Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1865-1869, 1866-04-12

Watson ESQ, Of this city was laid before that body
and ordered to be referred to the Committee on
the James River, when appointed:
"NoRPo1K, VA, April a, 1866.
"Dear Sir-Mr Marshall PARKS informs rs you
are DESTROYS Of having the bar below Rockets re,
moved aud he learns from pilot that the length oil
the bar is about one thousand feet, which You lie
sire 10 be deepened three feet about sixty eet "ue
This can be done for about sAOOO, or one hundred
feet wide will cost about 5000. We are now about
completing dredging in the harbOr and docks here,
and if You desire this work to be done we would
commence it in ten days, before we discharge our
men and lay up our machines
VERY truly, yours,
-. n. COURTRGHT Co.
The obstruction referred to is the bar little below
Rockets. It needs no argument to show how i'm
porant it is to have the dredging done so as to adj
init the passage Of large vessels over it. The steam
ers Saratoga and Niagara, in consequence OF always
getting aground there, have discontinued their trips
10 this city altogether, and now come no further
than City Point and since they have ceased run
ming here, freights to New York have been put up
enormously as follows: For bale Of cotton two
dollars and fifty cents, instead Of one dollar and
. twenty-five cents, Zone hundred per cent) for a
three-uuarter box tobacco, fifty cents, instead oil
Twenty-Five cents lone hundred per cent J and for
booshead of tobacco, four dollars instead of two
dollars and fifty cents. Now, suppOsng two steam
err make one hundred and four trips in the year at
$1,000 the round trip, they realize slo6OOO and IL
the freight be only advanced fifty per cent over the
rates prevailing when there was opposition there
falls an additional charge Of $4,000 on merchants
which, of course, they will put on their goods, and
which the consumers will at last have to pay. IT,
then the bar be cleared, large vessels can come up
nd the larger the vessel the cheaper the freight
. -Oetition will be naugurated, and our people at
-. VI get goods cheaper. To dredge the bar, how
width of 100 feet will not DO. It ought
II. ed out to the width of 200 feet so as to
o,o,io ,.o,oIs going over it to pass each other IN
49,. M M, ties who offer 20 DO the work WILL
g 100 or. riabtlv informed, take in payment city
,..,,,,,,r II il ,,ontended by some that the pro-
-, 80 an, Saratoga and Niagara ought to pay
Co. a., ,rort II il quite unreasonable to expect
,t,t tho,, sbonlJ for what would there be to pre-
,r, ,,',,or lime. ayailinz themselves OF the work
-, ,,,ai. .,,,ns, II is to the interest of our
CITY at large that the bar should he ureuseu' anu
is To be hoped that Mr.. Scott oil tue Oounon' VIM
We believe, is cxerting himself in Inc matter VIII
sncceed in securing prompt acton III ''e P''i"''e
q,bere are other distractions too, when as Vi Se'l
ons detriment to the commerce OF the CITY, 10 WIZ
a., ,r,.ls of the steamers Patrick Henry and We;
point The Patrick Henry lies opposite horrisS SUI
gar raiDery and stretches partly across the river III
the drerton of the foot Of the marine railway ana
7bus the channel is narrowed, and we aN lh''r'ue"
b,tbe barbor-master that there Is gradually III
ore,sing bar there also. The West Pon~ TO DC
spro Turns the tide in strong sweep ln
,o,,,rls IN, steamboat wharf, and the result
=, that the rapid current has swept away much
,o,,,s;, and there are now thirteen leet wafer
,,l.r, les,rc there were but nine. But on the oth'
or hand. the wreck causes an accumulation oil Sahu
and debris near the mouth Of the dock when 'nu'u
incommodes tugs towing vessels in and out anu
will soon neceSstate 4 repetition OF the dredging
done there last August.
little below the mouth Of the dock on the Ken
,.ond side. there is another e'structiou-'he ways
artle Confederate Navy Yard; but AS the piles an
ma, driven in the ground but standing on sunkeu
nl,,form. and as the stone about thirty tons IN ''
NO, j. all small there will be great trouble IN NJ
moving that.
Raf,re the present harbOr-master came into ONCE
tho West Point was presented before the Grand Ju
lint the uuflN ltihINluN 70 80 %
follow up the matter and, though some one OF wv
witnesses were examined, the subject has slept pro
foundly in the Grand Jury room from that day u
this And now the harbor-master does not know
whom 10 present.
S,ne time after the evacuation, the military au
rbsrlties OF the United States raised two vessels ne
the wharf and were we believe, about to raise an'
claim the Patrick Henry and West Point but 'h
NAVY stepped in ~ claimants also, and 80 no'hh.
has been done.
with r,o,rl n the bar it will be recollected tia
same work was done on il some years ago; hut I'M
distraction sat Drewrys BluG have thrown back on
LARGE amount Of deposit and, consequently II sue
vessels As the CuREIES had, in former years m u"
New York and Rio trade, were to be now pun ''
those lines they could not take half cargoe7 oVef ''
bar.
, comnany. known "A Brown \ Co, are now en-
,,,yed in raising vessels in the river. They have
noyyerfr}l machine, capable Of lifting five hundre
tons. and they have raised two vessels at Trent
peach and one near Drewry's BluG-the Wythe, W
-bslieve-and are going to work on Others. They re
..,.s,ed at one time, Captain Allen the harbOr-mas
tr 10 protect, if possible, the West Point IRON DEP
sat,on by river thieves, rs they expected TO rais
In but, we believe, the question OF ownership
ND. and so the West Point viii remain wher
- pBtI the ownership is decided Inc "e'
=. Eonrsd to the York River Railroad Comps
- 3, represented as having been sunk mai
CiouSly. ,-,.f, "a con ,l,ir
d, b. IN ~ great importance. We trust that IN
committee of the Council when appointed VIII 'a'
it vigorously in hand and not be like some Oh !. !,
committees of he late Councillor instance u
Committee on ccOunts-Thieh the Cham oer'aiI
Mr. Morton. could never get to examine Ms a'
counts for the last JoHr gears and the Commute
on the Fire Depar tment, which has not met fC
eighteen months. ,-,-..-
If the Council desire any further infOrmatO
-, the distractions, and the injury they are
commerce, Captain Allen, harbOr-master' will chez
fully appear before them, He is thoroughly a
,nsiuted with all matters relating to the port