“Even the granite Capitol in Raleigh seemed to shake with joy” on Jan. 27, 1849, when North Carolina Sen. Calvin Graves cast the deciding vote to approve funding for the North Carolina Railroad (NCRR).
This assessment was provided by veteran legislator Rufus Clay Barringer of Concord.
He said that he
had experienced many outbreaks of public applause in the halls of state
government…but “none compared to the reaction that erupted when Sen. Graves
broke the tie to ‘save the state’ and pass the railroad bill.”
Dr. Christopher Crittenden, former director of the North Carolina Department of Archives and History, reflected that in 1849 the country lacked electronic, instantaneous communications capability, “but immediately, every man and woman, every boy and girl, became a sort of message carrier. News was hastened in every possible way to every nook and corner of the state.”
Former Gov. John Motley
Morehead, who helped champion the advantages of having a major east-west rail
line from Charlotte to Goldsborough, was known to have had lobbied legislators
on this issue, including Sen. Graves, but there was no evidence of any
“political skullduggery.”
Sen. Graves, as senate speaker, cast the vote that broke a tie. He was loudly criticized by his constituents in Caswell County for abandoning an alternate plan to build a rail line through his home district, connecting Charlotte to Danville, Va.
Calvin Graves’ vote on
the North Carolina Railroad bill cost him his job in the General Assembly.
He quietly exited politics…and accepted an offer from former Gov. Morehead to join the “team” being assembled to travel about the state making public appearances to raise the private capital required to match the state appropriated funds that would make the NCRR a reality.
Judge Saunders was a
former U.S. Congressman and state superior court judge. He enjoyed enormous
popularity as a “rough-and-tumble stump orator.”
Gilmer was an attorney who represented Greensboro in the state senate. He gained a reputation for “his eloquence as a public speaker.”
Transportation historian Michael Sheehan suggested that Gilmer’s influence may also have had a little something to do with the arc in the North Carolina Railroad route “so it would pass through Greensboro,” in close proximity to the Blandwood estate of former Gov. Morehead…to enable him to enjoy watching the trains go by.
This team of heavy hitters proved to be just the right combination of incredible fundraisers. Investors were eager to jump onboard.
Gov. Charles Manly (shown below) later appointed Calvin Graves as a commissioner on the N.C. Board of Internal Improvements, the body responsible for coordinating public investment in transportation projects such as roads, railroads, canals, harbors and river navigation.
When the formal
groundbreaking for the NCRR occurred on July 11, 1851, in Greensboro, it was
Calvin Graves who was given the honor of turning the first spade of soil. Thousands attended, giving Graves a
hero’s ovation.
After all the speechifying and ritualistic gestures, “the assembled crowd got down to the real business of celebration – North Carolina style – by dining on barbecue,” according to Sheehan.
The construction project was finally completed in January 1856, establishing a railroad line that extended 223 miles, linking Charlotte to Goldsborough.
Dr. Crittenden interviewed Robert Lindsay Morehead of Winston-Salem, great-great grandson of form Gov. Morehead. “I think North Carolina today would be like Arkansas and Mississippi, underdeveloped, if Graves hadn’t voted as he did,” Robert Morehead said.
“The railroad really changed the whole demographics of the state and cleared the way for all that has come later,” Robert Morehead said.
.jpg)
No comments:
Post a Comment