So How's That An Opportune Time?
I needed to stop painting for a short spell and found sources of old maps and some historical notes of varying veracity. This I told in the previous blog.
I picked up a fascination for history when I realized the impact of some things that happened in the area where I grew up.
Somewhere around 1820 or so, the Army was given the task of finding the best route for a transcontinental railroad. Their studies favored a southern route going through Ft Smith Arkansas. It was shorter and had better passages through the Rockies. This was not the answer that the majority of lawmakers wanted to hear and it was still a daunting task, so it was mostly set aside. The more industrialized northern states felt that it was not as useful to run a southern route. There was a comfortable status quo situation where the southern states grew cotton and sold it at the world market price (The bottom would drop out about every 7 to 12 yrs) and the industrial states manufactured goods (including cotton clothing) that was protected by an import tariff.The only way one made well in the agriculture industry was to own a lot of land and have cheap labor (slaves)
Southerners were searching for a feasable rail route across the Appalachians to connect the coast to the Mississipi Valley and one of the more promising routes came right by where I grew up. The route was going to take advantage of some very good mountain passes, but would require two long tunnels; one at just over a mile long. The RR venture failed due to escaliting prices for goods and the failure to complete what would have been the longest tunnel in the world.
I spent many a summer day feeling the cool air pour from one uncompleted side of this tunnel. The place means so much more, since I caught the story behind it, including the methods of construction, the fighting of different peoples and the stories fo the place-names in the area.
I picked up a fascination for history when I realized the impact of some things that happened in the area where I grew up.
Somewhere around 1820 or so, the Army was given the task of finding the best route for a transcontinental railroad. Their studies favored a southern route going through Ft Smith Arkansas. It was shorter and had better passages through the Rockies. This was not the answer that the majority of lawmakers wanted to hear and it was still a daunting task, so it was mostly set aside. The more industrialized northern states felt that it was not as useful to run a southern route. There was a comfortable status quo situation where the southern states grew cotton and sold it at the world market price (The bottom would drop out about every 7 to 12 yrs) and the industrial states manufactured goods (including cotton clothing) that was protected by an import tariff.The only way one made well in the agriculture industry was to own a lot of land and have cheap labor (slaves)
Southerners were searching for a feasable rail route across the Appalachians to connect the coast to the Mississipi Valley and one of the more promising routes came right by where I grew up. The route was going to take advantage of some very good mountain passes, but would require two long tunnels; one at just over a mile long. The RR venture failed due to escaliting prices for goods and the failure to complete what would have been the longest tunnel in the world.
I spent many a summer day feeling the cool air pour from one uncompleted side of this tunnel. The place means so much more, since I caught the story behind it, including the methods of construction, the fighting of different peoples and the stories fo the place-names in the area.
posted by Marion at 12:43 AM
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