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[Header:] From the Loudon Free Press of January 15, 1853:

“We have been kindly furnished, by Mr. Prichard, chief engineer, with the following table of elevations of points upon the line of the B. T. & G. R. R. above level of the sea:”

Dalton, Georgia ——– 771 feet Varnell’s —————— 828 ” Tennessee line ———– 837 ” Cleveland —————– 778 ” Charleston —————- 718 ” Low Water Hiwassee R. R. ———————– 684 ” Athens ——————— 993 ” Mouse Creek Summit — 1,023 ” Sweetwater ————— 920 ” Philadelphia ————— 871 ” London ——————– 814 ” Low Water Tenn. River – 738 ” Lanol’s ——————— 733 ” Summit at Knox and Roan lines ————– 882 ” Turkey Creek ———— 809 ” Waters of Turkey Creek ——————– 778 ” Stone ———————– 834 ” Heiskell’s —————– 898 ” McClellan’s Summit —– 972 ” Waters Seward Creek — 870 ” Knoxville —————— 898 “

East Tennessee and Virginia Railroad

In 1852 the East Tennessee and Virginia railroad was chartered. The portion of this road in Tennessee extended from Knoxville to Bristol, on the Virginia line, and formed a connecting link between the two great systems of roads — those in the northwest and those in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. It was completed in 1858 and consolidated with the East Tennessee and Georgia road 1869 under the name of East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad.

Hiwassee Charter Among the Oldest

It will be noted that the charter for the Hiwassee road from Red Clay to Knoxville, 1836, was one of the first granted in the United States to run a locomotive and carry passengers was the Charleston and Hamburg line in South Carolina, January, 1831, or just five years before the Hiwassee road was chartered.

Edward Everett Hale, in his “Memories of a Hundred Years,” says:

“The first railroad train which carried passengers out of Boston was operated by the Boston and Worcester railroad company, which sent a train, mostly as a matter of curiosity, nine miles out to West Newton, in the summer of 1833.”

Mrs. W. H. Felton, of Cartersville, Georgia, who died in 1930, or near this date, stated in an interview of a few years before her death that the first train out of Atlanta was in 1843, and that she was a passenger, and was eight years old.

The railroad from Chattanooga to Cleveland was completed in 1859. Previous to that time Cleveland people had to go to Chattanooga by way of Dalton Georgia. Hon. W. H. Tibbs was a member of the Tennessee legislature 1853-5. An effort was being made by other parties to make the connection further up the road at Charleston or Sweetwater, both of these routes having strong backing, but Col. Tibbs out-generaled them and secured state aid for the present route.

“The Ooltewah cut-off,” connecting the two roads was completed July 3, 1883. Before this road was built all passengers from Knoxville and other points north went from Cleveland by way of Red Clay to Dalton, Georgia, and to all Southern points. The South Carolina canal and railroad company was chartered December 19, 1829. The Baltimore and Ohio was chartered in April, 1827, and applied to congress for assistance in making the survey. This is the first instance in which a railroad company ever approached congress for aid. On July 4, 1828, Charles Carroll, last surviving signer of the Declaration of Independence, laid the first rail of this line. Adam’s Geography, published in 1831, and in possession of the writer, makes the following reference to this road:

“The B. & O. railroad begins at the city of Baltimore and is in successful progress. A number of bridges have been erected on the road, but the most extensive one is that styled the Patterson Viaduct, about seven miles from the city. This immense structure is composed of granite. It is 375 feet long.”

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RIGHT PAGE — “Compulsory Removal of the Cherokee Indians” By John Morgan Wooten

The two years given by the treaty of removal for the Indians to remove expired May 23, 1838. The Ross following stood firm and opposed removal to the last. Chief Ross remained in Washington during the winter of 1837-38, hoping to influence Congress to agree to a modified or a more liberal treaty with the legal officials of the Cherokee Nation. “We will not recognize,” said Ross, “the forgery palmed off on the world by a knot of unauthorized individuals nor stir one step with reference to that false paper.”

Gen. Scott Arrives

President Van Buren, convinced that forcible removal was the only way to proceed, ordered General Scott, on the 10th of April, 1838, to take command of the troops already despatched to the Cherokee country and assume full direction of affairs in that quarter. Scott reached the Cherokee Agency at Charleston, on the Hiwassee River, May 8, 1838, and on May 10 he issued an address to the Cherokees.

Troops were quietly distributed in all parts of the Nation, and thirteen stockade forts were erected for gathering and holding the Indians. Six were built in North Carolina, as follows: Fort Lindsay, in Sevian county; Fort Scott, in Macon county; Fort Montgomery, in Graham county; Fort Hambric, in Clay county; Forts Delaney and Butler, in Cherokee county. Five were built in Georgia, as follows: Fort Scudder, in Lumpkin county; Fort Gilmer, in Gilmer county; Fort Coosawatee, in Murray county; Fort Talking Rock, in Pickens county; Fort Buffington, in Cherokee county; Fort Case was built in McMinn county, Tennessee, and Fort Turkeytown in Alabama.

Chief Ross Assumes Charge.

By resolution of the council, Chief Ross was made superintendent of emigration. Thirteen detachments of about equal size were organized along the lines of family ties and kinship, and each group was put in charge of two qualified Cherokee officers. Six hundred and forty-five wagons, each drawn by six horses, made up the provision train. Five—