The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-08-26
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WEST VA,

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, WEST VA,
Saturday, August q, 1869.
This resort of fashion and infrmity, Of
devious for the friends of public enterprises
broader and more towering than the con-
Germs of individuals.
The present week has been marked by
the presence of n company of gentlemen
who were deputed by the National Board
of Trade which met at Cincinnati last De-
cember to inquire and report concerning
the project of line of continuous water
communication through Virginia between
the waters of the Ohio and James rivers.
This committee have been in session here
laboriously all the week until yesterday,
and have made searching inquiry into every
branch of the subject intrusted to their de-
liberations. They have had the advice OF
several gentlemen of science, Of practical
experience and skill as engineers, in the
course of their sessions, and they have di-
gested the questions before them as tho
roughly as could be done by patient assidu-
ity under the circumstances surrounding
them.
They have agreed upon report which,
when signed by those members of the COM
mittee who were not in attendance, will be
submitted to the National Board of Trade
at it's next annual session, which will be
held next December in Richmond, Va. The
cities of the Union from which delegates
were appointed to this committee we're Port
land, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Bal
timore, Norfolk, Richmond, New Orleans,
Memphis, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati
Chicago, Buffalo, and st. Paul. The chair
man Of the committee is Mr.. J. J. Porter,
of Louisville, and one of the most ener-
getic and intelligent members is Mr.. Gano
Of Cincnnati-twoc cities which are most Vi
tally interested in the success of this enter
prise.
The project of connecting the waters Of
the Kanawha and James rivers has always
been darling one with the Virginia people
1t has become interviewer with the tradi-
tions of the State, and has commanded o
popularity at all times, and under all yicis.
STUDIES of the history Of either the work
itself or of the people, which no public
work ever before enjoyed with any com,
munity. The State has expended Sl2 900, OOC
upon this line of navigation, and brought
the work up 200 miles from Richmond tc
the town Of Buchanan, at the western base
Of the Blue Ridge. Construction has beer
done on the line westward of Buchanan
but has not been completed. The distance
between Buchanan and the Grcenhrier river
(about seventy-fve miles) has yet to be filled
up. Slack-water navigation, from the
mouth Of the entrance Of the canal into
Greenbrier river to the mouth of the Great
Kanawha, will be for distance of 20s
| ,c+, IF
slack-water navigation, from tide-watcr al
Richmond to the mouth of the Great Kama
wha. will be 4S2 miles. The distance from
Richmond to Norfolk is l25 miles. The
whole distance from st. Louis by this ,watel
route to Norfolk is 1858 miles. The time
for navigation between st. Louis and Nor
folk will be eleven days.
The capital stock in the James River and
Kanawha Company is owned, as to four
ffths, bv the State; the residue being held
by the cities of Richmond and Lynchburg
by Washington College, and by private indi-
viduals. If the Commonwealth should be
assured that the National Government would
provide for completing the work she would
at once take steps to cxtinguish the modicum
of private interest in it, and make gift OF
the work she has constructed to the nation
Two hundred miles Of canal have been IL
successful operation for more than twelve
years. The proposition to complete it, il
possible, by means of aid from the National
Government is therefore divested of al
suspicion and possibility of being job agi-
tated in the interest Of private individuals
On the contrary, the desire and design is tc
place it at the disposal Of the nation, to be
completed for the benefit of all who are in
terested in the question of cheap transpor,
tation for western grain and cheap food fo1
eastern populations.
The argument of the report which this
committee has prepared is very strong
one [R. W. Hughes, authorl. AS the coun-
try bordering upon the lakes becomes set
tied up the breadth of land cultivated
becomes greater, and the increased produc-
ton of this region monopolizes the capacity
of the canal. The grain of the country at
a distance is cut off from this great avenue
of trade by the trade that is produced
nearer, which rushes in and occupies the
canal. The great railroads which cross the
Appalachian chain are overtasked, and
have as much as they can possibly do in
transporting 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 pilotage and insu-
rance charges, and the heating which grain
undergoes, all render the route objection
able to trade. Both of the existing water
routes are blockaded during state of war
The production of the interior portion OF
the continent is growing very rapidly. The
quantity Of produce which the West could
spare, if frei ghts were cheap enough and the
capacity of existing lines great enough to
draw it out and carry it to market, is now
estimated to be $4,000, 900 tons. The guam
tity of this tonnage which actually goes to
market is not twelve and half millions.
The movement Of tonnage is stopped either
by high charges Of freightage or by def
cient capacity in the existing avenues OF
transportation to bear the produce OF to the
seaboard. The increasing amount OF pro-
duce which the West has to spare constantly
presses unduly upon the means of trans
portation. This undue pressure grows
rather than diminishes. ....
The causes of the augmentation are three
fold. Population is increasing in the West
with q rapldlty unexampled III Tie lisooly
of the human race. There is not only the
natural increase, but also that which is pro-
duced by immigration from foreign coun-
tries and from the Atlantic States. Pro
duction is shown to increase in the same
ratio with population. The railroad sys-
tenn of the Mississippi and lake valleys
has reached II ,022 miles in total length ;
and this vast network Of roads is stimu-
lating production in every part of the inte-
rior. The steamboat navigation of the Mis-