Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1858-02-19
THE RICHMOND ENQUIRER.
BY RITCHIE & DUNNAvANT,
PRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1888.
WATER CONNECTION OF THE ATLANTIC AND
TIE OHIO, THROUGH VIRGINIA.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 1858.
WATER CONNECTION OF THE ATLANTIC AND
THE OHIO, THROUGH VIRGINIA.
We believe are right in saying that there is, iu
the public mind Of Virginia, latent general feeling
that alter the completion of our great Central railroad
line to the navigable waters Of the Ohio-afer that
commanding enterprise shall have done its noble part
In drawing to our cities ts torrents of travel and
ses Of freight something will yet remain undone to.
wards ensurng the ful6lment of The high commercial
and industrial destiny the hand of nature has marked
out for as. Our hotels will be thronged with voya
gers for business or for pleasure and the shutes of
trade will fly to and fro through the hands Of our mer
chants, With rspdity heretofore unknown. The
stimulus will extend 10 farms. factories,
shpyards, to every scene OF now angushng activity
our soil presents Calculations of the vast benefits to
enure TO the Commonwealth from this too long dserr
cd work, hardly be too sanguine. So highly do we
ourselves appreciate it, that we could wish the mesgre
appropriation to the Covington and Ohio road, pro-
posed by the present Legislature, could be sweled
from $500 900 TO $S 200, and The locomotive sent
from Norfolk to the Ohio before the waning of
second year.
the mountains Virginia will not have done everything
to develop her mstohless advantages. She will then
possess only what every State North of her has pos
sessed for years. Boston, New York, Philadelphia
and Baltimore have, each and all, their iron way,
unbroken to the far West, less direct and level and
more liable to obstruction by snow than ours, but
still having the present benefit Of earlier star and
of advantages Of capital. What we may expect
from initiating their example in this respect s share
of the great fund of Western traffic. Mature tells
US to stretch out our hands and grasp nearly the
WHOLE Of 1t.
How shall we do thisl How, but by providing, for
| the heavier portion of the communication between
East and West, those facilities which railway can
only adequately furnish the lighter and more costly
psrt7 How render certain ths commercial suprerna
oy railway can make probable save by opening to
ports avenue for the -four, wheat pork, iron,
&C.. of the West as cheap as, and shorter than the
Erie canal of New York; Without some such means
Of transport It Ia the opinion Of many that the Pecu.
liar wealth Of our own counties traversed by the
line-the camel GOAL and salt of the Kanawha-wii
not reach in any appreoiable volume, our seaboard
cities With such means, is easily proven fact
that those two articles alone would soon build up q
the whole OF Its wide ard teemng tributary domain.
And yet that work. though cosed by Ice at least FIVE
months in the year, and though not ton Of coal is
dug along it's banks, now carries greater amount of
freight than the New York Central, the Erie, the
Pennsylvania Central, and the Baltimore and Ohio
railways all combined
Can we construct such work Does the profile
of the route between the Great Falls Of Kanawha
and the headwaters Of james River admit Of making
canal capable Of competing, in cost and certainty
Of transport, with the masterpiece of De Witt Cn.
ton This questionis old one; men whose science
and experience could not but weigh powerfully In
any mind have leaned to the negative; and yet it Is
certain that the balance Of authority turns most de.
cidedly to the affirmative. Minute surveys, by en-
gineers OF the first standing, declare for the entire
practicsblity of the enterprise, and that at cost far
from serious in view of the objects to be attained-
Lockage the supply Of the summit level the difficult
ra.ins of New River. and al! the other difficulties of
tho project have in turn been oonsidersda documents
published by the Legislature at different times show;
and all pronounced anything but insurmountsble.-
The passage Of the mountaD from the waters of the
James to those of the Gresnbrer, is only some twenty
miles, whereof the summit level, proposed to be fed
by means of dam less costly than many railroad
embankment, covers nine. The difference Of lockage
in favor of the Erie canal is amply covered by the
margin between eight dollars and eight cents, the
cost Of tranporting ton from Cincinnati to New
York ria that work, and FIVE dollars and twentysix
cents. the cost Of carrying one from the same point
to Norfolk by the proposed water line.
These hasty remarks, on subject OF great import
10 the people of good old State have been suggest
cd by the sight Of very noble pamphlet We have
once before very slightly adverted to. written We
are informed, by gentleman Of Norfolk, and denom
mated appeal for the speedy completonsof the pa
ter line of Virginia, and through that Of tie great Cen.
tyal wa.er line othe Union. This brochure is accom-
panied by map, and bears evidence Of the oleares
and most practical study Of the subject. That its
reasoning aud deductions are anything but hollow
and visionary the comments of all the leading pa.
pers of New York city give assurance. Says the Ez
press of a late date:
This is not all poetry Norfolk, with IFS msgnid.
cent harbor and the great Chesapeake, with its con
| huence of james river, were made for sonetk1ng-
but that something Ia not yet realized, and is not
likely to be until the dream of this writer is partially
carried out. The State of Virginia, as readers
know, has long had canal to James river and Kama.
vha stretching for the Western waters-but it is not
yet stretched out long enough to reach them by
| ~ miles Of canal and some rs miles Of slack water
navigation The object OF the writer of the pamphlet
is connect the blanks and to bring the waters of the
Chesapeake into connection with the waters of the
Ohio rivera struggle now of about fourth OF
century in Virginia, but struggle far from being pro-
duotively realized.
"New York and Virginia, in olden times had two
great dreams-and those dreams were Of the West
the Western trads-and an ouetfor that trade in the
harbors Of New York and Norfolk, or Alexandria,
The great originator of that grand idea was probably
George Washington, who, from bis appointment as
Troopr, often wrote Of it, and talked Of it, and even
dreamed Of it, in all bis speculations-but Washing
ton died before the country was old enough or rich
enough to execute such thought. His successor in
Virginian influence Jefferson, dreamed ofit too.out
| be was but dreamer, and while he was dreaming,
the New York practical mind, under the inspiration
of De Witt Clinton, took hold of the des and execu.
ted it in the Erie Canal New York thus, though by
an unnatural route. and 10 high Northern latudes,
first reached the West and secured for the time being
a monopoly of that mighty trade-wheress Virginia,
iu Southern cline, where the frost only temporarily
congeas the streams. looked on and slumbered; and
now, the result is this mighty commercial metropolis
| the hive OF million of thrifty human beings-and
Norfolk with less trade than she had 40 50 years
ago, and very slow increase OF population"
The Evening "Mlrror" s not less emphatic:
"Here thep is q scheme worthy of the attention of
Governor Wise and the whole people of Virginia.
F., The expenditure is roughly stated at FIVE millions,
while the rail road system Of that State will cost forty
| Eve millions.
"Onoe effected, shipper of goods at Norfolk might
transport them without re shipment to the very base
of the Rocky Mountains Every thing bulky would
take this direction, and Norfolk would become great
port Of the Union Why do not the Virginia states.
men leave off their miserable political squsbbles
about Office and place, and Bet themselves at work to
carry out this magnificent idea 1t Is not position
In the Cabinet they should spend their best days in
obtaining. but the enrichipg Of their beautiful and
fertile Slate increasing it's material wealth and pow
or, and placing where the mother of States should
be- at the head of the family. 1t is time that our
country and the age and here is an opportunity for
those of Virginia to distinguish themselves"
The Daily News in Its issue Of the llth nst says:
"THE COMMERCIAL RESoURcEs OF VIRalsiA.-We
have received from the author and compiler, d. T.