Lynchburg Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1829-185?, 1836-09-29

COEasUNECATs N'yS.
To the Editors Of the Iynebb1rp lire;,;,,

hostah against the operations Of tl,r jaime, IL
yer and hana"ha Company and il they were
attended 10 by the public, or should any conf
den.e be placed N the arguments of their author
consequences detrimental 10 The interests Of that
bodN,-'ndeed may say to those Of ptfsinia,-
mont letthanee be expected
, The press, however, i, open 10 All and If o,.
ca>iohatN the enmtts oi ~ individual Is suffered
I" appear through the medium which has been
appropriated 10 the public voice. reply may aud
ought io he expected ouch the same channel II
there be justice and rel,l on the opposite side.
have not had an opportunity Of seeing any an
Nwets to tIe pieces above alluded 10, n,r do knoa
whether amy have been written , but tin, friend, of
the Improvement should no longer remain pa,it.nt-
~ listening I" such productions, lest tl,l silence
maybe construed into acknowledgement of the
mvaildlv OF their call,e
II the writer IN the Why is sincere the oni-
mons he expresses prove his ignorance of the sub.
lrct ON which he speahs.-lfhc is not sincere they
seem 10 me Ia evidence disposition On his part
base'Y ana hnerneroa>l. to sacrifice the public
good 10 faneorous and vindictivc private re-
vcnce.
With regard to the batter of Ties. propositions |
have nothln" 10 say, Tor ! do not know who IL Is
maj writes, az what private wrongs le wishes 10
redress. But rs 10 the former, do say that he
has no reason, no right, nor any experience ON his
side.
lie tells os that the ,mpro> en,ent OF the James
River eau be better effected by II system OF Locks
and Dams than by the mode elected bv the James
kiNer and kanawha Company. How knows Ia,
thls, would ash Where got ho his Information
and experience on this subject Nol certainly II,
the United States; for The experiment a. To the
superiority ol that method of improving the np,I-
cation I" large rivers has never been fully uicd in
tins country. Neither can he have gained ms
knowledge IN Europe ;ior there, there are no such
streams a. our :, requiring such aSsslancr.-An nd
II wondbch hardly worth his Wilde to seek rlSrw here
! IN the world for information derived from practice
W here, them got this writer knowledge of emu.
ucctine Su.ileen, to make hs bare assertion of the
pfopieiy OF improperly OF this or that system OF
nav cation, law Tor lis construction Can he tell
Us
Something, no Doubt can be sud Theoretically
ON The side which he takes up, hu, what can be sad
practically
II i, not for the purpose Of entering milo an ar
eunent ON this subject that | now ",l,e for ii
would require greater length Tine than have
! 10 spare aud perhaps more room than can be- con-
venlently appropriated in Your colpmnS.-sui
think can justify the James River and M
niwha Company in the choice they have made
/ II was necessary for the Company Ia appeal IL
| experience, when they were called on for IL deei-
s'on GA tins subject Ii i'll be seen, from what !
have stated above, that but tlr from which I'm.
puIanI facts could be CLEANED, Was At that rnr or
indeed is now known--and such knowledge as
they could possibly have attained went decided,
against the adoption OF the still water plan IT'LL
out knowing how they were ba<srd | presume
that In v might have consulted the history of in
icrhai Improvements, rs prosecuted hv sister
StaeS II the Company had read the archives ol
/ Improvements IN Pennsl lvana alone, they would
have found, contained therein, ample cause t,r
the Abandonment of thai mode oi opc,aton--for il
is we'll known fact that the dams alone ON lhr
/ improvement IN Pcnns, wanna have eost a vrf.
/ large pr Dpori'on OF the amount expended in thai
way by thai State. SO luilc WAS known with ~.
yard II the construction ot those works To sun our
large rivers, that scarcely spring returned lot
wears without at lra,i of them being swept a
way and 1t i, by dearly bought experience thai
they have al last succeeded IN erecting apparently
durable dams. PENNSYLVANIA bad IN her employ
ment some oi the most eminent Engineers of the
day and II those gentlemen could not succeed IL
erecting permanent structures, where were 10 l,,.
found those who could The experiment, ol
| sending To Europe ior Engineers had been tried By
mare OF the States than onr, and it had failed /,
aud II was IN This country alone that men wcrn 10
be found who could conceive aud execute plans
to obviar the dilfionhies resented hy the immcn-
stS OF our streams and the seventies nt eli
mate. One cause, therefore, oi the COMPANY :
choosing Canal might have been the fear OF n
failure - the construction of one Of their first
dams, which would have ueen unqnesiionahly "a
very justhablr fear Tor the natural jealousy with
which the generality of people regard all im-
provcmcnts, (nr Innovations ~ they call them, J
would, an the slightest stumble tine part Of the,
Company, have raised diff euliics in the way OF
the work which might not have been got over for
wears.
II may be said, why then make an
Improvement At all, ifihrrc be much anger in
lif II the construction ot dams is 50 diiicuIl Ca
nails require dams as well as still water navisa.
ton.
Canals require trioer dIms than the slack WI
ter mode renders necessary, Il Il their location can
be chosen al almost any poirt hat presents itself
as httInC-whrrcas the dams Tor "A slack water
navigation must necessarily he adapted in their To-
cations TO the fall Of The river, must occupy ccr-
tam POSITIONS indicated thereby, or be made hiei,-
or, land therefore more Liable to dr,trnelonD and
more expensive.
Where rock foundation is 10 be bad "A ! crma-
nent dam can De constructed and such iunn,a
tons occur III sufficient frequency on the james
| River, to ensure the pcrnIanencc OF all the dams
required for 4 Canal, whilst, II the number waS
| increased 10 the amount necessary for siii-wa-
ter, rock tounlllions for all could not be expect
ed
As before said, do not wish to argue On tins
SUBJECT. | have merely given one or two reasons
why The Company might havr chosen the Canal,
/ in preference 10 the other system.
The writer in the " hig states that the Canal is