Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-08-28

| lsdhe CIV Vi tuo WOTh suo uhS Cou~
structed TO the nation. Two hundred
miles of canal have been in successful
operation for more than twelve years..
The proposition to complete it, if possi-
BILE, by means of aid from the National
Government is therefore Invested of all
suspicion and possibility Of being job
agitated in the interest Of private indi-
viduals. On the contrary, the desire
and design is to place it at the disposal
of the nation, to be completed for the
benefit of all who are interested in the
question of cheap transportation for wes-
tern grain and cheap food for eastern
| populations.
The argument of the report which this
committee has prepared is very strong
one [R. w. Hughes, authorl. AS the
country bordering upon the lakes be-
comes settled upon the breadth of land
cultivated becomes greater, and the in
creased production of this region mo-
nopolizes the capacity Of the canal. The
grain of the country at distance is cut
off from this great avenue of trade by
the trade that is produced nearer, which
rushes in and occupys the canal. The
great railroads which cross the Appala-
chan chain are overtasked, and have as
much as they can possibly Go in trans
porting lighter and more valuable freight
other than the heavy farm, mineral and
forest produce of the West. The Lower
Mississippi and Gulf route is very cir
cuitous as to the products of large
portion of the interior, and the
piotage and insurance charges,
and the heating which grain undsrgoes,
all render the route Objectionable to
trade. Both of the existing water routes
are blockaded during state Of war.
The production of the interior por-
ton of the continent is growing very
rapidly. The quantity Of produce
which the West could spare, if freights
were cheap enough and the capacity
of existing lines great enough to draw it
out and carry it to market, is now es-
timated to be 25,OOO,0OO tons. The
quantity of this tonnage which actual
ly goes to market is not twelve and
half millions. The movement of tun-
mage is stopped either by high charges
of freightage or deficient capacity in
the existing avenues of transportation
to bear the produce off to the seaboard.
The increasing amount of produce
which the West has to spare constantly
presses unduly upon the means of
transportation. This undue pressure
grows rather than diminishes.
The causes of the augmentation are
three-fold. Population is increasing in
the West with a rapidity unexampled
in the history of the human race
There is not only the natural increase,
but also that which is produced by inn
migration from foreign countries and
from the Atlantic States. Production
is shown to increase in the same ratio |
with population. The railroad system
of the Mississippi and lake valleys has
reached 1902 miles in total 1length;
and this vast network of roads is stimu-
lating production in every part of the
interior. The steamboat navigation of
the Mississippi and its waters sums up
to total of 16, 500 miles. The trans
portation system of the interior States
is therefore "a 900 miles in total length.
The stimulus it imparts to production
is very great.
Navigation on the western rivers has
of late assumed new and efficient
shape, admirably adapted 10 the neces-
sites of western commerce. The
steam-tug and barge system has risen
up to bring rivers into renewed utility. |
The system converts the river into a
sort OF railroad, the steam-tug being
the locomotive, the barges the freight |
cars, and the rivers themselves the |
track, The barge trains are run on
schedules, the trains leaving and pick
ing up barges as they pass wharves.-
Stationary and movable elevators are !
also provided in the West for transfer
ring grain from vessel to vessel by |
steam power. Thus water Transports
ton, which had we'll thigh gone into
disuse under the completion of railroads
has assumed new Importance, and ca
as are again Comingiuto favor.
n The navigation system of the interior |
of the continent has its centre near the
mouth of the Ohio. Within conve-
nient distances from there debouche all
the great branches of the Mississippi
Due east of this centre almost is Nor
folk, the central harbor and the finest
harbor on the seaboard; with the best
approaches from the ocean to be found |
along the Atlantic. These centres seem
to have been made for each other. To |
unite them by continuous navigation it
is only necessary to make seventy-fve
miles of canal in Virginia between
the arms of the James and Kanawha
rivers. Cut this canal, and the Mis-
sissippi river and its vast system Of
navigation is, commercially speaking,
empted into Hampton Roads.
From washington.