The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-01-24
Water-power of James River.

eide.
Water-power of James River.
An advertisement appears in this morn
| ing's Dispatch which is worthy of the es'
pecial attention of manufacturers and
capitalists. It is on behalf of the James
River and Kanawha Company, and signed
by its President. Colonel CARRINGToN, ad-
vertising the water-power of James river
No such water-power, enhanced in value
by extraordinary facilities of transporta'
ton to and from all parts of the world, can
be found in the Atlantic States. The en-
tire line of the James river and KanaWha
canal abounds with admirable mill-seats
and water. power, while the canal affords
direct and economical transportation at
the very doors of manufactures that may
be constructed upon those sites, of both
the raw material and the manufactured
article. Better still, the same canal ira
verses a mineral region of varied and mex
haustible resources-including the two
great agents of power and wealth, coal and
iron-and secures to the manufacturer
uever-failing supply of the material for
operations at the lowest rates Of transpor-
tation.
Here at Richmond we have water
power extending for more than a mile
along the basin and canal, with a fall vary
ing from forty-fve to forty eight feet.
From Richmond to the base of the Allie
ghany mountains the whole route offers
the finest advantages for manufacturing.
In the Blue Ridge section, where the
James passes through the mountain, there
are fifteen miles of rapid fall, where in
Vulnerable mills could be erected, furnish
ing employment for vast community of
operatives-in the midst, too, of one of the
finest agricultural districts in the State.
The Blue Ridge, the country beyond,
and that intervening between the noun
tain and this city, a distance of 1876 miles,
abounds in the finest iron ores, while q
variety of other minerals of value are
found, such as coal, barytes, manganese,
hydraulic cement, marble, limestone, slate,
granite, and even gold.
1t has been estimated by practical men
and close calculators that ton of pig
iron can be deposited on the wharves OF
Richmond for shipment or manufacture at
q dollar less cost to the manufacturer than
the fuel and ore to make the ton of pigs
brought together at the FORCES OF Pennsyl-
vania and Ohio cost the manufacturer
there. This is attributable to the advan-
tages presented in the great valley of the
James in the existence, in such near prox-
unity to one another, of the various mine
rails, the ease with which they are gotten
out of the earth, and the convenience OF
transportation.
When these points are considered, and
we add to them that admirable climate OF
Virginia, which avoids alike the excessive
frost of the North and the malaria and eX.
hausting heats of the further South, lin
which year in and year out human indus
try can be prosecuted with less Interrupt
ton and with a greater aggregate result
than in any other latitude of the Union,-
it must be admitted that in this James
River valley is the most admirable theatre
for great manufacturing enterprises on this
continent.
We say, then, that the prospectus Of the
James River Company should attract the
attention of capitalists. Its appearance
is, indeed, an important event in the his
tory of the development of Virginia.
Long ago the water-power of James river
should have been brought in the most
prominent manner before the world, and
had it been thus presented and been pro-
perly appreciated, this State would now
be among the foremost in manufacturing
industry, as she is in natural resources.
Central as Virginia is, she is most &C
cessible to the different sections of the
Union-while her railroads and admirable
tidal streams open for her the best means
of transit, especially for heavy freights to
the interior, to the sea, and thence to all
foreign countries.