1908 - South and Western to Double Force

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Roanoke Times - March 13, 1908

South and Western to Double Force

   Bristol, Va., March 12 - It is reported that 10,000 laborers will 
be employed to augment the construction forces on the South and 
Western railroad in Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina 
this spring, and that the syndicate headed by the George L. Carter 
interests and backed by Thomas F. Ryan, which is building the road, 
will take advantage of the cheap labor that can be secured now.
   Circular letters were this week sent to all of the contractors on 
the road asking them to approximate the time it would take them to 
complete their contracts if their forces where doubled, and the time 
it would require them to complete the work if their forces were 
tripled. It is said that the syndicate hopes to complete the road and 
have it in operation next year. It is now seventy per cent completed, 
and it is said that more than $12,000,000 will be expended in 
completing and preparing it for operation, besides the cost of 
equipment. The road will cost upward of $50,000,000.

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- Ron Davis, Roger Link