Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1866-01-26
FRIDAY MORNING, JANUARY &c, 1866.

One of our Richmond contemporaries copies
our local, in reference to petition to the Gen
cral Assembly for the charter of a Valley
Railroad being circulated and signed in the
Valley Counties, under the caption of Bal
tin,orc at aroyh," while another speaks of the
notices in the Valley papers of meetings to
be held to further the project of securing the
Valley Railroad, as being ''in the interest Of
the city Of Baltimore.' While it may not,
be the desire of our contemporaries to throw
cold water On the Valley Railroad scheme, by
creating prejudice against the city Of Bal
timore, and especially as one Of them ex-
pressed his conviction that no reasonable OBJ
lection could be urged to granting a charter
for said road if asked for, yet such illusions
and headings do tend to create prejudice,
not only against Baltimore, but also against
the Valley Railroad, and are decidedly un-
just to the Valley section. The petition
spoken.of was gotten up in the Valley. and
is being circulated and signed in the Valley
Counties, not in the interest of Baltimore,
Richmond, or any other city, but IN the IN
te'est Of the Valley enclusirely.
We have, by the operations of war, had
our houses and crops destroyed, our lands
laid waste, fences burned, cattle and horses
killed or driven off, and are left without la
Dor necessary to repair the damages we have
sustained, or render the production of the Val
ley equal to its former days, and also without
means of procuring the necessary labor. Our
lands, the richest and most productive in the
State, bring now but nominal price COM
pared with the sale of lands elsewhere. We
therefore cannot afford to sell, and are unable
to render them as productive as formerly
Like our contemporaries, in all portions of the
State, but few of which have suffered as did
the Valley section, We naturally look for aid
away from home. We know that the price
of our lands would be greatly enhanced by
rendering access to market easy, and the
only way in which this can be done is by a
Valley Railroad. While it is being con-
structed money will flow into this greatly i'm
poverished section, and when completed an
impetus will be given to the development Of
our resources such as we have never before
felt. Immigration will flow in and will take
hold of our idle lands and the Valley will
blossom as the rose. With all this in our
minds eve, we have started, and are circula-
ting and signing this petition, believing that
we, the people of the Valley, are the parties
directly interested Whether Richmond or
Baltimore will get more Of the trade Of the
Valley will depend, then, as it now does,
upon which can offer the greater inducements
for that trade. There will be competition
between Baltimore and Richmond, which
will add life to both cities, and either, as we
have stated in former article, will get more
trade from the Valley, due to this road, than
the whole trade of the Valley now amounts
to, which, at present, is divided between them.
No loss can be sustained by Richmond on
account of this road, unless she lags behind in
efforts to build up her trade, but she must be
the gamer by it, and the Valley will be greatly
advantaged thereby Even if the interests
of Richmond did suffer, must the whole Val
ley section remain unproductive for years on
that account? We should opine not, and we
trust that Richmond will see her interest
sufficiently clearly to assist us in this matter
rather than throw impediments in our way.
But whether she does Or not, we must push
forward, and we again say to all hunt up the
petition and sign it.
Since our last issue the Lower House of