The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-09-23
- -. AA ra.A Ytsnnsass hs at,aial

,ssapss. ~ .he Eaat, II appears By emeiai
ronosta Of United States engineers ehar8e'
with surveys, Sc, OF proposed nationai ca
n,Ia in the Northwest, that the dam
rcrs of lake navigation, the numerous
fronsbinmenis, the necessity OF much
railroad carriage. and the closing OF
noy;nation fve-twelfths of the year,
hcsidcs tho heavy tolls on the Eric canal.
ali make the cost of carrying western gram
TO the seaboard by existing routes cnor.
nous. For example, it ia reported 'na'
from Dubuque, Iowa, to New lork 'nt
freight and charges amount to slxty-elghh
cents n bushel. The effect of this IS that
before the producer gets to market he has
spent the bulk of his grain in paying the
way. On the other hand, the eastern pur-
chaser. Of New England and New York, mas
to nav whatever price the demand imposes
mon m article already enhanced nv
snch heavy way-charges. Now 1t Is
claimed, upon very careful analoggies ana
all other data, that the sixty-elght cents
might be reduced half or even three
quarters, If this great Atlantic canal
we're opencd so that western gram
could reach New York, Boston, etc., through
the mort of Norfolk. The far West, indeed,
must now pay MS much to get grain to Chr
cago MS they would then pay to get 1t 10 the
seahoard. The reduction of carrying cost
would naturally divide itself equally be-
tween the consumer and producer, so that
while the New Yorker would get his bread
cheaper the Buckeye would sell his wheat
higher. Indian corn, now unknown rs
bread out of this country, though freely
eaten bv our foreign population, could then
be sent abroad cheaply enough to make 1t a
preferred breadstuff for the poor of Christ
cndom, with the effect OF virtually bring
ing into new existence ali American export
that might rival cotton itself, in time, as
source of national wealth.
d" Another great work proposed ls the
Coosa cotton route, from Mobile up the Ala
hama river, thence up the Coosa river till
within thirty miles Of the south bend OF the
Tennessee river; across this thirty miles
shin canal; thence up the Tennessee and Its
longest branch, the Holston, to the borders
of Virginia, near Saltville; from Sa'tville
to Lynchburg (already traversed by rail
road). a double-track road, fit for heavy
frcichts, and Mt Lynchburg striking the
Atlantic water route above mentioned to
ne" 1olhs
"The railroad part is l76 miles long; all
the rest water. This route would save
nearly 1000 miles of the present route
which cotton takes from the cotton centres
in New York and the other cities North,
and also the dangers of the Florida Keys:
for which insurance alone is two and hall
Der cent on ship and cargo.
"The advocates of these works claim
That they arc more truly national than the
Pacific railways, of which they are the
necessary complement. f-as half the
thoughtful commercial men of Europe fear,
and the Herald has often ably main
taincd,-the trade of the world is to aban-
don the routes of Vasco de CANA and Ma
gellan and cross the bosom of the great
Republic, the proposed water route from
the genial mouth of the Chesapeake to Oma-
In at least, or northwardly to the very
base of the Rocky Mountains, would give
the country an advantage in absorbing the
linda trade of all nations immensely greater
than railway transportation the whole dis
lance between the oceans"