The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-02-24
Correspondence Of the Richmo nd Dispatch.
NEW ORLEANS, February II, 1866.

remained q few days in Mobile, after my
trip down the Alabama river, and had an op.
portunity of going over the town. Like aii
other southern cities, 1T shows the eHec.s OF
war There is a great lack of paint, fence
pickets, AID window panes, and great abun-
dance of loose brick and adjourned plaster
The wharves are dilapidated, and some OF the
warehouses and stores along the river look as
if tottering upon the very verge OF final rulna-
ton. Very little building has been done since
the close of the war, nor is there yet any pros
pect of building in the future. And about the
future. Upon this subject opinions vary.
Some affect to believe that Mobile will soon
begin to show herself alive; that her star Will
soon blaze in the zenith, and that before many
wears the former beautiful little Gulf CITY
will have become the commercial metropolis OF
the Atlantic States south of Virginia. Others
take a gloomy view. They say that the city Is
controlled by less than a score of large pro-
perry holders, who have strenuously opposed
all progress, and are now the milestone tnat
is dragging the city down beneath the muddy
waters Of the Perdido. Nor is this alone meta
phorical for while it is gradually sinking be-
meath the surface of the lost, in that sense IL
is, in fact, becoming the city of the Perdido;
and the old Spanish town that has enjoyed
the dignity is emerging upon the network OF
railroads that are beginning to ramify along
the shores of the Gulf. Between Mobile and
Pensacola flows muddy, swampy, alligator
haunted stream, known TO the early Spanish
adventures as the Perdido II rose into fame
with the old town, and was explored and navi-
gated by gallant knights and their followers,
who expected to find somewhere upon its
shores the lost treasures of Ophir or Ind. Bye
and bye, DE Soto found the Great RiVer-the
Father of Rivers-and the little stream was
forgotten. Pensacola also was abandoned,
and for years it was the city Of the Perdldo,
inhabited by a race two centuries behind the
age, and surrounded by gopher villages ana
cypress swamps. Still later, railroad pene-
trated the forests and prairies, and the iron
horse few into the slumbering town, frighten-
ing the deer from their haunts, and startling
fiocks of wild turkeys from their feeding
grounds. Pensacola has splendid harbor.
There Is water enough to float the largest
ships, and an offing in which whole fleets can
ride in safety. Commerce began to see the
advantages offered by this old Spanish port,
and capital sought an investment in it, while
the railroad formed the channel through
which the produce of the State sought mar
ket. Thus matters stood in 1910, and Pensa'
cola began 70 emancipate itself from the Per-
dido, that river going yearly nearer and nearer
it's neighbor on the opposite side. When l
went over the route in 1861, TO join my COM
mand, then garrisoning Fort San Carlo de
Barrancas, the river had overlooked it's banks
on the Mobile side, and was stretching It's
waters out towards the Gulf City. 1t was a
terrible journey. The ricketty coach ran for
miles with its wheels half under water while at
times it stood six inches deep within the body.
We dined upon an island, and at dark set out
again along the narrow corduroy causeway,
BY the blazed trees on either side, and an occa-
sional stake, the driver managed to keep upon
the road; but how he did 1T was more than we
could tell.
The war over, the question again comes mp,
which Of the two will be the city of the Per
didoi The hopeful say that Mobile is bound
to take the trade, and be the port, while the
opposite party are confident that Pensacola
will 60 far ahead of II in a few years, and that
the latter will be the grand port of entry and
Of exit to the trade and commerce of Alabama
and middle Georgia. With this party am
inclined TO agree, anIess the Mobilians should
nh hnsr rsxyn
every encouragement to the railroads now
running, and they must build others, regard
less Of expense, to save their city. They must
make II, too, city OF manufactures as well us
of industry that can add to the wealth of the
corporation or advance the interests of the
community. am fully of the opinion that
The next few months9will determine whether
Ii is TO grow and prosper or become what Pen
sacola has been, the city Of the Perdido. She
has the good wishes Of traveller, whose inte-
rest Is the greater on account of the few warm
friends who find in it a "local habitation and
a name''
The "Lonise" cast off precisely at 10 NJ, |
and in an hour the Gulf City was dimly seen
IN IN the distance. The next morning at O'Clock |
the cars for the city. ~
In New Orleans, business is extremely good |
~ ~ III . ume, and II has been good ever since
LOTION mas been Moving In from every direc. |
M0n, sno merchants and planters from ali /
Ss,r q r s6s country have docked here to seil
trade; The Texas trade Eas beam 's sea interior
no lear many would think me romanc,ms
s Snou ic., t .sa them the amount Of msrsnan
growing empire. In return, we rst 0 rc. s ana
eYain, beeyes, and better stall, good hari cssS,
,or the Texans seem 70 have plenty OF that
nevinG the inference that they manacsd - |
salt down" supply during the war. W. !
nase isrge number Of steamers running ~ |
tnS great river aud its tributaries, and All |
come down 70 Us 80 loaded with cotton thai
Every branch Of trade, industry, and com.
merce II d0nrishing, and stranger here would
never believe that we had just passed through
one Of the most terrible struggles known Ia
now OF the surface appearance only, for when |
one examines closely, he Sees far too many evil |
dencee o. the cT0sl war. IL BE- has beeu hire !
~ ysess pasty aad beaam4 acquainted With |