The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1869-07-08
STANTON. VIRGINIA.
Thursday, j: July 8, 1869.
The Valley Rail Road.

Now that the strife and confusion of the
campaign are over, and farmers, mechanics
and professional men have returned to their
usual avocations, let us hold calm and familiar
communion with our readers as of old, and
discuss questions Of vital Importance to the
prosperity Of the State which has but just
passed through tremendous struggle for its
existence as member of the Federal Union.
We shall now see whether the men who have
been chosen to represent us in the National
and State Legislatures, and who professed to
be such warm friends to the interests of the
State among which internal improvement
stands foremost, will adhere to their oft-re-
peated promise to build up new structures, re-
pair the old ones and smooth down the rough
places which the iron heel of war has made.
We have prospect Of soon being freed from
military despotism; a rule which ever stops
the progress of improvement in every branch;
our social relations will be restored and with
them confidence Between man and his fellow
man.
The late uncertainty Of our position has
been one of the great causes Of the trouble in
raisiag capital for the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railroad and has also had no little influence
sou the subscriptions to the Valley Railroad
The Baltimore Gazette, in an editorial article
of some length, says:
$50 far, the principal subscriptions to the
latter have been from the counties and towns
along the route, amounting, in the aggregate,
ito 100000. One of the conditions of the
ordinance recently passed by our City Council,
voting aid to the road, was that this subscrip-
ton should be increased to 81 900, 600, either
by the municipal corporations themselves OF
by their citizens, not an unreasonable demand
for road which will cost nearly five millions
and which is to pass through country, now
without railway communication, for 113 miles
Developing its resources, and in many parts
at least doubling the value of property.
In addition to this there is to be further
stock subscription of 81, 200, 900, after which
the company, having solid capital Of So,
100000, including the subscription of Balti
more city for 81 100000, has the privilege O
raising the balance of the required capital b,
the issue and sale of its bonds The ques
ton is, "where is this $1,2O0,0O0 to come
FROM" Is this road, which forms the grea
connecting link on the New Orleans route, O
sufficient Importance to the Baltimore an(
Ohio Railroad to warrant that company il
making such an investment? Is it probable
that its effect upon the trade and prosperity
of this ,city will be so marked that aid can b.
respected from our capitalists? Is it likely
THAT the benefits to be derived by our Bremen
Steamship Company from the opening O
this road will be SO decided as to make i
their interest to subscribe Does the de
>yelopment which will soon be given to the
iron trade of the Valley, by the introduction
of coal from the Kanawha and the Cumber
land regions promise to afford sufficient at
traction, for capitalists and to insure pecuni
airy aid to this road on their part ?
To all Of these questions We unhesitatingly
answer, yes |! The Valley Road is, for thu
country between Baltimore and New Orleans
simply great national road. It must event
ually become, in all probability, the most i'm
portant branch of the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. Taking Winchester, as lis com.
mencement, which virtually is, it passes
through a region far more fertile and des.
tined to be, within a few years after the resto.
ration Of political order, far more populous
than any other district, of anything like. the
same length, through which the main stem Of
any other branch Of our great road passes
1t is road which must not only sustain it
self, by its way traffic, but which by striking
for distant and rich regions, must plant its
roots, IN accordance with the great policy
which has marked the whole of Mr.. CARROTS
railroad career, in new and untouched soil
1t must increase the trade of this city; it
must enlarge its population; it must enhance
the value of property. It must make Balti-
more the seaport for more grain and more to-
bacco and more cotton. 1t must make it the
most available point on the Atlantic coast for
an immense agricultural country. 1t must
open up vast fields, uncultivated for want Of
labor, to the German immigrants, who now
crowd the steamships, which make this their
American harbor. 1t must tend to develop
the exhaustless beds of iron ore, which fill
portions of the Valley Of Virginia, and Of
which the great fields of Pennsylvania, SO
terribly overworked, are said by biologists to
be but the outcroppipgs. Already large iron
men from the North, looking forward to fu-
ture operations, have made purchases along
and near the line of the road, and the day
will come when districts, now almost desolate,
will be alive with the blast of huge furnaces
and the busy hum Of men, and will resound
with the changing stroke Of the huge steam
hammer.
Can any one doubt for moment what is
going to be the effect Of the building of this
road on the interests which we have referred
o? Can any one doubt as to who would
reap rich reward from the subscription re-