Statesville Airline Railroad

[Statesville Airline]

I am looking for information and/or pictures of any thing related to the Statesville Airline Railroad which was chartered to build north of Statesville, NC at the turn of the 20th century. I have a short piece of rail that was used during its construction phase.

[wanswheel]

Statesville, welcome to the forums.  Here's a link to a 1907 newspaper article posted by members of N&W Historical Society and a few other ancient items. -- Mike

http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/Week-of-Mon-20070702/006635.html;

The Railway Age (1907)

Statesville Air Line.-Subscriptions are being obtained for a preliminary survey for a line from Lincolnton, N. C, northeast to Statesville, and thence to Mt. Airy, N.C, with projected extension to Radford and Salem, Va., and thence to connection with the Baltimore & Ohio. The project covers 213 miles, but the first effort will be to build the section from Statesville to Mt. Airy, 65 miles. W. D. Turner, president, Statesville, N. C. [W.D. Turner had served 4 terms as lieutenant governor of North Carolina.]

Press Bulletin by North Carolina Geological and Economic Survey (1912)

The Statesville Air Line Railroad, from Statesville to Mt. Airy, has been surveyed to pass north through the center of [Yadkin] county. Statesville and the township through which the road is to pass have voted $500,000 of bonds for the road. It is expected that the construction of the road may begin soon. With the building of a railroad the rapid industrial and agricultural development of the county is certain.

Railway Age Gazette (1915)

Statesville Air Line. - Financial arrangements are now being made, it is said, to carry out work on this line. The plans call for building from Statesville, N.C, north via Harmony to Houstonville, about 25 miles. Grading has been finished on about 20 miles, and track laying may be started soon. W. D. Turner, president; W. Wallace, vice-president; D. M. Ausley, treasurer and general manager.

 

 AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE STATESVILLE AIR LINE RAILROAD COMPANY.

Section 1. The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact, That for the purpose of constructing a railroad of one or more tracks from some point on the southern boundary of the state in the county of Cleaveland to the town of Statesville, in the county of Iredell, from thence to some point on the northern boundary of the state at or near the northeast corner of the county of Surry, as near an air line as the nature of the route will permit, a company by the name and style of the Statesville Air Line Railroad Company, is hereby incorporated and declared to be a body politic and corporate for the term of ninety-nine years, and by that name may sue and be sued, plead and be impleaded, may have and use a common seal, and shall be capable of purchasing, holding, leasing and conveying estate, real and personal and mixed, and acquiring the same by gift or devise, so far as may be necessary for the purpose herein contemplated, and said company may enjoy all the rights and immunities which other incorporated railroad companies may lawfully exercise, and may make all necessary by-laws and regulations for its government, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the state of North Carolina and of the United States.

Section 2. That the capital stock of said company shall not exceed four millions of dollars, divided into shares of fifty dollars each, and the company may raise the same by subscriptions on the part of individuals, municipal and other corporations, which may be made in lands, timber, work, money or other things as may be stipulated.

Section 3. That books of subscription to the capital stock of said company may be opened by the following commissioners, to-wit: Lee M. McAfee, Plato Durham, David Schenck, Jasper Stowe, Dr. A. M. Powell, Wilfred Turner, Thomas N. Cooper, Dr. Henry C. Wilson, John M. Brower, and Col. S. A. Sharpe, and by such other persons and at such other places as the said commissioners or a majority of them may direct; and that twenty days notice of the opening of said books shall be given in one or more newspapers of the state; and furthermore, that the said commissioners or any three of them, at any time after said books shall have been kept open for the space of thirty days and the sum of twenty thousand dollars shall have been subscribed and five per cent. paid thereon, shall have power and are required, after twenty days notice, to call together the subscribers to said stock for the purpose of organizing said company.

Section 4. That when the subscribers have been so called together they shall proceed to organize by electing nine directors, who shall serve for one year and until others are elected, and said directors shall elect one of their number president, and when so organized, the stockholders, their successors, executors, administrators or assigns shall be and are hereby declared incorporated into a company, under the said name and style of the Statesville Air Line Railroad Company.

Section 5. That said company may hold annual meetings of its stockholders, and oftener if deemed necessary; Provided, in all such meetings of the stockholders a majority of the stock subscribed shall be represented in person or by proxy, and each share thus represented shall be entitled to one vote on all questions. And said company shall have power to enforce the payment of all stock in the like manner as the Western North Carolina Railroad Company, may enforce the same under their charter, and shall have power to condemn land for the use of the company, if necessary to the same, and in the same manner and under the same rules, regulation and restrictions as the said Western North Carolina Railroad Company were authorized to do by their said charter.

Section 6. That the northern section of said road shall be completed first, commencing the work at Statesville, and said company shall have power to borrow money for the completion of said road, and issue bonds for the same, bearing interest not exceeding eight per cent. per annum, and secure the payment of said bonds by procuring personal endorsers, or executing mortgages upon their road or other property, and that said company may have exclusive right of transporting persons and freight upon said road at such rates and charges as the board of directors may fix.

Sec. 7. This act shall be in force from and after its ratification.

Ratified the 31st day of March, A. D. 1871.

[Deggesty]

Thanks, Mike, for that information. Since some of the notices are dated in the early teens of the twentieth century, I thought there might be some mention of the road in the June, 1916, issue of the Guide. There is none, and the map of North Carolina in that issue shows nothing of a road even starting from Statesville towards Mt. Airy. Apparently, this road died an early death after construction was started despite great hopes for its success.

We cannot absolutely depend upon SPV for some of the early roads, but the SPV atlas for Appalachia and Piedmont shows nothing (not even an abandoned line) in that direction.

Statesville, as Mike has said, welcome to the forums. I am sorry that I cannot help you more, but I would say hang on to that section of rail.

[Statesville Airline]

Thanks to both of you for your information and replies. Here is what I have found and know about the railroad.

 The grading was started in 1910 and done by prison labor. By June 1915, sixteen miles of roadbed had been completed, with 60% of two more miles finished. At the outbreak of World War I, the prison convicts were taken away from their work and sent to Badin, NC to construct an aluminum plant. Some of the convicts came back but with the pressure from the war the work was eventually halted. (This information is from a book by Homer M. Keever copyright 1976 entitled "Iredell - Piedmont County".)

In the northern section of Iredell County there are several deep cuts which were never finished and some high fills that are still quite visible if you know where to look for them. The short section of rail was apparently used in the construction of these cuts and fills. A long time resident of this section from whom I received the rail section said that he and his brother used to play with the empty powder cans (kegs?) when they were small boys growing up on their family farm where the abandoned grade crossed their fathers property.

I am not certain that there was ever any motive power purchased or rail laid other than what was used in the process of grading.

Thanks again, I look forward to the forums. - - Todd

[SARR]

The following link will take you to a "Map of Iredell County, NC (N. R. Kinney)" from 1917 showing the route of the "Proposed Statesville Air Line Rail Road" from what is now the Alexander Railroad all the way to the Yadkin County line.

http://dc.lib.unc.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/ncmaps&CISOPTR=413&CISOBOX=1&REC=11

There are two remaining cast concrete bridge piers where the proposed road would have crossed Fourth Creek in what is now the northwest quadrant of the I-40/US 21 intersection. My grandfather (born 1895) pointed them out to me in the mid-1960s. You can access them from near the end of Pump Station Road. (They will likely soon be demolished with the upcoming realignment of Gaither Road as part of the rework of the I-40/US 21 intersection.) 

[FTGT725]

As a resident of Mooresville on Lake Norman, it was very interesting to see the area prior to all of today's roads and the the creation of Lake Norman. Thank you for the map.

[suzyb3]

I stumbled acrodd this when I was searching for info on what became of the Statesville Ait Line RR. I know it is an old post, but we wanted to share that we live beside one of the "gullies" dug & never completed. Our nieces & nephews love to slide down on leaves in spring, summer & fall, and on paper bags when there's been snow!