existence of a quicksand, and its depths beneath the level of high water. The 50-feet shaft having been completed to the depth of 65 feet, a smaller shaft, 25 feet in diameter, destined to be a well or reservoir for the pumps, was afterwards sunk. But on approaching the depth of 80 feet, the ground gave way suddenly under this latter structure, which sunk several feet at once, the sand and water blowing up at the same time. Thus was the previous intelligence confirmed of the existence and the nature of the bed of sand in question, by which information the Engineer of the Thames Tunnel has been guided in the line that he has followed for his structure. The shaft and reservoir having been completed, the horizontal excavation for the body of the Tunnel was opened at the depth of 63 feet and in order to have sufficient thickness of ground to pass under the deep part of the river, the excavation was car ried on a declivity of 2 feet 3 inches per hundred feet. It must be remarked here, that the excavation which has been made for the Thames Tunnel is 38 feet in breadth, and 22 feet 6 inches in height, presenting a sectional area of 850 feet, and exceeding 60 times the area of the drift which had been attempt ed as before alluded to. For a more comprehensive illustration of the magnitude of the excavation made for the Tunnel under the Thames, it may not be improper to mention, that it is larger than the interior of the old House of Commons, which, being 32 feet in breadth by 25 feet in height, was only 800 feet in sectional area; and it may further be observed, that the base of this excavation, in the deepest part of the river, is 75 feet below high water. It is by means of a powerful apparatus, which has been designated a "shield," (a view of which is given in one of the plates,) that this extensive excavation has been effected, and that the double arcade, which now extends to nearly the middle of the river, has at the same time been constructed within it. This shield consists of 12 great frames, lying close to each other, like as many volumes on the shelf of a book-case: these frames are 22 feet in height, and about 3 feet in breadth. They are divided into three stages or stories, thus presenting 36 chambers, or cells for the operators to work in--namely, the miners, by whom the ground is cut down aud secured in front; and the bricklayers, by whom the structure is simultaneously formed from the back of these cells. Powerful and efficient as this apparatus has proved to be in accomplishing so considerable a part of the work as that which has been done, the influence of the tide upon some portion of the strata that constitute the bed of the river, is a circumstance which contributed more than any other to increase the labor, and to multiply the difficulties, and also in giving them occasionally an awful character. That influence upon some of the strata, or upon some portions of the strata, has not been noticed by the drift-makers, owing most probably to the circumstance that more than nine-tenths of their excavation had been carried on under a bed of rock. The shield was placed in its first position at the bottom of the shaft by the 1st of January, 1826, and the structure of the double archway of the Tunnel was commenced under a bed of clay; but on the 25th of the same month the substantial protection of clay was discovered to break off at once, leaving the shield for upwards of six weeks open to a considerable influx of the landwater, copiously issuing from a bed of sand and gravel fed at each tide: the progress of the work was in consequence much impeded during that time. On the 11th of March this fault or break in the clay was cleared, and the shield being again under a bed of clay, the work proceeded, and on the 30th of June, 1826, arrived even with the margin of the river, increasing daily in its progress; and by the 30th of April, 1827, the Tunnel had advanced 400 feet under the bed of the river; these 400 feet of the Tunnel were excavated, and the double archways substantially completed with brickwork in ten months and a half. On the 18th of May, 1827, and again in the month of January, 1828, the river broke in, and filled the Tunnel, thereby occasioning the apprehension that this singular undertaking, which had given such great apprehension, and had caused so much excitement, not merely in England, but in all parts of the Continent, must be abandoned; but, after closing, with strong bags of clay, the holes or chasms in the bed of the river where the irruptions had occurred, upon re-entering the Tunnel the structure was found in a most satisfactory state, and perfectly sound, thus affording the strongest proof of the efficiency of Mr. Brunel's system of constantly protecting as much as possible every part of the soil during the excavation, and finishing the structure in the most solid manner as the work proceeded; it being evident that the work already done must have been abandoned, if any part of it had been carried away by the irruption of the river. Subsequent to the irruptions of the river before mentioned, such was the desire to see the work completed, that several hundred plans were tendered for filling up the cavity, as well as for preventing future accidents. When the disadvantages are considered under which these proposals were made, without the projectors of them having possessed any information of the depth and rapidity of the river, of the curvature of its bed, or even of the nature of the soil under which the excavation was to be carried on, it cannot be surprising that the Engineer found among them no effectual remedy, or method of preventing a recurrence of accidents: all the plans, however, were duly examined, and attentively considered; and the Board of Directors expressed, under date of the 16th of December, 1828, their obligations to the many scientific men who had so spontaneously communicated their several ingenious plans for securing the completion of the undertaking. With regard to the projects which were offered for the continuance of the work, if the authors had previously informed themselves of the several strata of earths through which the excavation was to be made, they would not, as men of experience, have proposed them for adoption. It being as impossible to proceed with the excavation, and the formation of the arches, TYRONE POWER'S IMPRESSIONS OF AME RICA. RAILROADS. From this amusing work of a clever ("English and Yankee clever") author, we have extracted the following remarks on the subject of our internal improvement. The writer commences with his opinion of without constantly and effectually supporting the soil in every direction, as that an engineer could erect the piers of a bridge without preventing by his coffredam the influx of the water and in this respect no attempt was made to point out a more secure mode of proceeding, or any improvement in that all important shield, which has gradually advanced a distance of six hundred feet, under the constant pressure of a vast mass of soil, ill suited, in point of consistency, to bear the pressure of the water above, varying, but amounting, at ordinary full tides, to that of a perpendicular column of 35 feet. The works having remained in a state of total inactivity during a period of seven years, have been recommenced under the most favorable auspices; and from the experience gained during the progress of this unprecedented work, the difficulties which have been heretofore overcome, and the measures which will be adopted for preventing future accidents, there is very little probability of any circumstances occurring to hinder the complete success of this important undertaking. September. 1835. "Such great changes constantly agitated, ||In proof of it, I can safely assert that if a and reduced to practice with a promptitude traveller visiting the South-West, say from of which even England, with her wealth, Savannah to New-Orleans, will be at the industry, and enterprise, has little notion, trouble of recollecting this book in the year make discrepancies between the facts and 1837, he will find the account of the diffi opinions of rapidly-succeeding travellers, culties of my journey extremely amusing; for which neither the veracity nor the judg- since, in all human probability, he will perment of the parties can fairly be impugned. form that in five days, which took me, with "Action here leaves speculation lagging hard labor, perseverance, discomfort, not an article in an English review quizzing the||far behind; the improvement once conceived to say some peril of life or limb, just Yankees for attempting a railroad. is in operation by such time as the opposing "I never in my life perused any article more philosophical in spirit or more conclusive in argument; the scheme was "I feel, in fact, a difficulty in describing clearly shown not only to be absurd but without seeming hyperbole, the impressions impracticable, and the projectors proved I daily received, and beheld confirmed by either to be presumptuous imitators, or men profligately speculating upon the ignorant credulity of their fellow-citizens. "I closed the review, in short, admiring the clear judgment and practical far-sigthedness of the writer; pitying the Yankees, for whom I cherished a sneaking kindness, and inwardly hoping that this very clever! exposition of the folly of their seeking to counteract the manifest designs of Providence, which had so clearly demonstrated their paths, might produce as full conviction on their minds as it had on mine. 6 facts, of the extraordinary spirit of move- "For ever wandering about as I was, eighteen. "It is these revolutions, and such as these, that form the true wonders of this country; that stimulate curiosity, excite interest, and well repay the labor of any voyager imbued with a grain of intelligence or observation, to say nothing of philosophy. "It is to these results, their causes, and their immediate and probable effects, his mind's eye will be irresistibly drawn, not to spitting-boxes, tobacco, two-pronged forks, or other bagatelle, the particulars of each of which, as a solecism in polite manners, can be corrected and canvassed by any waiter from the London Tavern, Ludgatestreet, and by every grisette from American Square to Brompton Terrace, who may choose to display their acquired gentility for the nonce.' "It is the absence of a spirit of philosophy generally in our writers, and this affectation of prating so like waiting-gentlewomen, that stings Americans, and with some show of reason, when they see the great labors of their young country and the efforts of of the same year I did the same distance its people passed lightly by, and trifles caught by locomotive in two hours. When first I up and commented upon, whose importance visited Boston, the journey was performed in they cannot comprehend, and the which twenty-four hours, by steamer to Providence, they have neither leisure nor example to thence to Boston by stage; the same dis-alter or attend to." tance now occupies fifteen hours, a railway having been last spring put in operation between Providence and Boston. "Well, I forgot the article and its subject, "My first journey in Sept. 1833, between and was only reminded of it by finding New-York and Philadelphia, was by steammyself one fine day whisking along at the boat and railway, having cars drawn by rate of twenty miles an hour, over a well-horses over thirty-five miles, which thus constructed railway, one of a cargo of four occupied five and a half hours. In October hundred souls. The impossibility had, in fact, been achieved; and, in addition to the natural roads offered by Sea, Lake, and River, I now found railways twining and locomotives hissing like serpents over the whole continent from Maine to Mississippi. Binding the cold North to the ever-flowing streams of Georgia and Alabama, literally with bonds of iron, and forming, indeed, the natural roads of a country, whose soil and climate would set at nought all the ingenuity of M Adam, backed by the wealth of Croesus and the flint of Derbyshire to boot. 66 KEPORT OF THE SELECT COMMITTEE, On so much of the Governor's Message, as Again, in 1834, the traveller had but one rough route from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. You can now go a third of the distance by railroad, and, getting into a canal-ferred so much of his Excellency, the Goboat, are dragged over the Alleghany moun-vernor's Message, as relates to the contains, through a series of locks not to be struction of a Ship Canal around the Falls "Now, had such a result been prognos-surpassed for strength or ingenuity of con- of Niagara, would respectfully report: ticated only a few years back, the man trivance. whose foresight had led to such a large "In 1833, the journey from Augusta, view of the subject would have been mouthed Georgia, to New-York, was an affair of at as mad all over the American continent, eleven or twelve days; it is now performed and written down knave or ass, or both, in in three. Steam and railroad, are in fact, every practical journal of Europe. annihilating time and space in this country That the action of the Committee has been deferred till this late period, with the expectation of receiving the survey and re. port of Captain W. G. Williams, the United States Engineer, who examined the route of the proposed Ship Canal during the last per to submit such facts as have presented ||locks commence, and in a distance of one The practicability of this great national work does not admit of a single doubt; and in whatever light it may be viewed, it is one justly entitled to the favorable consideration of the General Government. Aside from its advantages to the interest of the Union, the interest of the whole western States and Territories, is deeply involved in its accomplishment. This Canal would open a ship and steamboat communication between the immense regions surrounding the western Lakes and those bordering on the Ontario and St. Lawrence, and perhaps at no distant day with the city of New York. The total expense for the construction of this Canal, as estimated by Mr. Roberts, is $930,826. The dimensions of the Canal were calculated for 36 feet width at the bottom, 60 feet at the water line, and 8 feet deep. The proposed dimensions of the locks were 25 feet wide in the chamber, and 120 between the gates. The commercial advantages to be derived from a communication between Lake Ontario and the chain of western lakes, have in a great measure been secured to the British Government by the construction of the Welland Canal. The enterprising spirit of that Government is not to be satisfied with this connecting link between our inland seas, Your committee regret that they have but is evinced by recent demonstrations of not yet been able to obtain the recent suran intention to engage in a still more exten-vey and estimates made by Mr. Williams, sive system of internal improvement. The following applications to the Provin cial Parliament of Upper Canada, during the present winter, will exhibit the strong feeling which exists on the subject. "For a company to construct a Rail Road from Toronto to the waters of Lake Huron." "For a Rail Road from the Detroit river to the town of Niagara." "For a Rail Road from Wellington Square, (at the head of Lake Ontario,) to Goodrich, on Lake Huron." "For a company with power to make a lateral cut to connect the Welland Canal and Niagara river at its mouth." "For a company to construct a Canal from Grand river to the river Thames, thence to the town of London." "For a company for the purpose of opening a Ship Navigation, through the neck of the Peninsula, between the Lake and the Bay of Toronto." for the purchase of the Canal. Should this negotiation be successful, it is easy to foresee that the Welland Canal would be so en larg. ed as to admit the passage of vessels of 300 tons burthen. In that event, who would monopolize the trade and commerce of the west? What flag would be seen floating at Buffalo, Cleveland, Detroit, and Chicago? It would not be the star spangled banner! This must be apparent from the inequality that now exists between the British and American commerce on the Ontario and St. Lawrence. In 1833 more than thirty British steamboats were in constant and profitable employment on these waters, while the Americans had only three. Your committee deem it unnecessary to enter minutely into an examination of the great commercial advantages to be derived from the construction of a Ship Canal around the Falls of Niagara. The importance of connecting the chain of western Lakes, with the Ontario and St. Lawrence, are too obvious to require argument. The experience of the last ten or fifteen years, has demon. strated the superiority of natural water comas they are decidedly of the opinion that he munication, over that of Canals. It is found has recommended the construction of a that Lake and River transportation is from Canal and locks of sufficient capacity to ad- from two to three hundred per cent cheaper mit the largest vessels to pass that navigate than by canals at the present low rates of tolls. the lakes. This appears to be demanded, Wheat can be carried from Troy to New not only by the rapid increase of population, York for three cents per bushel, while the wealth and commerce in the west, but by the cost or transportation, the same distance on extraordinary exertions of the British Go- the canal, would not be less than nine or ten vernment to secure an uninterrupted com-cents. The same inequality in the cost of munication between the western lakes and transportation, will be found to exist upon all the ocean, by improving the navigation of the lakes and rivers that admit of ship or the St. Lawrence. steamboat navigation. More than a million and a half of dollars A period may arrive, when a free naviga. ble communication between the Lakes, by means of a Ship Canal on the American side of the Falls of Niagara, will be essentially important, if not indispensable to the national defence. In the event of a war with Great Britain, such a channel of communicatien would be necessary to the protection of our extended frontier along the Lakes and the St. Lawrence. When the works now in progress, in Upper and Lower Canada, shall be completed, vessels will pass from the Atlantic to the Lakes, thereby rendering it impossible to make any successful defence against an enemy possessed of every means of increasing its strength to any desirable extent. The committee, therefore, believing this work one of great national importance, recommend for adoption the following resolu tions: Your committee are fully aware that this have been appropriated for the construction improvement, aside from the commercial adof a navigable channel around the rapids of vantages it will confer on the western States the St. Lawrence, and the work is now in and Territories, is a work of a national charprogress. When the obstructions in that acter, and one in which the interest of the river shall be overcome, steamboats and ves-Union is deeply involved. sels navigating the ocean will pass into Lake Ontario, and those drawing eight fect water into Lake Erie. The contemplated improvements around the rapids of the St. Lawrence river are to be on a scale suffi"For a charter to construct a Ship Na- ciently large to admit the passage of ships of vigation from Lake Erie to some point in 300 tons burthen. The locks are to be 200 the Niagara river below Fort Erie Rapids." feet in length, 55 in width, with nine feet of The attention of your committee has water. These important improvements been more particularly drawn to the consi- will probably be completed in the course of deration of the last mentioned plan of im- two or three years, and they will give to the provement. It is intended to lessen, in a Canadas a decided superiority over the great degree, the distance by Canal, com- United States, in securing the immense municating between Lake Ontario and Lake commerce of the west. But another conErie. A Ship Canal on the American side, sideration of deep interest is involved in the would possess very great advantages in this construction of a Ship Canal around the respect over the nearest possible route on rapids of the St. Lawrence, and that is, the the Canadian shore, and particularly over advantages which this communication, bethe Welland Canal, which is forty-one miles tween the Ocean and Lake Ontario, would in length. From the report of N. S. Rob-give to the British Government if the two erts, Esq. an Engineer, who made a survey nations should again assume a belligerent of the route on the American side in 1826, attitude. The improvements contemplated it appears the whole length of the Canal, and in progress, are on a most magnificent by way of the village of Manchester, is nine scale. They are designed to open a safe miles and seventy-three chains, and by way and uninterrupted ship navigation from the of Gill Creek and Bloody run eight miles. Atlantic to the upper lakes. It is already It is understood that Captain W. G. Wil- ascertained that the dimensions of the Welliams, the United States Engineer, will re-land Canal are too limited to admit vessels commend the shortest route. Upon either of such capacity, as it is proposed to pass of the foregoing routes no locks are ne- around the rapids of the St. Lawrence. For cessary from the commencement of the Ship Canal, on the Niagara river, two and a half miles above the Falls, to Fort Gray, near the village of Lewiston. "Here the the purpose of increasing the capacity of Resolved, by the General Assemby of the State of Ohio, That the construction of a Ship Canal around the Falls of Niagara, should be regarded as a NATIONAL WORK, giving security to our commercial intercourse with foreign powers, and necessary as an effectual means of national defence. Resolved, That the interest of Ohio, as a member of the Union, is deeply involved in the construction of a navigable communica. tion between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, sunmer. That report, though daily expected, has not yet been received; and your committee have therefore thought pro (From the Columbia Telescop..) LOUISVILLE, CINCINNATI, AND CHARLESTON RAILROAD. The Act incorporating a company for the construction of a Railroad from Charleston to Cincinnati and Louisville on the Ohio River, having become a law in the States of North and South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, the Commissioners appointed by the Legislature of this State to cause the necessary surveys to be made, met in Columbia on Friday last, the 25th inst. The following named gentlemen compose this commission, all of whom were present :Gen. Hayne, Chairman; Colonel Blanding, Gen. Thos. F. Jones, Hon. P. Noble, Dr. Thos. Smith, Charles Edmonston, Esq. and that his Excellency, the Governor, bell and as agent of the State, under the appoint- ||to be laid before the Knoxville Convention, authorized to transmit to the Ohio delegation ment of the Governor, will, we are informed, on the 4th of July. in Congress, copies of the foregoing report have the general superintendence of the Prior to the adjournment of the Board, and resolution, recommending their co-op- operations during the recess of the Board, Col. Blanding laid before them a mass of eration in obtaining an appropriation for the and for that purpose, will consult and arrange valuable information on the subject of the construction of a Ship Canal around the Falls with the Engineers the course of proceeding. proposed Railroad, especially in connection of Niagara. In the appointment of Col. Gadsden to the with the resources of the extensive region important office of Chief Engineer, there is with which it will open communicationevery reason to believe that a gentleman has which was deemed by the Board of such imbeen selected whose distinguished talents and portance, as to induce them to request that high character will command public confi- he would prepare a report on those subjects, dence in an eminent degree. This gentle- to be published for general information. man, (who is well known throughout the This document will not only be valuable for Western States,) is a native of South Caro- its statistical information, but will also emlina, and a grandson of the venerable Gen. brace a satisfactory explanation of the va Gadsden, of revolutionary memory. He rious amendments which were made to the was for many years an officer in the corps Charter by the Legislature of Kentucky, of U.S. Engineers. He was present in that most of which, in the opinion of Col. B. will capacity during the New Orleans campaign, tend to promote the progress of the work, and served also as an Aid de Camp to Gen. and extend its usefulness. Jackson. He was greatly distinguished for We annex hereto an address to the peohis gallantry and military talents, as well as ple of this State, inviting them to appoint his skill as an Engineer, and was honorably Delegates to represent them at the Knoxville mentioned in the official reports of his com- Convention, to which we would earnestly mander. So highly was his talents and char-call public attention. acter estimated by the Government, that on the resignation of Gen. Bernard, he was ap- The undersigned, in obedience to the dipointed to succeed him as Chief Engineer rection of the Commissioners, would invite and head of the Bureau in Washington, char- the attention of his fellow-citizens to the subged with the superintendence of all the sci-ject of the Railroad Convention, which is to entific surveys made under the orders of the be held at Knoxville, in the State of Ten. War Department; which station he filled nessee, on the 4th of July next. until the new organization, by which that The object of that Convention is to bring office was abolished. Col. Gadsden was together, by their Delegates, the people of all also at the head of the Board employed by the States directly interested in the proposed the Charleston and Columbia Committees in Railroad, which is to extend from Charleston November and December last, to explore to the Ohio River. It is very desirable that Capt. Williams, Lieut. Dayton, Lieut. the passages through the Allegany and Cum- South Carolina should be fully and ably repWhite, of the U. S. Army, and* Mr. Feath-berland mountains; on which subject he resented in that Convention. No State can stonchaugh, a Civil Engineer in the service made, in conjunction with his colleagues, have a deeper interest in the proposed road. of the government-all of them advanta- (Col. Brisbane and Mr. Holmes,) a report It is now certain that Ohio, Tennessee, Kengeously known to the public. which, we understand, gives ample testi-tucky, North Carolina, and Georgia, will The Board adjourned on Saturday, after making all the preliminary arrangements for entering immediately upon the necessary explorations and surveys. Col. James Gadsden was unanimously ap. pointed Chief Engineer; and with the assistance of the following officers, (who have been ordered on this duty by the Secretary of War,) it is expected will enter immediately upon the exploration of all the passes through the mountains, viz: ADDRESS. In addition to these officers, it is under-mony of his scientific attainments, sound send to that Convention many of their ablest stood that efforts will be made by the Board judgment, and practical knowledge. The men, deeply interested in the snccess of the to obtain the services of Col. Bisbane, now valuable information which it affords will be work; and it is expected the measures to be in command of a Regiment in Florida, and of great service in making the surveys now there adopted, will exert a controlling influ. Capt. Huger and Lieut. Colcock, of the ar. to be commenced. On the whole, it is be-ence upon the undertaking. In order that my-officers whose zeal and abilities emi. lieved that a gentleman better qualified for these measures should be conceived in wisnently qualify them for the work. the office could not have been obtained in the dom, and be guided by a spirit of conciliation It is expected that these officers will be United States, and we trust that his valuable and harmony-it is of the last importance, able to make such progress in the surveys, services may be secured to his native State. that ample information should be spread be. as to enable the Commissioners to lay before The other gentlemen named, (with the fore the Convention, in relation to the rethe Convention, to be assembled at Knox- exception of the Civil Engineer,) are also, sources and character of the whole country ville, on the 4th of July next, satisfactory in- we are informed, natives of South Carolina, through which the proposed road may pass. formation as to the difficulties to be encoun- and are all young officers of high promise, With these views the citizens of South Cartered in the several mountain ranges which who, we are sure, will enter upon their taskolina are earnestly requested to assemble in traverse the proposed route, as well as the with a zeal worthy of the great work in their respective judicial districts, and appoint means of surmounting them. It is expected, which they are to be engaged. It may well Delegates to the Knoxville Convention. The that in surveying the route through the State be a subject of honorable ambition for any magnitude and importance of the proposed of Tennessee, Assistant Engineers may be man to connect his name with this noble en- work, not only to our own State, but to our furnished by the Board of Internal Improve- terprise. With Mr. Featherstonebaugh we whole country, will suggest to every patriotic ments of that State, the Legislature of which have no personal acquaintance, but if he be citizen the high duty of suffering no feelings has, we understand, pledged the State to the the gentleman of that name who has been so of local interests or sectional jealousies, to amount of seven hundred and fifty thousand long before the public, he is much and de- find a place in the measures to be adopted, dollars, for the construction of the Road.servedly distinguished for his scientific attain-in relation to this noble enterprise. Let Del. In Kentucky, also, it is expected that the ments. As an eminent mineralogist, our legates be selected from among those best Commissioners will be aided in making the surveys, as a proposition for a liberal appropriation for that object, was before the Kentucky Legislature, when last heard from. It was also proposed in that body to appro. priate one million dollars towards the work, with, as we are informed, a fair prospect of success. Gen Hayne, as Chairman of the Board, • Lleut, Reid has since been added. mountains will afford him a fine field for We understand that after making all the This is the amended title adopted by the Legislature of informed on the subject of the productions, the cost of labor and materials, and other facilities for the construction of the proposed road, and let them carry with them ample information on all these points, charged only by those they represent, to use their best efforts to promote the grand object, the success of which will be an enduring monument of the wisdom and patriotism of our people. ROBERT Y. HAYNE, Ch'n, &c Columbia, S. C. March 28, 1836, |