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1857-4
Clergymen to whom a number of this Circular is sent, are requested to distribute it among the members of their Congregations.
THE GREAT SOUTHERN UNIVERSITY.
ATLANTA AND THE LOOK-OUT MOUNTAIN.
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The enterprise in which the Episcopal Church in ten of the Southern States is now embarked, is decidedly the most important move that has ever been made in our country in behalf of learning. It is in the hands of a religious body which has ever appreciated and possessed education, and which understands well how to secure and direct it. Let it never be forgotten, that it is to the work of the ripe scholars of her mother Church--the Church of England, that the world is indebted for the noblest monument, and the strongest bulwark of the Refomation. The ENGLISH BIBLE--that great center of sympathy, around which all Protestant Christendom rallies, and by whose glowing light, all orthodox Christians to whom our mother tongue is common, are proud to walk-is her gift.
With ample means within her reach, and the sympathies of a large portion of the population of ten States enlisted in her favor, she must succeed; unless defeated by some fatal mistake or by some destroying stroke of Providence.
The meeting of the Convention of her Trustees on the Look-Out Mountain, inaugurated the great work. The Church has resolved to establish a{illegible: n?} University, to be under her own control, which shall be inferior to none in North Amerca, and which may aspire to equal, in time, the best in Europe. Her next act will be to determine where this school shall be located.
Here is a question of the very gravest character --involving consequences of incalculable importance--presents itself for her consideration. It is a momentous question. Its solution will determine the position of an institutuion which may live through a score of centuries, and which is destined to dispense blessings to unborn generations. The course of the Convention, at its late meeting indicates, that its wise heads are fully sensible of the responsibility resting on their shoulders. It has done nothing hurriedly; {italics begin:} Festina lente {italics end} has been its safe motto so far, and to this it will adhere. It has appointed a committee of competent persons to search out and designate a suituable site for the great work.-In settling the question of location, the Convention will not be guided by fancy, nor will it permit sectional interest to have any weight. {italics begin:} The greatest real permanent advantages must be found in the scale, to turn it in favor of any point. {italics end.}
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The healthfulness{italics} of any region of country claiming preference, is the first thing to be considered; its {italics begin:} geographical position {italics end} is the second; its accessibility{italics} is the third; its water{italics} is the fourth; its temperature{italics} is the fifth; its {italics begin:} supply of building materials {italics end} is the sixth; the {italics begin:} cost of fuel and provisions {italics end} is the seventh. {Italics begin:} Beauty of prospect, and facilities for healthful amusements,{italics end} are to be considered, provided they are not obtained at too great a sacrifice of more important advantages.
What can be said of the healthfulness{italics} of Atlanta and the adjacent country? Let the bill of mortality for the city, and the amount of work done in the machine shops, answer. The mortality in Atlanta does not exceed one and a half per cent. per annum, including deaths from Railroad accidents, and a large amount of active machiner. Cholera{italics} and {italics begin:} Yellow Fever{italics end} are quited unknown in this favored region; cases of both have been brought to the city, but they failed to extend to a single individual.-The laborers are healthy, and as few days are lost among them as are lost among the operatives in any place in the Union.
The {italics begin:} Geographical position{italics end} of Atlanta is the next of its advantages, to which we ask attention. In the whole range of country embraced in the ten States, it is the most Southern healthful spot to be found. It lies almost immediately between two mountains, (the Stone Mountain is distant fifteen miles on one side, and the Kenesaw is twenty on the other) and lying on a spur of the Blue Ridge, extending from Clarkesville, through Hall County, it has an altitude of more than eleven hundred feet above the sea. It is immediately on the great traveled route between New York and Louisiana and Texas, and is near the middle point between Danville, Virginia, and New Orleans. It is but eighty miles from the half-way point between Savannah and Memphis; is just midway between Florida and Arkansas; and is nearer to Vicksburg by Railroad route now in progress, than is Chattanooga.
Let us enquired now what can be said for its accessibility{italics}. On that point it should be enough to show that it is the great R. R. center of the Southern States. From Petersburg, Virginia, it is reached by two R. R. routes; the one passing through S. Western Virginia and E. Tennessee. The other by Wilmington, N. C., Kingsville, S.
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C. and Augusta, Ga. From Charleston, S. C., it is approached by two routes; one through Augusta, and the other by R. R. in progress from Charleston to Savannah. From Savannah it is three hundred miles distant by one R. R. route; with Brunswick, Ga., it will be connected by R. R. from Macon; with Pensacola by R. R. from Montgomery, Alabama; with Mobile and New Orleans, by steamers and R. R. from Montgomery. From Vicksburg, it is approached by two R. R. routes; the one by Selma and Montgomery, and the other through Northern Mississippi and Alabama, and by Chattanooga. It is connected, also, with Memphis and Nashville by R. Roads. Many of these roads are trunks, to which others are tributary, by which every section of the Southern States is easily reached. To the above named Railroad advantages it will receive a most important addition when the "Air-Line Railroad" is completed.-This Road will afford a straight line of communication between New York and New Orleans through Atlanta, thereby lessening the distance now traveled more than 230 miles. In the judgment of experienced engineers, this will be the great route by which intercourse will be maintained between the Atlantic and Pacific States. The geographical position of such a route will exempt it at all seasons from the inconvenience of snow. The "Air Line Road" is now high in the favor of the Southern people. Active practical men are leading the enterprise, and it has been begun with a degree of energy which will soon carry it through.
The water{italics} of Atlanta, and that of the entire region of country in which it is situate, is abundant, cool and pure. It is perfectly free from lime, is obtained within 30 feet of the surface, and varies from 58 to 63 degrees of Fahrenheit.
{Italics begin:}Temperature of the Atmosphere,{italics end} is another important consideration. Having a mountain altitude, the air is pure, cool and bracing. It will be found to be always cooler at night, than any place in the same latitude. If there be an objection to the climate, it is that it is rather colder in winter than is agreeable to many. The forest growth is recognized, by close observers as indicating a dry climate. Further evidence of this is found in the great success with which the Grape is cultivated, a degree of success which promises to clothe the hills of this region with the most fruitful vineyards.
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The following imperfect table will afford a proximated average of the temperature of Atlanta from the 2d of June to the 26th of September, 1857. The gentleman to whom we are indebted for it, was absent from the city during the month of July. He thinks the afternoon average of the thermometer two degrees too high, occasioned by reflection--the exposure being a South West one without the protection of a portico or piazza on the wall.
SUMMER OF 1857.
6 o'clock. 2 o'clock. June 2,........ Morning 60, Evening 76 " 3,........ " 50, " 76 " 4,........ " 64, " 80 " 5,........ " 66, " 80 " 7,........ " 66, " 90 " 8,........ " 66, " 90 " 9,........ " 66, " 92 " 10,........ " 68, " 92 " 11,........ " 62, " 80 " 12,........ " 61, " -" 13,........ " 62, " 84 " 14,........ " 72, " 86 " 15,........ " 70, " 84 " 16,........ " 70, " 84 " 18,........ " 62, " 76 " 19,........ " 58, " 70 " 21,........ " 66, " 84 " 25,........ " 66, " 82 " 26,........ " 66, " 80 " 27,........ " 68, " 80 Aug. 13,...... " 68, " 84 " 14,...... " 68, " 88 " 15,...... " 68, " 88 " 16,...... " 76, " 92 " 17,...... " 74, " 92 " 18,...... " 78, " 90 " 19,...... " 72, Rain, " 78 " 20,...... " 64, " 70 " 21,...... " 66, " 76 " 22,...... " 68, " 80 " 25,...... " 70, " 84 " 26,...... " 72, " 84 " 27,...... " 72, " 84 " 28,...... " 72, " -" 29,...... " 66, " 78 " 30,...... " 60, " 70 Sept. 2,....... " 64, " 76 " 3,....... " 64, " 76 " 6,....... " 80, " 84 " 11,....... " 68, " 80 " 12,....... " 68, " 82 " 16,....... " 74, " 88 " 17,....... " 72, " 88 " 20,....... " 70, " 84 " 24,....... " 66, " 78 " 26,....... " 66, " 77
{Italics begin:}Building materials{italics end} abound in the city and the neighboring country. They are of the best quality, of great beauty, and exist in inexhaustible abundance. Good brick is sold at fine and six dollars per thousand. The best Pine Lumber is laid down at $1 25 per hundred. Granite is supplied from the Stone Mountain. Other fine building stone is quarried in many places in and near the city, and a stone resembling Portland Stone of the most beautiful kind, can be brought down the State Road in any quantity. Lime is furnished at $2 50 per barrel of five bushels, and can be brought down the State Road by the car load at a lower rate. Sand abounds in all the water courses in the neighborhood, and is laid down at 40 cents per two-horse load. Coal is brought from the mine at $230 freight per ton, making the entire cost at any point on the road near Atlanta $5 30 per ton. Oak wood is delivered in the city at $2 00 per cord.
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Provisions{italics}.--Atlanta is the great outlet through which Cherokee-Georgia and the fertile State of Tennessee disgorge their superabundance. Through it pass the bacon, lard, beef, flour, corn, wheat, oats, and rye, of this abundant country. The freight of these articles, per Railroad from Chattanooga to Atlanta, is less than the cost of transportation from the same point to the top of the Look-out Mountain. Bacon is brought from Chattanooga to Atlanta for 30 cents per hundred, at which price it cannot be conveyed up the Mountain.
Sugar, s{proofreader's mark: y}rup, molasses, coffee, tea, salt, rice, and other groceries, are brought from New Orleans, Savannah and Charleston, and laid down in Atlanta at less cost than they can ever be in Chattanooga, where they are taxed with the additional expense of fifty cents or more per hundred, before they can reach their place of destination.
{Italics begin:}Beauty of Scenery{italics end}.-- There are points about Atlanta where the beauty of the landscape will compare with almost any view, into which water does not enter. True, there are but few mountains in sight, and they are distant, and not large. But every one who is at all familiar with the rules of criticism, knows that grandeur is by no means essential to beauty. The blue grass, with a little attention makes a fine lawn here, as may be seen even in the city. The face of the country is gently undulating and is frequently relieved with bold and picturesque features. Trees grow luxuriantly, and copious streams of clear water are abundant. We hesitate not to say that where these resources are at command, the beautiful and the picturesque may be so varied and combined as to make the landscape perfectly enchanting. Whoever has visited the school that once flourished at Montpelier, Georgia, will not forget how much of beauty may exist in a landscape, destitute alike of mountains and water, and limited to a prospect of not half a mile in extent.
As might have been expect, the great advantages of Atlanta, as a favorable position for business, have not escaped the attention of persons of capital and enterprise. The numerous mills, founderies, machine-shops, and factories in successful operation here, together with the number of large warehouses stored with provisions of every kind, prove that their proprietors have not been deceived in selecting it as the most favorable spot at which to collect materials for their business, and from which to communicate with the whole surrounding country. Nor does the salubrity of its climate, indicating it as an eligible place of residence, vainly invite families of education and refinement to make it the place of their homes. It is yearly receiving accessions from the best society of Alabama and Florida, and the lower counties of Georgia. In short, we know no place, that fifteen years ago was a wilderness, in favor of which half so much can be said.
THE LOOK-OUT MOUNTAIN.
As the Look-out Mountain has been named as a suitable place, for the proposed Universi-
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ty, and as its advocates have called attention to it through the press, it will not be out of place to point out the advantages and disadvantages of that site.
It is blessed with a pure atmosphere, is canopied with a clear blue sky, and commands a fine view of the surrounding country. The landscape, as seen from its top, is charming: it is broad, rich and varied; imposing with the grandeur of its mountains; beautiful with its water and fields and forest; and enlivened with an endless variety of hill and dale.-Such features make it a pleasant spot on which to sojourn, for a few weeks and even months, in summer. But we hesitate not to say, that in pointing out these beauties, we have named all the advantages that indicate it as a suitable place for such an institution as the Church contemplates. These are features which are patent to every one, and which make their strongest impression on the mind of the visitor at the very first view. They are well calculated to carry away a lively imagination, and to win the favor of minds easily impressed with the grand and the beautiful. Behind them-out of the view of the casual or fanciful observer--lie the weighty considerations which are to determine its fitness or unfitness {italics begin:}as the site of a great School for the convenience of the whole South.{end italics}
The Mountain is almost destitute of water; a few inconsiderable springs remote from each other, being its chief dependence. Wells cannot be dug, except for great labor and at enormous expense; nor is there any probability that a copious supply of water can be obtained, before the limestone is reached, which would render it unfit for general use.
Lumber{italics} (we are told by those most interested) {italics begin:} cannot be carried up the mountain,{italics end} the expense of transportation operating as an embargo on it. Whence, then, is it to be obtained? It must be cut (is the answer) by portable mills, erected on the spot. Now, these mills cannot be driven by steam, because there is no water from which to generate it; and no one who is acquainted with the difficulty of sawing by animal power would think of filling large and pressing orders by such means.-This being the case, we venture to predict that years will be consumed before a sufficient supply for a few large buildings can be commanded; while persons desiring to erect private dwellings will not be able to obtain any. Nor is there timber enough on the Mountain, out of which to construct the buildings of a very large University, together with those of the town which is expected to grow up {italics begin:} pari passu{italics end} with it. This will add beyond calculation to the expense of building, and with it to the expense of education; for house-rent will always be in proportion to the cost of building, and room-rent in proportion to houserent; ALL OF WHICH MUST COME OUT OF THE POCKETS OF THE STUDENTS.
The labor and expense of reaching the place and the cost of elevating provisions to so great a height, must always operate against it. In
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the winter and spring months, when the roads are in bad condition, this will be felt to be a most grievous inconvenience; adding materially to the cost of living.
The unhealthful character of the country surrounding the Mountain, is another very serious objection to it, as the site of a large school. It cannot be approached except through the country; and when fearful epidemies are raging there, it will be impossible for the friends of the students to hold intercourse with them except at the peril of life. This is no chimera of the imagination. It is only three years since the cholera was rife in Chattanooga, to the terror of every traveler who was compelled to pass that way.
The inhospitable character of the climate in
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winter, is the last objection we shall urge; but it is one which we think should be sufficient to condemn the place at once as altogether unsuitable for the use to which some propose to put it. They who have never passed a winter on the top of a mountain can form but little idea of the piercing winds that sweep it, now moaning through its forests, and now howling through its caverns and gorges. Scarce a spot affords a safe retreat from the pursuing storm. Every crack is entered, and every nook is searched by the chilling blast. Constitutions sufficiently robust to survive exposure to such a climate, will often be improved by it, but it will be found to be more than the feeble can endure. The writer has passed five winters on the tops of high hills commanding extensive
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views of majestic rivers with their fertile vallies. For a short time he was well pleased, but he soon came to regard the pleasure of looking on a beautiful prospect as a poor compensation for the labor and expense of making the ascent. Much worse would this be on a lofty mountain, whose top is the resting place of the cloud, and whose sides are perpendicular walls over which frightful precipices frown. The beauties{italics} of such a place {italics begin:}invite the attention of leisure moments{italics end}, while its GRIEVOUS INCONVENIENCES FORCE THEMSELVES INTO NOTICE EVERY DAY AND EVERY HOURS.
ECCLESIA.
ST. PHILIP'S PARSONAGE, } Atlanta, Oct. 8, 1857. }
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Atlanta Oct 22, 1857
Rev. & Dear Sir,
Your kind letter was duly received, and the compliments paid by having my {service?} read to your people fully apprecia-ted. No doubt they were edified. I send you a copy of a communication that appeared in the daily papers of this city on the 10th inst. The city council have made it a {illegible} and you will have a parcel sent to your address. You see that I am determined that if you are in the matter of location it state be with all the "lights before you." I am out in the Ten-nessee Baptist of the 27 ult{?}. It is rich{?} I wish that you could see it.
On Sunday last I made the acquaintance of Mrs. Mike {illegible: Hoke?} of {illegilbe}. She was on a visit to Mrs. Peck. It was very gratifying to me, as her husband and myself were class-mates in a military academy in 1827 & 28. She is
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a very superior woman, and seems to be very staunch. Spoke very well of you, which of course gave me a high opinion of her judgment. I was plea-sed with Mrs. Peck and proved to her that I was more of a methodist than she is. (at my old tricks you see) When on your way to Montgomery arrange to stop here some days.
Very sincerely
your friend and {illegible: br?}
Richard Johnson