Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-07-29
From the Savannah Republican ofJuly %.
DIRECT TRADE WITH EU-
ROPE.
North German Steamship
Line.

A called meeting of citizens
was held yesterday at one
o'clock at the Exchange, to re-
ceive the report Of the COM
mittee appointed on the 9Th
July last in the matter of set
ting forth the advantages of
the port of Savannah as the
terminus of the projected line
Of steamships from North Ger
many. The report was sub
mitted by General Joseph E.
Johnston, chairman, as fol-
lows ,.-
The Committee appointed to
report on the comparative fit
ness of Savannah and other
Southern towns to be the
American port Of a line of
steamships to ply between the
North German Confederation
and our Southern States, have
given the subject full consider
alton, and have come to the
unanimous conclusion that in
the essentials of favorable geo.
graphical positions, commo-
diousness of harbor and rail-
road communication with the
interior, this city has decided
advantages for such q purpose
over any other Southern port.
These advantages have CIV
en- Savannah a foreign trade,
especially in cotton, larger than
that of any other of our South
ern Atlantic seaports. In this
connection your attention is
invited to the last report of the
United States Collector of the
Port, by which it will be seen
that the burthen of vessels,
foreign and American, that
have loaded at the wharves of
Savannah during the yoer on
ding June 3Oth, 1869, amoun-
ted to 1,l29,834 tons, and that
these vessels were manned by
%, lO1 seamen and the valuer OF
it's exports the same year amour
ted to 48,336,493 including
$2l $3.50 the value of 172,-
$50 bales Of cotton shipped to
foreign countries. Its harbor
is the best on the Atlantic coast
south Of Norfolk, having a
depth of twenty-six feet at
high, and nineteen feet at low
water. In addition to the inf
provements of the river already
effected, the municipal authori-
ties are about to deepen the
ship channel between the bar
and the city, SO as to afford
easy approach to the largest
class of vessels that may seek
access to our port. Its COM
munications by railroad with
all parts of the Mississippi val
ley south of the Ohio are shor-
ter, and more agreeable for
mildness of climate than those
of any other Atlantic city, and
the liberality and public spirit
Of those who control those roads
will make transportation cheap
er also.
By the Atlantic and Gulf
railroad travellers, immigrants
and merchandise can now reach
Florida and Southern Georgia
as expeditiously and as cheap
as by any other emigrant
routes in the United States
By the Central railroad and its
connections is six hundred and
seventy miles to Vickburg.-
This is the shortest distance
between any Atlantic port and
the Mississippi. An extension
of this line to Marshall, Texas,
is now In progress. The future
Importance of this route is
fully set forth in the following
report
THE committee appointed to
attend the Commercial Conven-
ton at Memphis report as the
result of the deliberations of
that body, the selection of the
thirty-second parallel oflatitude
as the proper line for the loca-
ton Of the Southern Pacific
railroad. This proposed route
starts from San Diego, on the
Pacific coast, and runs east
ward along the line of the thir-
ty-seeond degree to some con-
venient point east of the Brazos
river, in Texas, near Dallas or
Marshall directly west ofand not
n l..