The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-01-02
Virginia Enterprise.

,y Tho -. that Virginia notwiths tanding her
advantages was left behind 10y
ther States in the competitions OF coinn''e'
nd trade, can be readily explained wi'ho"'
the imputaticu to her people OF warl u :"
ar0y and enterprise Causes have been NJ
work from the very beginning of her history
ONE Of them indeed, geographical Sa"s's-
which have prevented thar CONGRATULATIONS %
~apital and population within her hnitsh eces-
nary to produce trade and commerce. Among
thsse may be men toned the occupation oil
largo tracts Of land for the cultivation OF to-
t,acco and other staple crops, and the natural
xi,, ision of the eastern part of the State into
peninsulas ny the many streams intersecting
that earliest settled portion of the country,
and which tended to dilfuse population and
capital by giving almost every estate landing
in its ncighborhood Whilst Eastern Virgins
was thus segregated by geographical and other
causes into separate communities, similar III.
fluenccs existed 10 divide the West from 'h
East and 10 interpose almost insuperapie %
stacles TO their material commercial dcpenoeh'
cy The Valley of Virginia, separated IRON
us by the Blue Ridge had no natural outle'
but its northern terminus, and became com
mercial tributary of Maryland. Then comes
the Alleghames and the people west oil these
mountains had streams At their own doors
leading TO tho Ohio, which river, OF course,
became the highway of their commerce
Mountains and rivers combined TO divide Nlr-
ginia into separate communities ana 10 pre-
vent the association OF capital and enterprise
in commercial and mechanical operations IL
NAV be added that the diversity oil our lnsu-
Sutions from those of Europe and the North
tended also 10 obstruct commercial develop
ment BY the reluctance OF capitalists ana
merchants in other communities 10 settle IL
slayeholding States. IL is true we hao Inc
finest harbor on the Atlantic coast anu Inc
most central geographical location IN 'h'
Union but these advantages We're ncutraliZeo
nv the facts we have mentioned. and by TIT
necessity, before the introduction OF steam,liia'
ships sailing from Norfolk for Europe should
first get upon a sailing line from New I ork 10
Liverpool in order to avoid the floating ice OF
the North and the battling winds ana currents
OF the South Moreover, New York, NJ NJ
early period, by lis vast superiority OF capital
its command of the trade OF the west oy the
Erie canal and the maritime taSteand aptltuae
of its population, had concentrated tbe com
merce Of the country i'll the metropolis, ana
il is no easy task 10 remove trade from It's &c
Customed channels.
There are facts. however, which show thai
Virginia. in spite OF all the disadvantages III
her material, has not been laSSard IN 'ht
race of progress, and that, in the construction
OF artificial communications, she has eAhloiteo
great enterprise and made heavy expenditures
She has organized and put into progress 'h'
James River and kanawha Canal. two nun
dred miles of which have been constructed ~
an expense of nine millions, and the Dismal
Swamp canal At 4 cost OF more than Il mliiloh.
She has built the Richmond ana Potomac rail-
road seventy-siX miles, costing one and thre,
quarter millions the Central railroad, not
quite completed, ct 4 cost OF four anu quar-
ter millions: the Alexandria and Lynchonre
roads, together, one hundred and siXty-elgh'
miles costing nearly four millions: the
Alexandria and Manassas road, one hundred
and thirty nine miles, three and Il half mil
lions: the Richmond and York River road
thirty eight miles, costing million the Nor
folk road 10 North Carolina, eighty miles, one
and a half million; the Norfolk and Peters
burg road, eighty miles, NJ about the same
cost the Petersburg road, connecting with
the great Southern route OF North Carolina,
sixty three miles, cost one million; the Rich
mond and Petersburg road twenty-five miles
over a million dollars; Petersburg and Lynch
miles, one million nine hundred and seventy.
five thousand dollars: Richmond and DanNill'
road, one hundred and forty three miles, cost
four millions Southwestern road 10 Tennessee,
two hundred and four miles, cost five and 4 hall
millions; thirty -four miles OF coal mine r;nl
roads NJ a cost of some thing less than million.
besides smaller railroads, turnpikes and I'M
proyements of navigable streams. She has
hnn ra1 an
twenty-th three miles Of canal, and one thousand
eight hundred and twenty miles OF railroad
at grand total expenditure of nearly seventy
millions of dollars. 1t may be safely avelred
that, since lo4s, Virginia has accomplished more
in in ternal improvements than any State In the
Union with her own resources. Not one OF
them, with its own capital, with the camtai
provided by taxation upon its own people, th'
contributions made by its own citizens, has
done as much as Virginia. At the same time,
while there has been little associated wealth
here there has been much individual wealth,
and if her own population was only one million
and a half, on sixty thousand square miles,
she sent more emigrants than any other old
State 10 people the Western empire.
The beginning Of the war found Virginia
fairly entering her career of development,
and Frightening in the dawn of a new era OF
prosperity. In five years after the introduce
ton of her public works the value OF her real
estate was increased more than hundred mil
lions of dollars In 1857 the aggregate wealth OF
the State was estma ted as exceeding eight hun
dred millions. Besides the permanent value,
the State had nearly sixteen millions OF acres
of unimproved land and an annual product OF
seventy five thousand hogsheads of tobacco,
forty millions bushels of corn, fifteen millions
bushels of wheat, besides large products of rye,
oats, wool, peas and beans, Irish and sweet po-
tatoes, barley, buckwheat, hemp, butter, and
:he products of mines, forests and fisheries.
Facts like these abundantly rindicate the
Virginia people from the imputation, so
common, Of a want of enterprise and energy,
and at the same time furnish reason for the
brightest hopes Of the future. 1t is believed
that an additional expenditure of thirty mil
lions of dollars will complete all those works
Of our own State which are necessary 10 con-
meet US with the other great highways OF water
and iron nj tho common country and TO bring