The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-10-20
0aasleston, = Reliable seaport. .

81 Citnslcston, o Reliable Seaport. !
& Experience. it has been truly remark.
Led. is d great teacher, fanE tits pEoverb
finds fitting illestratIoHf In the elsousn-
stances growing Int Of t2efeoeat ireshAt
in Virginia. LSfge @pital, Hast been
concentrated in FEailroad and, steamship
,enterrrises at Norfolk and -P6rtsm mouth,
and it has been sought to sustain the
heavy outlays thus made, by attempts to
make large sections Of distant country
tributary to these Investments Tariffs
of freights have been put in operation,
which must be entirely unremunerative,
and seem to- be persisted in, simply be-
cense It atrikes Mt the regular bnsin ess
of more Southern ports.
But nature sways her sceptre in spite
of capital. The connecting roads South
west from Norfolk and Portsmouth,
whose ragged rails bear testimony to the
scarcity of their earnings, have the addi-
tional disadvantage Of traversing noun
famous regions over costly and danger
GUS bridges and trestlings; and the rise
OF mountain stream, q sudden freshet,
breaks up the transportation facilities of
thousands, sends bills of exchange on
cotton, in transit, but blocked up on the
edge OF broad chasms, to protest-while
on the other side of this impossible gulf.
hundreds and thousands Of tons of valu-
able merchandise await the slow and
difficult reconstruction of bridges and
trestles-groceries for Selme, perishin q
dry goods for Memphis, getting out Of
style-boots and shoes for Vicksburg,
moulding in exposed localities. These
are some of the fruits of attempting to
force business out of its natural chan.
nels. North Georgia, South Carolina,
Alabama, Mississippi and Lower Ten
nessee and North Carolina, are oil
reached by regular and al,cays available
rail lines from Charleston, and but for
the Misrepresentation of parties having
private interests to serve, this great belt
OF country could be better supplied ut
this port than elsewhere. We cnnnot
illustrate more clearly this point than
by taking the most distant point, Mem
phis, which seems, these latter years, to
be afflicted with sort of color blindness,
seeing everything with rose-tinge of
hope at Norfolk. Loaded cars can be
sent to Charleston from Memphis, 75O
miles, without breaking bulk, aud yet
cotton is forced to Norfolk, over nearly
]. 200 miles of rail, breaking bulk more
than once en- route, we believe, and everv
,ointer interrupts the transit-ice and
snow alternating with freshets to de-
stroy regularity.
But to recur to the advantages of our
own port. It is always open, the Allan
tic Ocean is in sight from its piers-an
unbroken line of five feet gauge railways
reaches Nashville, Memphis, Vicksburg;
on the outer circle of available territory
between which points and the "City by
the Sea, crops enough are raised and
merchandise enough consumed, to sus-
tain semi-monthly steam lines to Europe,
daily line to New York, and cores
ponding facilities to Philadelphia and
Baltimore
In confirmation of what we have writ
ten, we notice the arrival from Norfolk
OF the steamship Albermarle, with GOO
tons Of merchandise for Western points,
which has been reshipped to this city,
and goes West by our splendid rail
lines, IN consequence Of the serious dis
aster which has destroyed so much life
and property in Virginia. Another
vessel OF large tonnage is also expected /;
and our regular lines are now receiving
at New York, Philadelphia and Balti-
more. great tonnage of this freight,
which, III other days, was always passing
through Charleston to the West, but
which has, since the war, from adverse
causes, not entirely in the power of
Charleston to overcome, been diverted
over circuitious lines to more Northern
ports. For an all-the- -year-round route
there can be no better line than riu
Charleston. With railroads capable of
pouring in 1000 to 5000 bales Of cotton
q day, and steamships moving 1000 to
$500 bales in single cargo-this
freightage can be brought back to it's old
channel. Charleston Courier.
AN IMMORTAL COMPLIMENT. The New