The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1867-01-23


The important proposition for the con
solidu,ion of the "sides," heretofore Sc
often an,agonistic, for the Accomplishment
OF the great work Of completing the i'h'
BY tho great Kanawha Valley to the oh''
remarkable event In the history of In.
tsroa, ,mproyemsnts in Virginia. Should
tho q soutbsidc !" and the "Eorthsids
] lsbor IN good faith aud ducerity for this
common, object, It must be successful,
however great tho obstacles that may %
presented TO their undertaking.
The next great work which we are o
SaIves, disposed to present nsi'n "a. ;'.a,
tfast nor In competition VIII ' '.,'
named. IL the Virginia and hentucky Ia''-
.s.a c.ou Bristoi to Cumberland Gap.
rh., vork completes the connection Of the
v;,,,nia tide water-through the South
aide roads, the Richmond lines, and the
Virginia and Tennessee roads-with the
great State Of Kentucky and the Missis-
sippi and lower Ohio valleys. As conduit OF
trade with the great West, and the mineral
wealth Of our own rich southwestern Virgi-
MIA, its importance cannot be exaggerated.
And q gratifying fact in reference to this
Il, that only one hundred miles are left for
Virginia TO finish to make complete these
sexpausive and invaluable connections.
: That hundred miles is the length of the
Virginia and Kentucky road from Bristol
TO the gap where it shakes hands with the
Kentucky line.
!. While this important route opens to us
the southeastern part and the whole OF
middle and west Kentucky, aud apart OF
the great northwest; the Covington and
Ohio, or by its proposed name-aiter the
consolidation with the North" and
nSouthside" roads-the Chesapeake and
Ohio" road, traverses the rich coal mea-
sures of the great kanawha-which alone
will furnish tonnage enough to employ the
working power Of a well-managed rail
road-and strikes central Ohio at its base,
from which point roads made or projected
will give rapid and direct communication
with the principal cities Of Ohio and the
great lakes.
These TIVE great works open to the west
and northwest, the best graded and
straightest lines OF communication with the
Atlantic. They will be the safest because
the best graded, and will have capacity
of transportation superior in proportion to
the superiority Of the grades. Astounding
in mineral wealth, as does much of the ter
ritory through which both of these great
lines pass, they will bring to the manulac-
turing towns of Virginia the raw material
to employ hundreds Of mills, FORCES, and
foundries. Both will contribute to expand
the productive power of the State, and
multiply, al infaiten, the physical force
employed in manufacturing. The placing
of coal and iron together, SO that iron may
be manufactured with coal instead of wood,
will multiply infinitely the amount OF iron,
and reduce the cost of its production, 50
that the manufacturer win have the double
advantage of an increased production at
considerably larger per cent. vi pionl pei
ton.
We can see no possible grounds of COM
petition between these two works, which
promise such grand results to the State oil
Virginia. They are both deserving OF the
earnest support of the State as far as 1t
can be given and to both Of them should
the people look with the highest hopes as
means of accclerating the growth OF the
State in population and wealth. Their
success will bring about a new era for
Virginia, and will promote her power and
political influence in the republic in the
only manner in which power and influence
can be exerted in these times-in men and
, money.