Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1815-12-30

TO prccede their existence.
Although almost all the Turnpike roads
within the Commonwealth, have been
made without any other Legislative aid,
than their respective acts of Incorporation (;
yet. it is probable, that neither Potomac
nor James river could have been rendered
navigablc above tide water, with such as
sistance alone. Maryland and Virginia,
subscribed more than one half of the CAPT.
tai stock of the former, and Virginia alone,
more than one third of the latter. The
tolls hitherto collected on the one, would
not have justified subscription to its
stock, with view to more profit <; and
although those of the latter have, for some
time, realized the most sanguine expccta-
tons of its friends, and its stock is eighty
per cent above par, yet the revenue OF the
Company, apart from the appreciation of
its stock, would not nett to its members
six per cent. per annum upon the sums
which they have actually expended oil that
river, from the commencement of their
labors to the present period. Yet, your
committee confidently believe, that there is
not an individual within the Common
wealth, alive to a sense of her true inter-
ests, who would have desired, for the sake
of a higher profit to the treasury upon the
stock OF the public in either of these works,
to withdraw the funds which were required
for their completion, and permit those no
BILE rivers to return to state OF nature
Those who reside near to their banks, have
directly participated in the benefits thus
afforded them, of cheaper mode of trans
porting the productions of their labor to
market and those even, who antecedent'y
| possessed the superior advantages oft tide
water, or who were compelled by their
distance from both, to resort TO the CON-
mon highways, in order to reach the same
market, have greatly profted by those i'm
provements of navigation, which aug
mentng the extent and value of that mar
| ket, could not fail, proportionably, to en-
nance the price oftheir produce. So true,
| it is, that whatever contributes to encrcase
the population and wealth of the towns,
must contr butte to the growth and improve
| ment OF the country And this effect is
| wrought not solely on the vicinity of those
| towns-it is seen not merely in the wealth
| which glitters in their suburbs but discov-
| cred in the augmentation of their means
| OF consumption, and the enlargement of
| their commercial capitals.
In this necessary and reciprocal relation
| of commerce and agriculture, the country
| below tide water in Virginia, has an i'm
mediate & even local interest in the prog
ress & perfection of all those public works,
exclusive or its general interest, in whatev
er advances to the growth and prosperity
| of the Commonwealth.
| The inhabitants of the low lands will,
| therefore, partake of the benefit of every
| application of the public revenue to the
| Improvement of the connection between
their market towns and the country above
them. 1t should be peculiarly their policy
| 70 turn the commerce of the west from its
northern direction into the bosom of their
own territory. In the efforts which are
| contemplated to improve the roads passing
Immediately through their own country
they have an interest more sensible to the
| eye, but less to the understanding.
| Altho' much has been done for the i'm
provement of the interior OF Virginia, more
| yet re aims to be accomplished. Roanoke
and its tributary streams, including the RI
vers Dan, Nottoway, Meherrin and Black
| water the head waters of James, Po-
| tomac and Shenandoah rivers those of the
RappahaDnock, Matapony ard Pamunkv,
on the east side of the Allegany. The
great Kenawha and It's waters, including,
along with Greenbrier, and New River,
Gauly and Elk the little Kenawha, Mid
die Island, the Monongalia and the bran
chcS which swell its current before it
leaves the boundary of Virginia, are all
I SlulJitu TO PUBIC CONSIDERATION.
IF nature has divided the territory of the
Commonwealth by numerous chains of lof-
tY mountains, it is only to incite the genius
OF man TO climb them and the period is
not unattaiDable--nay, it rests with the
Legislature, to determine whether it be re-
mote, when the roads which cross those
natural and formidable barriers, shall not
be surpassed by those which run along
their base.
The experiment of the United States to
connect, by national road, the waters of
Potomac, with those of Ohio and COM
parison of the surface over which tina,
highway has been already conducted, with
the corresponding ranges of mountains to
the South, assure your committee, that
such hope is not chimerical.
Should the General Assembly deter.
mine to patronize by the application of the
public revenue all such works as are likely
to be Of great public utility, it becomes i'm
portant to decide whether an improvement
may not be made i'll the mode heretofore
pursued, of extending to them that pat
ropage.
| Your committee are fully satisfied that
much loss has hitherto been sustained by
all the canal companies which have been
Incorporated, for want Of skill in their con-
duct. Their directors have served, it is
true, without compensation. They have
generally been public spirited private gen.
tlemen but neither professional engi-
neers, nor capable, from experience and
observation, of guarding against the errors