The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-01-25
The West and the Seaboard.

The difficulty and expensiveness OF securing
transportation for their crops TO market are
now causing considerable excitement in the
Western States. The most vexatious delays
are experienced from the crowded condition OF
the great lines of railroad which connect them
with tidewater and the prices paid for trans
portation, when it is secured, are enormous.
They state their grievances in the following
pithy form at costs three bushels of corn
" to send one bushel TO market a distance of
d" one hundred miles one hundred bushels to
"get pair of boots; one thousand bushels 10
"get q suit of clothes, and two tons OF corn
for a ton of coal" 1t is said that corn is
actually burned for fuel in some parts OF the
West. A story is told of a farmer who sent a
quantity.of barley to Chicago by rail, and the
charges exceeded the sum he received for his
grain. The great West is profoundly exercised
in devising schemes for reaching tidewater.
Some are pressing earnestly for the consruc-
ton of the Niagara ship canal-a marine rail
way 10 do the work which the Erie canal is
unable to do. Others are examining the JftaSi
Jiltty Of striking the sea at Norfolk ty the James
Riuer and Kana,cha canal, and, by a connecting
system of railroads, piercing the Northwestern
and Western States. So enormous is the bust
ness between them and the seacoast cities that
it is hardly possible to have too many lines of
communication between the East and the
West.
No fact gives q clearer idea of the growth
of the West and the increase of its products
than the amount of grain which is shipped
each year from Chicago In 1888 seventy
eight bushels of wheat comprised the total
exports from what has since become the great
est grain market in the world. In 1889 1t was
3,67s bushels in $780, 10000 bushels; in ls4l,
IL, 900 bushels; in 1872 5S6,907 bushels; in 1915
it first reached 1000 900 bushels; in lS47, over
1000 900 bushels. In 1851 and 1852 it again fell
of to less than LOCO, 900 bushels but in 1858
again rose to !, $50, 1895 bushels in 1854 it was
744, $50 bushels in 1855, 7ll0,270 bushels III
1856 94l9 1868 bushels; in 1857 10, 7SS, 292 bush
els; in 1855, 1917 1859 bushels; in 1850,
e,o54S79 bushels; in 1861, 22,9l3,s3o bushels
In 1862, 22,902, 765 bushels; and in 1863,
II, 1925, 1856 bushels of wheat.
Illinois, which, in 1850, was the fifth State In
the Union in the production OF wheat, was In
1850 the first, raising 23 sS7 o2s bushels; Indi-
ana, which was sixth in 1850, was second in
1850, raising ls,s4s,267 bushels; Wisconsin,
ninth In 1850, was third in 1860, raising
1857, ASS; Ohio was fourth in 1860, raising
lo,ll9,oi7; Iowa, fifteenth in 1850, stands
eighth In 1860, producing s,449, i03 bushels
michigan produced In 1860, $3.50, 36S bushels.
These facts show the wonderful production
VI 'hs west, and indicate to Virginia the vital
Importance OF pushing to completion the
James River and Kanawha canal, which has
aifciay oesnn TO attract attention in the West
no IN important avenue of transportation TO
uae"a'er. The James River Company and
It's iriehus In both East and West Virginia
should cooperate with those Western men
who are now turning their attention TO the
practicability OF striking the sea at Norfolk
by the James River and Kanawha canal They