Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1828-03-25

so as 70 carry all the trade of the Valley ucros:
the Potomac, which ought 10 pass do,cis and i'm.
prove II, Just SO much again is taken away from
the improvement of the Potomac-Rut your pro
ducc win only pass when the Wagons from the
Vest are not loaded-no Wagon that can traverse
the echole route, with full load, will stop shor
oi that-Ihe company connot afford TO throw ANY
part of their road idle.-You must paw 4 cents
TOO for mile-going Eastward, and cents going
westward, half OF this though will be enough or
the river--Your Lumber, your Hay, YOUR Lime
your Potatoes. Cabbages, SC. can all 20 20 markc
IN This way; Tor the owners will use their boats
x there being no injury 10 the waterby heavy bur.
thens, the tolls would be lowered on such arti-
cles.
Is it, then, expedicnt TO risk the destruction Of
the navigation of your waters.-to risk, Involving
another Potomac Company in ruin, by promoting
pdT pdSSt, that competition which DESTROY cd
the former, To bid up, at this expencc, for rail-
road, to 90, you know not where, and of the u,ili
ty oil which, to those who live on its liae you know
! nothing?
Suppose instead of this. we try the lock and dan,
system on the James river, where, from past expe-
renee, we have 10 believe, we can make an
experiment more safely than any other river in
the Staie;If i, succeeds. and ii, on view of the
i'oomac ii would be likely also TO succeed there,
let IT be adopted by the Company, instead Of the
! more expensive plan by continued canal. II
there are fears that the James river would not pay
/ Tor canal navigation, (of which, by the bye,
never entertained any, provided we continued our
SO.lileAiOn WIKI the OhlO,) 4 mink tnere would he
some reason, also, to doubt il rs TO the Potomac.
Let the Potomac, say, be i,nproved IL it can, by
locksanG dams up to the coal district. 1t will, pro-
badly, not take halfthe funds which have been, or
may be, subscribed for the canal.
Let them make the best communication they
can, by railroad, if possible, between he POto-
! mac, say from Fort Cumberland, and tie nearest
point on the Yohogany, some of those rivers,
where it shall be capable of lock and dam nayi-
cation, and continue that kind Of Improvement
down 10 Fort Pit.
| The other rivers above would fall into The same
kind ofimproveinent, ocourse, and the trade would
| pass, to dnd fro, across this portage, having 4
good navigation on both sdes-and, il is probable,
that the money necessary to make canal TO Fort
| Cumberland, would do the whole work. The
South Branch would soon be improved in the same
| way, as also the Shenandoah. This latter ought
to be put under contract Mt the time with the
main river to be ready 10 pour its wealth into
IL, Mt the moment the improvements advance I'm as
far as Harper's Ferry. II would be spectacle
worth living 10 see, if an invalid of the city could
step into steamboat and ascend 10 Aliens Mill,
within few miles of Staunton, on his way to the
/ W arm Springs. Or If one by passing thro' Rich
mond. could ascend to Calighans, on his way to the
/ White Suiphur.-All this might be realised, II
! locks and dams will Go; and if we had a small pov-
ton Of BditDrl0reGn enterprise.
Instead, therefore, of heart-6urY.:agS and hard
acordS towards each other--a severance of the IN
tereSts of the State, and ultimate severance OF
the State itself-my wish is, that the eyes OF all
should be opened TO the true interests OF ALL and
that we should agree TO make experiment on
the lock and dam system. l care not where, ii
the river Is large enough 10 make trial OF IL,
with view 10 the improvement of our large rivers.
/ If we succeed, there is not river in the State,
/ believe, OF any magnitude, which will not pay Tor
Z Its Improvement, rs soon as completed, or very
soon thereafter; and would have no objection to
see all under contract. There is no State in the
Union, having so many waters, we'll capable of navi-
cation; penetrating far into the interior, and al
most TO the house of every inhabitant.
! Why shall all these advantages be thrown away,
| and Tor wlat?-We know not No one vet knows
whether the road is to pass through Pennsylvania
10 Wheeling, &c. or to thc Potomac and come
some place other through Virginia.-it is
enough though for their purposes, that we shall
be ere!ted by expectations, SO that we may
give up our 6irtt-T;gtt, sign, seal, and de!ir-
! er; and then they Will carry il when il hest
suits them. My great efl6r, with the Legis-
lature was, to procure suspension OF measures
which might comprornit the State in case ofsuch
Importance. That we might see where the road
was 10 go-see whether monopoly was really
! commended for by the Company-aDd whether the
I State was apprized of this when the law passed;
and was viking to submit TO it.
! The State though, will yet SGre herself have
no doubt. The amendment OF the Bill which was
offered to Senate las session, shows think,
that all is not yet lost That I'll can aDd syiR be
saved
will be excused for thus trespassing on your
. Al
and to our Posterity forever. ne, az least think
about it. and may, in time, induce others to do so
too; and though we differ in opinion, We have the
same end in vew-the good of our country, and
the integrity and harmony Of the different sec
tons OF the State.
Your ob't servant,
March %, 1923.
THIS subject is one which unavolably grows in
the hands Of any one who viii pay the least atten-
ton TO it. Excuse me, therefore, for subjoining
the following statement, which some time ago
cut out OF the Richmond Compiler
STRIKING FACTS
/, Recent letters received by a member of Con-
, grcss from two Commission Merchants of Wheel
ing on the Ohio River state, that they alone du-
ring the last year, sent by wagons, (principalIy
to Baltimore,) on the Cumberland Road, three
millions five hundred thousand lbs, equal to 1850
tons Of country produce; loading from 500 TO 1000
Wagons. There are eight or ten other Commits
: sion Merchants at Wheeling, and many others i'm
the intermediate towns, between that place and
Baltimore engaged in the same business besides
the rast amount tOYlCqrded 6y The Western coit,l-
!, try at large. One OF these gentlemen expresses
the opinion that If the costs Of transportation was
, reduced one third, one half, there would be
, sent Eastward, from Wheeling alone tlC0 H1tu.
I dred millions lbs. or one hundred thousand tons
, annually"
; To whom does this trade and all its profits be.
; long? To Baltimore, if Virginia giues IL q,cgy. o.
, fheTlgise It belongs to The PotO1HGc
have bad some curiosity TO learn whether
even with our present wretched navigation, in O
pen boats and on the James river, goods purchaset
in the Northern towns, and destined Westward 4,
J not pass, to extent, through Richmond; mr.
7 afrend, who told me that good deal did SO pass
has furnished rue with statement 10 this effect n
the result Of his enquiries:
That 1906 packages Of goods. some from Bos