Memphis, Tenn., is connected with Louisville and the north by a railroad line of 377 miles, and with New Orleans by a line of 393 milesmaking the length of the grand route from Louisville to New Orleans 770 miles. The Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad is a link in the southern division of this railroad chain, occupying the space (about 100 miles) between Memphis and Grenada, the latter being the point where it makes connection with the Mississippi Central and Tennessee Railroad, which is continued by the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad to New Orleans.

To get to Mobile from Memphis it is necessary to go east on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad to Corinth, 93 miles, and then south by the Mobile and Ohio Railroad 328 miles-making the route from Memphis to Mobile 421 miles. By an extension of the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad from Grenada to the Mobile and Ohio Railroad at Artesia, a distance of about 75 miles, a more direct route would be made, and the distance between the ultimate termini be reduced to 394 miles. This improvement is in contemplation.

When the late war ended the Mississippi and Tennessee Railroad was a complete wreck, and literally without rolling stock. On the 1st May, 1865, only 30 miles were in operation. The finances of the Company were in a most desperate condition; not an available dollar on hand, nor assets on which money could be realized. By pledging future freight, however, some $65,000 were raised, and the work of reconstruction commenced in the month of July. Inadequate as this amount was for the purpose, it afforded a basis of credit, and, aided by the receipts from operations, which increased as the ork progressed, the whole line was made fit for ordinary use early in the ensuing January. The reconstruction and restocking of the road, however, was chiefly the work of the fiscal year 1865-66, the doings of which are covered by the 10th annual report of the company now before us, and were accomplished at a cost of $381,018. The total damages by the war are estimated at $310,250, of which $117,650 is credited to the Federal, and $132,600 to the Confederate forces. All this destruction, and that incident to time and disuse, had to be replaced. This has been accomplished so far as the immediate needs of the company require, but still much remains to be done to make the road safe and durable.

The following statement compares the earnings and operating expenses for the year ending September 30, 1860 and 1866. In the first year the road was incomplete and only 81 miles in operation; in 1865-66 the

whole road was not operated until Jan. 3, 1866, and probably the average length operated did not exceed that of 1859-60:

Included in the expenses of 1865-66 is the sum of $59,403 60 checked as extraordinary, which makes the ordinary expenses at $193,522 69, and the net earnings at $173,729 48, being an increase over those of 1859–60 of $46,617 30.

The amount of rolling stock on hand at the close of the fiscal years 1859-60, 1864-65, and 1865–66, is shown in the following table:

-more than one-half of them requiring repairs, and many of them entire refitting.

The financial condition of the company as of October 1, 1860 and 1866,

The funded debt at the two dates stood comparatively as follows:

The floating debt (viz., bills payable, circulation, and other accounts),

as per ledger, amounts to..

Add coupons on 1st mortgage bonds past due.

on income

66

Total fundable in 8 per cent. consolidated bonds.......

$725,595 07 $108,242 67 128,201 27- 236,443 94 $962,039 01

The income bonds, which fall due in 1870, will also be fundable in the same bonds.

When all this funding has been completed the total bonded debt will be $2,067,800, and the interest thereon $156,068. The ability of the road to earn this amount cannot well be questioned, and before the funding is completed it should earn a much larger amount. The earnings over ordinary expenses as heretofore shown, for the year 1865-66, with an incomplete road and a deficiency in rolling stock, amounted to $173,729 48.

SOUTH SIDE (VA.) RAILROAD.

The South Side Railroad constitutes a principal link in the chain of railroads between the seaboard at Norfolk and the Mississippi at Memphis, and prospectively a link in the line, now being constructed, via Knoxville and Cumberland Gap to the Ohio River at Cincinnati and Louisville. As a distinct work it extends from Petersburg to Lynchburg, with a branch from the first named place to tide-water at City Point, as follows:

im

At the commencement of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1866, the reestablishment of the roadway and stations which had been destroyed during the late war, and the necessary repairs of locomotives and cars were yet incomplete, while much remained to be done to make the rolling stock equal to the business demand of the road. At that time also, the very portant structure, the bridge over the James River, was not completed, and, in fact, was not in usable order until February 1, 1866. This, however, and all other works of immediate necessity were carried forward as rapidly as possible; but from want of means the whole property is still left in anything but a desirable condition.

Even at the present time the equipment of the road is in sufficient for the service demanded of it. It consists of 13 locomotives, 7 of which were added during the last year, and 110 cars, 29 of which are needing repairs. The train mileage of the year was 211,623 miles, viz.: passenger trains, 90,376; freight trains, 86,440 miles; material trains, 24,990 miles, and switching trains 9,817 miles.

The gross earnings of the company from transportation for the year 1865-6, as compared with those of 1858-59, show the following results:

Previous to the war the revenue of the road was very largely derived from local business, and for five years of its existence previous to that period, averaged in round numbers $371,000 per annum gross, or about $31,000 per month. For the fiscal year last past, when its receipts have been only in part and not until lately drawn from the transit trade of the country within reach of its connections, it amounted to $289,580 88 or monthly to $24,131 74. The receipts from local business were very fairly maintained from the accumulations of products during the war (which were hurried into market) until the month of May; since which time they have settled down to the low average of $12,000 per month. In the meanwhile the revenue from foreign freights increased from $4,000 to $16,000, carrying the gross earnings of the road up to $29,000 per month. Hence, it is thought that with the return of reasonable prosperity to the country through which the road passes, and the proper development of the transit trade which rightly belongs to the great route of which it forms an essential link, as between the Mississippi Valley, and the Atlantic seaboard, its future success is not doubtful.

The receipts and disbursements of the company in cash from the 1st October, 1865 to the 30th September, 1866, are shown in the following abstract of the Income Account :

Of this total, $446,501 12 belonged to the accounts of 1865-66 proper. The remainder has been disbursed on account of obligations contracted prior to December 1, 1865. The total liabilities of the company, exclusive of the funded debt, and at the close of 1865-66 are shown in the following memorandum :

The nature of this indebtedness rendered its adjustment impossible, except upon the basis of immediate satisfaction, and in view of the hesi tancy with which foreign capital now makes investments at the South, the further issue of bonds, in subordination of liens already upon the road was deemed a useless resort. In this state of the case the last General Assembly of of the State, on the application of the company for a transfer or assignment of the State claim and mortgage upon the road and its property, to the proper authorities of the company, passed an Act under the authority of which bonds for $1,000 each, and to the amount of $709,

000, that being the balance due the State to the 1st January, 1866, on her loan of $800,000, have been issued and duly certified by the Board of Public Works, as prescribed by the terms of the Act. These bonds bear

8, per cent. interest, payable semi-annually by coupons in New York, and run in even sums of $100,000 for 18, 19, 20, 211, 22 and 231 years, and in the sum of $109,000 for 24 years from July 1, 1866. The successful consummation of these plans will relieve the company from all present embarrassment, and enable it to resume the payment of interest for and from the 1st July, 1866. The funded debt of the company at the close of the fiscal year 1865-66, stood as follows:

6 per cent. 1st mortgage vonds, guaranteed by Petersburg, dated April 21, 1855, and due Jan. 1, 1870 and 75

$200,000 00

8 per cent. mortgage bonds, payable Jan. 1, 1863, $4,500; 1866, $13,500; 1867, $6,000, and 1869, $18,000.

6 per cent. special mortgage to City of Petersburg, of April 21, 1854, payable Jan. 1, 1865 and 1868, in equal instalments.

6 per cent. 3d mortgage bonds of Jan. 12, 1855, payable Jan. 1, 1862, $14,900; 1870, $200,000, and 1872, $100,000

314,900 00

175,000 00

42,000 00

7 per cent. State (Va.) Loan, payable by 1 per cent annually as a redemption fund $800,000, less amount paid to date

708,102 34

Total amount, Sept. 30, 1866..

$1,540,002 34

The condition of the company, according to the report of the treasurer, made for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 1866, is exhibited in the following abstract:

The liabilities and claims against the company outside the books, and including coupons to July 1, 1866, are stated by the Treasurer at $185,447 64. Since the date of the report, from which most of the above facts have been obtained, the Legislature of Virginia has passed an act for the consolidation of the Norfolk and Petersburg, the South Side and the Virginia and Tennessee railroad companies into a single corporation, which, with the connecting lines in the States west of Virginia, will constitute a through line under the title of the Atlantic and Mississippi Railroad, from Norfolk (Va.) to Memphis (Tenn.). This proceeding carries out the idea of a great Southern through-line entertained by the original projectors of the separate works, but which had hitherto been held in abeyance.