The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-06-05
For the D1spatcn.
The Norfolk and Great Western Rail.
road-A Good Opportunity for Dis
nnsfuo Of Two Million Acres of Land.


taxes to pay increases, many proprietors
are anxiousiy considering how they can
best dispose Of q portion of their surplus
lands. The Norfolk and Great Western
Railroad Company is allowed to receive
subscriptions to be paid in land to the ex-
tent of 100000 acres. 1t is so manifest
that the proprietors in the counties through
and contiguous to which the road will pass
from Norfolk to the Virginia and Tennes-
see road mot east of Glade Springs) will
find it to their interest to subscribe their
lands to secure the road, in preference tc
any other disposition that could be made OF
them, that it would be waste Of time to
argue the proposition. But they are not
the only parties directly interested, and ii
is question of no little importance to al
of the Southside and the lower James River
counties.
In order to show that the investment, in
pecuniary point of view, would be desira-
BILE, it is necessary to show that the road
can be built, and that the stock would, in
all probability, pay good dividends. The
length of the line would be about three hun
dred and fifty miles, through a. fine section
of country. The eastern portion well
adapted to truck farms andfruits; Il. M
trail embraces the finest tobacco and W: t
region in Virginia and North Carolina,
capable of producing as much tobacco as
was grown in Virginia in 1860, and at least
5000, 900 bushels of wheat for market; and
the mountain counties would soon rival AL
bemarle in an agricultural point Of view,
besides containing an unlimited supply of
the best deposits of iron, copper, lead, gyp-
sum, and salt. Nine counties have already
voted s2,lOO,OOO, and the remaining
counties, together with the cities Of Norfolk
and Portsmouth, ought to increase the
amount to S5,0O0,00O. The country which
will furnish the local trade to the road is
larger than the State of Maryland, and a
subscription of one-third Of the unimproved
lands would insure the construction of the
road. Being in fine, healthy country,
well adapted to all the staple crops of the
State, the lands subscribed would hold out
strong inducements to parties wishing to
embark in mining operations, farming,
grazing, market-gardening, or fruit-raising,
and would very soon be occupied by an en-
ergetic, Industrious. population, who would
furnish fine local business for the road.
Asa great through line, the road would
be inferior to none in the South, and would
possess great advantages over any line north
of Virginia. By means Of connections
through Kentucky, Chicago would be nearly
equi-distant from Norfolk and New York,
and the milder climate would insure to the
road fair proportion of the trade of that
city during the winter months. Louisville
would be nearly three hundred miles nearer
to Norfolk than to New York, and about the
same distance that Cincinnati would be
from Newport News. st. Louis would be
about two hundred miles nearer to Norfolk
than to New York the distance to Balti
more and Norfolk would be nearly the same !;
but the better harbor and proximity to the
ocean would fully compensate for the adj
vantage which Baltimore now has. Chi
cago, Louisville, and St. Louis are large
commercial centres, and no inconsiderable
portion of the trade from each would pass
over this line. Much the larger portions of
Kentucky and Tennessee would find this
the best line for them and the valley of
the Mississippi from Memphis to the north
ern border of Missouri would furnish
vast amount of freight.
Any one at all familiar with such sub
iects will be satisfied by referring to the
map that the Norfolk and Great Western
would be for all practical purposes the
eastern division of the grand line of rail
from ocean to ocean that it will be the line
for the California trade; and that the trade
and travel between England and China will,
to no inconsiderable extent, pass over this
rather than any other line Of rail. 1t may
be as well to state that the English and
China mail now passes through New York,
and this would afford better and shorter
route.
1t is true that the Chesapeake and Ohio,
by means of its low grades and short line
between the eastern and western waters,
will command the heavy trade which will
bear slow transportation; but even that
line will scarcely be able to compete with
this for the light freights and travel be-
tween the great central valley of the West
and the Atlantic. But there can be no
occasion for jealousy between the Virginia
lines, as they all will possess decided adj
yantages over the more northern roads, and
the rapidly-increasing business of the
Great West will afford full freights for ALL,
The section of country which has sup
piled the Baltimore anu On1o ROAD anu
built up Baltimore is a mere neighborhood
compared with that which will be tributary
to the Norfolk and Great Western, and will
make Norfolk go forward more rapidly
than Chicago or st. Louis ever did. The
road will be through a more favorable
country than the Baltimore and Ohio, and
cannot cost as much as that road it must
command fully as large and profitable bu
siness, and consequently ought to pay better
dividends. The stock of that company
varies from $3.50 to $3.50; it pays ten per
cent. dividends, and the company has re-
served fund of nearly s20,00O,o 600. There
can be very YER. little question that with judi
cious management the Norfolk and Great
Western will .be one Of the best paying
roads in this country the Baltimore and
Ohio and the New York Central not ex-
cepted. s
Suppose that land could be sold at o fair.
price-rather violent suppoaition at pre-
sent-the seller could scarcely find better
permanent investment than the stock Of
this company would afford. The company
would doubtless be willing to allow 8 ibe-.
raj price for all lands subscribed. There
ia no occaaion to apprehend that the COM