Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1836-12-21

ns ropulation, and for thousands cx-
oendsd. found millions returned, IN the
enhanced value Of property.
Even the little, comparatively, ina,
has been done under the less ~ ana
comprehensive system Of Virginia, al
fords us the strongest encouragement %
90 on. The declining fortunes ORE
tersburg have revived, and the pros
nect Of Norfolk, Portsmouth, n VIM
oester are Frightening from the effects
already experienced, from thelr recent
lv completed lines of interior commu-
n;catioa-whiie the finished and pro-
iected improvements, terminating IN
rho c~opitai Of tho State, have been sen.
sibly fell. in the increased price OF pro-
perry, and the greater confidence
spired il the prosecution of every de.
scription Of business.
The great North Western Road,
living longitudinally athwart the Nofth
West portion Of the State from the
Ohio almost to the Potomac, is auspl-
%ciously progressing, and promises at an
carly day to afford to that section oil
Virginia important facilities in getting
its produce to market.
Tho vast scheme that proposes to
connoc the waters ofthe Ohio and the
James, happily at length undertaken,
and now IN progress, will accommodate
the trade and travel of the west. A
scheme that proposes besides to invite
10 our markets, a portion of the I'M.
mense trade of the States separated
from us by the Ohio river, and which,
originally recommended by Washing
ton, and subsequently sanctioned by
the approval of our wisest and most
discerning citizens, possesses still the
confidence of men whose confidence Is
not hastily yielded and even if view
ed, as some. view it, in the light of an
experiment, is yet one so grand IN Its
conception, and if successful, so bene-
fetal IN its results, that the probability
of failure, that at most can be but par
tiai, ought not to weigh against It's vi
gorous prosecution, or suffer the idea
OF its abandonment to be for a moment
entertained. Whatever now may be the
issue of this great and too long defer
red Improvement, zone who have wit
messed with what benefits similar I'M
dertakings have been fraught to other
States, can doubt the splendid results
that must have ensued to Virginia, had
she been first to invite by suitable in.
duccments, the trade of the West to her
own seaports-results, | confidently
believe, that might have been seen al
this day in her cities, scarce second to
any in the Union, in the retention o
her former proud pre-emlnence, In po'
pulation, in opulence, and power.
Surely in tine irretrievable loss, in
great part at least, of this vast trade.
she has paid dearly enough for her su.
~pineness, and the narrow, timld, and
short.sighted counsels to which she ha:
listened. Let her not set the seal for.
over, on her relative and growing in,
fcriority as a State, by allowing the
sole remaining stake worth playing for,
already ieopardized by her inertness
to be wrested from her by the superior
enterprise and more farseeing policy o
neighborng States. The trade of the
South w est is that stake. 1t is now
our's-but it reaches US materially i'm
paired in value, and greatly lesseneC
in extent, by reason of the tedious, diff
hcult, and costly transportation it il
compelled to encounter. That ohsta'
Gle removed, our trade with that re,
gion would swell at once into a full
and ample tide, freighted with incalcu
liable benefits to the whole country
along its line, and sensibly adding tC
the resources and power of the State.
These important ends may be attain
ed, by constructing a rail road from
some point towards tho head of navi
CATION on James river to the Tennessee
line.
The practicability of constructing
such a work, without stationary pow
err, and at no extraordinary expense
has been placed beyond doubt, by thu
concurrent reports of Messrs. Croze
an6 Shaw, and, as | am informed, o
Mr.. Thompson, also, an Engineer WHIT
has been engaged the last season ii
surveying the line. A convention o
delegates, assembled from Tennessee
and Virginia, at Abingdon, in 1881, tc
promote this improvement, ascertain
ed, from satisfactory data, that the Their
existing trade and travel along the
contemplated route, would richly repay
the cost of construction, while that Of
transportation would be materially re-
duced and yet that trade, receiving
the capabilities of agricultural produc.
ton, and the latent mineral wealth OF
that region, both of which would be
called into immediate development
by an improved communication, could
not fail to be speedily increased to an
extent which it would BE- difficult TO
conjecture, while no n a assign
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