The Railroad system that has been designed for us by our own citizens and by outside organizations are these: The Midland Railroad, connecting us with the Arkansas river at your city; the Helena, Holly Springs, and Charleston Railroad, connecting us at the Holly Springs, Mississippi, with the Road system of the Union, and the St. Louis, Helena, and New Orleans Railroad, placing us in daily communication with the northwest on the one hand, and the great southern emporium on the other.

The people of North Mississippi undertake voluntarily the extension of the Midland Railroad. With them this road is a spontaneous suggestion of their own commercial interests; and having been chartered by the last Legislature of their State, will be put in active progress on the setting in of moderate weather. This road is about 70 miles long; and traversing a highly favorable and wealthy section of country, may be regarded a sober reality. The leaders in this enterprise are amongst the ablest men in Mississippi-J. W. Clapp and Roger Barton, Esqs., and the Hon. J. Mathews.

The St. Louis, Helena, and New Orleans Railroad originated in the public press of St. Louis. It appeared afterwards before Congress, at the instance of St. Louis, as an applicant for public lands. The Legislature of Mississippi has since chartered a company for the construction of that portion of it within its jurisdiction; and under this charter, I learn large donations of land along the route are being daily made to the company. Such is the feeling on this subject in Mississippi, that the Legislature in compliance. therewith, has felt called on to invite the Legislature of this State to connect the Fort Smith and Little Rock road with the St. Louis, Helena, and New Orleans Railroad at Helena. A large residue of the rich swamp lands of the Yazoo still vesting in the State of Mississippi, the delegation of that State in Congress, having been instructed on the subject of that road. by their Legislature, are seeking authority, in conjunction with the delegates of Missouri and Arkansas, to apply a certain area of the swamp lands, vesting in three States, to aid in the construction of the St. Louis, Helena and New Orleans Railroad: The citizens of Helena are at length to act in this great enterprise, by obtaining for that portion of the road, between this and the Missouri line, a charter under the general law of the State, in the name of certain gentlemen of St. Louis, Arkansas, Mississippi and New Orleans.

Such is the Railroad system about to center on our town, the voluntary offering of outside interests to her magnificent position. The commercial necessities offering us the Holly Springs and St. Louis roads, being constant causes must as such, result sooner or later in their appropriate effects; and the time at which they must so result, being influenced a good deal by the success of the Midland Railroad, that one work shall continue to engage as it

now does, the undivided resources of our citizens. Before going into the details of the splendid system of Railroads concentrating at this point, I will, in the first place, take leave to make a brief survey of the grounds on which rests the profound belief of our people in our approaching commercial greatness. The fraternal pride with which I know the prosperity of this town is, as an Arkanses town, regarded by the people of the State, will, doubtless, lend an interest to my remarks, much beyond their humble merits. The future of Helena is very plainly sketched in the topography and industrial geography of its position.

Helena occupies the only site south of St. Genevieve, in Missouri, at which the "Father of Waters" is accessible from the west over high and dry land. Herein lies one striking element in her approaching greatness.

At this point the great spur of the Ozark mountains of Missouri, known as "Crowley's Ridge," breaks off on the banks of the Mississippi; and the town being seated, chiefly, on the terminal sloops of this ridge, is therefore situated at the edge of the table lands lying west of this ridge, for its whole length. These lands, commencing at the river, and running west of the town for forty miles are superior to all overflow, of extraordinary fertility, and eminent adaptation to all the purposes of agriculture. health and wealth of this high aud rich back country, furnishes the prime condition of civic growth.

The

Helena is situated on the bank of the cheapest line of transport in the world, the Mississippi river, and when you consider the impediments and dangers of President's Island-the dangers as indicated in the annual disasters occuring there, and the impediments as implied in the fact, that Capt. Church, of the Bulletin," makes it the subject of special soundings during low water—you will conclude at once that this town of ours is situated at the actual head of safe and never-failing navigation. Here then is an advantage which has, when even unaided by any others, been the fruitful source of business centralization.

This

At this city the Mississippi bottom, lying altogether on the eastern side of the river, is reduced to its narrowest width: the hills of De Soto county, Mississippi, visible from this with the naked eye, are but 21 miles according to the government surveys, from the elevation on whose slopes our town is situated. fact shows our cheap accessibility from the eastward; and carries with it in its bearings on our civic greatness, all the importance of an active, because economical intercourse with the rich cottonlands of North Mississippi.

The great and wealthy valley of the Yazoo heads up in the immediate neighborhood of Helena. This valley, containing millions of acres of the very best cotton-lands in the world, is settling up rapidly. The higher lands of eastern Mississippi being by the un

fortunate system of culture pursued thereon, in a condition of rapid exhaustion, the present rush of capital into the Yazoo valley will infalliably proceed, until the whole area shall by occupied by, as indicated in the character of the present movement, the wealthiest planters of that prosperous State. A million of bales is not too high an estimate for the then production of the Yazoo valley-a country whose approach from the mineral, breadstuff and textile region of south-eastern Missouri and northern Arkansas, lies through this town. The force of its position in relation to the Yazoo and Iron Mountain must call forth at this place, as with the wand of a magician, a distributing emporium for the immense supplies of cattle, corn, castings, bagging, rope, &c. &c., that must pass from the north part of our own State and the southern portion of Missouri, into that future home of a great cotton planting community-the Yazoo valley. Furthermore, our position will draw to us at first, in virtue of the economy of shipment from a point of aggregation, the yield of the neighboring portion of the Yazoo valley; but whatever may be the amount of this at first, there can be very little doubt that the coals and cereals of the southern section of Missouri and the northern portion of this State, foreshadowing plainly the sites of future factories for the reduction of cotton, the shipments of that staple from the Yazoo valley to this point, while being considerable at the outset, will go on in a steady active increase. Both mediately and immediately then, the position of Helena in reference to the Yazoo valley conspires irresistably to confer on her the iron-crown of industrial empire. I shall sum up on this head thus:

Firstly-That it is the only point south of St. Genevieve, in Missouri, at which the west bank of the Mississippi river is accessible over a country high and dry.

Secondly-That it is the only site on the west bank of the Mississippi river, south of Missouri, backed by a country elevated, rich, healthy and eminently adapted to all the products of the field and garden.

Thirdly-That it is for large boats the head of the uninterrupted navigation of the Mississippi river.

Fourthly That, situated at the narrowest crossing of the Mississippi bottom, within the slaveholding States, it is the destined outlet for the intercourse of the southern & S. western States with the southern west.

Fifthly That, as reported to the Government by Lieut. Whipple, it is situated on the most direct extension towards the Atlantic of that best of all the southern routes to the Pacific-the route near 33 deg. 30 min.

Sixthly That, as the gate into the Yazoo valley for the minerals, fabrics, and breadstuffs of northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, it is situated at the Mississippi-crossing of the economi

cal and therefore foreordained route of the great Railroad from St. Louis to New Orleans.

For these six grave reasons, I say this city of Helena will be seen by men of faith and foresight, as though its site had been selected by a flight of eagles, to bear irresistible evidence of future greatness.

H.

KEOKUK AND MUSCATINE RAILROAD.

We perceive from our exchanges, that the citizens of south-eastern Iowa are earnestly discussing the project of connecting Keokuk and Muscatine by Railroad. This is a move in the right direction and shows that the people of the upper Mississippi are beginning to discover that the bulky and low priced productions of their farms can not be transported on Railroads to eastern markets and exchanged for sugar, salt, iron, and other heavy commodities, upon terms that will authorize them to abandon the southern trade. We regard the Keokuk and Muscatine Railroad as a work, plainly indicated and imperiously demanded by the laws of commerce; and though its accomplishment may be delayed for some years, yet its consummation within a reasonable period is beyond all question.

CLEVELAND AND ST. LOUIS AIR LINE RAILROAD.

This is one of the great lines of railway designed to connect St. Louis with the eastern States which has been projected, as we believe, without co-operation with this city. We have watched the movements of this great enterprise with no ordinary degree of interest, and have published from time to time such facts relating to its progress as we deemed interesting to our patrons.

The company has recently issued a statement of its affairs; portions of which have been published in the American Railroad Journal, whence we copy the following extracts:

This enterprise embraces a line of railway extending from Cleveland to Paris, in the State of Illinois, a distance of 342 miles, by the actual surveys and location of E. G. Goddard, Esq., the Chief Engineer of the companies, upon a route, differing from a perfectly straight line, between the termini, by a distance of only three miles.

The line commencing at Cleveland, passes across the States of Ohio and Indiana, and about ten miles within the State of Illinois, to a junction at Paris in that State, with the Terre Haute and Alton Railroad, now under construction, and to be finished in June, 1855; thus affording an extension of the line to the City of St. Louis, the whole forming a line unexampled in this country for its directness and low grades, and to which, in its details, the attention of capitalists, and all others interested in its construction, is invited with great confidence.

The entire distance between Cleveland and St. Louis, by this line, is 510 miles, which may be easily reduced by improvements west of Paris, to 500 miles.

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The whole distance from Cleveland, to a connection with the Terre Haute and Alton Road, at Paris in Illinois, is 342 miles, which does not exceed an air line more than three miles, or one mile in every 114 miles. Of straight line there are 330 miles, or twenty-seven twenty eighths of the whole distance, rendering collisions impossible.-Of that straight line, 188 miles, from Tiffin, in Ohio, to Lebanon, in Indiana, are continuous, immediately preceded, on one end, by a straight line of 26 miles, and succeeded on the other, by a straight line of 30 miles, making 244 miles of contiguous straight lines, 188 miles of which are continuous. The angles connecting these lines are so slight as to be of no practical moment, and the only reason why the entire 244 miles are not placed in a single straigh: line is the desirableness, arising solely from business relations, of reaching the two extreme points, Tiffin and Lebanon, which otherwise would be left northward from one to two miles.

West of the Wabash river, near the westerly end of the line, occur two maximum curves of 1,432.5 feet radius. Aside from these there are none of a less radius than 2,865 feet, while the majority have a radius of 5,740 feet or over one mile.

The maximum grade is 391 feet per mile, and occurs ascending west from the Wabash river, in all 5 70-100 miles.

Of level line there are 75 86-100th miles nearly one quarter of the whole distance.

For about 244 continuous miles, and on the straight lines, no grades exceed 21.12 feet per mile leaving the heavier grades at the remote ends of the line.

Trains passing east ascend no grades exceeding 26.4 feet per mile, and are favored with 19 miles of level and descending grades.

St. Louis will unquestionable stand midway on one of the great lines destined to be speedily constructed to the Pacific Ocean. In this case the Cleveland and St. Louis Railroad must form an essential and important part of such a line. Its terminus at Cleve