In the early 1880s, the ETV&G managed to build a line through the rugged French Broad valley along the Tennessee-North Carolina state line to join with the Western North Carolina Railroad system, and provide a direct link from Knoxville to Asheville. The company also built a line connecting its tracks at Clinton with the Cincinnati Southern Railway tracks at Harriman. By 1890, the ETV&G controlled of tracks, stretching as far south as Meridian, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama, westward to Memphis, and eastward to Brunswick.