The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-05-03
covington and Ohio Railroad.
~

-
of the Contra, railroad in this city 10 a"'
into consideration the propriety Q, 'S'u
AZ ooo 600 Of preferred stock Tor the Pu',
no,e &C prosecuting the Covington ano
n,;, r,;,road The commissioners OF .iT'
o;n,a and West Virginia who have the us,
nosol Of the Covington and Ohio railroad
n their hands will meet here at the same
,,,,. 70 confer with the company, ana CO.
onera,e. if they agree, in the prosecution OF
the work. That the company Will hesitate
amoment on this subject we cannot oelieve.
In another article we announce the fact
thu, the Central Company will Immediately
comp,ete their road to Covington, the
chartered terminus of their improvement.
This movement will help to inspire the
stockholders with new zeal on the subjec,
Of the great line to the Ohio, now sub
m,ted for their acceptance or rejection.
We have no idea that they will decline to
take control Of it !; for that would be posi-
lively fatal to the prospectsof their road
the throwing away of as bright prospects
as ever were offered to a railroad company.
The have the fat end Of an improvement
that promises to become principal high
way from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and
for the accommodation Of whose business
two or more tracks will become indispen-
sable. The route through Virginia to the
Ohio and Mississippi has greatly the ad'
vantage of any in the Union. Its heaviest
grade coming east to Covington, at the
eastern base of the Alleghanies, is 291a
feet to the mile, its average grade Is feet
per mile, while there are grades on other
lines as high as l20-the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad having eighteen miles OF grade
ZIG feet to the mile. No machine is
stronger than its weakest part; and hence
the heaviest grade on road is very
nearly the measure of its capacity on the
entire route. This grade on the Baltimore
and Ohio road adds half dollar per ton to
the cost of transporting coal!
With this great advantage in favor OF
the Viryinia route from the Mississippi to
the sea, how can there be hesitation in
pressing it forward, and assuming any
amount of obligation necessary for its COM
nletionS Here we have the noblest ad
yantages for shipment as well by our deep
and spacious tidal rivers as from the splen-
did harbor of Norfolk. Here we will have
again our lines of fast vessels transporting
the -four of our Richmond mills to Rio, and
bringing return cargoes of coffee to supply
the entire West-here our lines to English
norts from Richmond and from Norfolk,
exporting cotton and tobacco, and import
ing foreign goods for the consumption OF
onr people-here in this city we shall
have our manufactures to work up all the
raw material which may be brought hither
by both railroad and canal-here is the
market to dispose Of all the superior coal
from the Kanawha mines-here, in short,
will spring up as rapidly as the transpor-
tation of the grand railroad line and the
canal together can convey them, the means
of consuming and diSposing OF all the pro-
ducts of the mines, the fields, and the
forests of the great West. Build the road,
and there will be an end of trouble and
difficulty. It's receipts will solve the whole
financial difficulty of its construction, and
throw into Virginia such flood OF COM
merce that will build up her cities and
swell out her revenues in manner that
will have so much the appearance OF magic
that we who live to enjoy the golden Pc
Rod will hardly be able to realize it.
AT one time the stockholders of the
Central railroad seriously contemplated
the abandonment of that part of their road
between Goshen and Jackson's River
Dep5t. President FoNTAINE defeated the
scheme by laying before them the In
creased receipts upon the freights to and
from that part Of the road. He showed
that the aggregate receipts were Increased
Is per cent. by those freights. And ye
the intervening country affords positively
less freight than any other part of the line
this side, or any part of it beyond, will fur,
nish. 1t is a desert. The explanation is
that the freight concentrated at Jackson's
river accommodates a wide district OF
country covering an extensive circle, OF
which the terminus is the central point
It is interesting to observe how the sue
cessive extensions swelled the profits o.
the road. 1t reached Charlottesville in
1852. Meechum's river in 1853, when the
receipts from that depot increased the
aggregate receipts 46 per cent; and, II
succession, Stanton in 1855, added 80 pei
cent; Goshen, in SO, "a per cent; ano
Jackson's river, in go, rs per cent. From
Stanton to Jackson's river there is reall!
very little Immediately upon the line, ant
tits only from the circle of many mile
that the trade is drawn: which, however
for the time, being transported over the
entire line, yields more than the same
freight from any point nearer its ultimate
destination. The thirty miles west O
Jackson's river clears the mountain dis
trict and brings the road to the rich agri
cultural and mineral region of the Kama
wha Valley. The transportation thrown
upon the improvement in that favored re
gion will so far exceed the figures pre-
sented by the advancing terminii of the
road above referred to, that we consider
them as Of no value as indicators--excep,
this far that if so poor country as that