New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-08-24
TIE VIRGINIA. WATER.LINE

REPORT OF COMMITTEE APPOINTED BY THE Ma
TIONAL BOARD or TRADE-SHORTEST ROUTE
TO THE WEsT-LOCATION, EXTENT, COST,
AND ADVANTAGES OF THE PROTECTED
CANAL.
WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, w. Va, Aug. 81
The Committee appointed the last annual OF
the Board Of Trade which met Cincinnati, December
1865 TO consider and report upon tho praccabity OF
central line OF communication from the Atlantic
through Virginia 70 the OF the West met here
the 18th inst and adjourned last evening Appended Is
an abstract OF the report. compiled by +. W Hughes
esq., OF Norfolk aud unanimously adopted lby the Com
mittee:
Cheaper INSTRUMENTATION between the interior OF
our continent and the AuaLuc seaboaIa y. Is a
OF business men; Inc railroads are oV9 ,rol
portaon at rates prontaDle 10 western producers III
the Mississippi and Lake Valleys the railroads have
reached an aggregate OF 1892 miles and official reports
give the total length OF steamboat navigation on the
Mississippi anC its tributaries az 1854 miles Fatboat
branches OF these streams and water and canal
improvements will shortly swell the grand aggregate OF
cnuntrv embracing this vast system nearly
square miles, and agriculture Is and VIII remain It's staple
means Of transit that in 1860 there 100000
to spare less than half Of which was transhpped East
This deficiency In the facilities for transportation IN
creases the center Of production recedes westward
few years ago this center was IN ONO. IL has
crossed the Mississippi aud Is stu steadily
marching onward toward the ROCKY Mountains
the transportation 10 the East In Illinois and Iowa corn
has been burned for fuel on the score Of economy-the
price OF wood being $40 per cord and OF anthracite coal
Gao per tun. The maximum theOTeuo capacity or the
Erie Canal may be estimated at I,Vo9Imo or tuhsi
100000 and probably 100000 tuns OF western
produce pass annually through the 81 lawrence ana
OF the various outlets for Western produce does not
coed 1g 600 900 tuns while the amount which could
forwarded 10 market from the West is 25OOOOOO uns
The cheap transit Of the whole OF tina production affects
the manufacturing and commercial populations OF the
East as
for transmitting the maximum quantity OF produce at
minimum OF cost the Committee recommend the open
inc ~ canal and slack water line of continuous nav
CATION Virginia from the OHIO 70 Underwater on
the James River The Committee favoraby re-
capdcy Of canals OUer railroads for carrying quantities or
GnIfng less capital TO operate It, and carrying greater
bulk at lower rates. @ Canals are used on ne public
railroads only by their OonerS Cheap transportation OF
heavy produce in large quantities requires at least
another canal which should be az the service OF all com
carriers, great and small Inc Ion IsrAe - hateh
OF Buffalo said recently in public address The aver
age per from Chicago TO via the lakes
the Ere Canal ana the hudson RIVER lHcluuiIg canal
tolls and carriers profits embracing period OF 10 years
is q COZ The cost OF transportation on the Central
Railway, as gwen III hnhu'i IepoIsy taaslns
the average for six years one cent four
mills and nneenths OF a mill per mile, That including
carriers profits THIS average applied TO the distance
from Chicago NewYOf by rail- 985 miles makes S4 81
per un per than the average cost for
period OF ten years via the Lakes the Ere canal ana the
Hudson River, including State tolls and profits OF car
The through freight moved eastward by the hve
bers $500 tuns which multiplied b. 90 Gj, the dii
tween rail and water transportation Ofa carried by either
method of S3G5S05OO and with the profits OF the railway
compapes added the actual cost would augment this
amount largely g. Canals are not obsolete. France has
now in profitable operation 1900 miles OF canal and slack
water navigation and Great Britain over 1000 miles The
demand al the North for the further enlargement OF the
Eric Canal 10 the capacity of vessels OF 500 tuns the
posed $500 Canada In opening new
canals and euargng old ones the projected ship canal
around the Falls OF Niagara; the enlargement OF the
Illinois and Michigan Canal; the proposed snip canal
from Lake Michigan 70 Lake Erie and another across the
Ithmus Of Florida and the scheme for connecting the
Atlantic and the Pacific by ship canal across the
Isthmus OF Darien all prove the same TACT II the VIZ
gina waerline Is made at all II ought 10 be on scale
commensurate with the demands OF Western trade ana
fully up the greatest capacity that be obtained at
the summit level The engineer OF the Company Is OF
opinion that by constructing reservoirs on the Greehse
and It's tributaries capacity for boats OF 900 tuns ana
double that OF the proposed canal could be obtained
The junction Of the Ohio and the Mississippi II tne
grand cOnvergng point OF the Kansas, Nebraska Mis-
sour, Mississippi Illinois Ohio, Cumberland, ana Ten
nessee Rivers and the geographical center OF their
trade. Norfolk the most CapacOus harbOr on the Attain
tic connected with this center with the eGcep
ton Of the space occupied by the unfinished section OF
the Virginia Canal by unbroken waterlnc, shorter,
cheaper and more reliable than any other, and open 70
trade IL months out OF the ~
gAfter giving description OF the harbOr OF NOrfOk ana
contrasting at some length the distances by the virginia
wateT-ne the principal points III the West with those
the report sketches the history the River and
Kanawa Improvement from the first suggestion OF pub
lac highway between the Ohio and the James by Gen
SpOtswoOd III l7l6 TO the FAN Of 1856, when
work was suspended for want OF funds. The
Original CAPITAL Of the cnniuAny SjsOOD,OOO