New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-08-02
ouR 1TTANTTC COAST.
DELAWARE.

DELAWARE. /
LFwEs Dell July 3O.--Ths, rs you AFRO aware is
the point at which the new iron pier is to be built,
for which Congress has just appropriated $4,000,
The location is that of the famous Delaware Break
water" which ssts of two banks of stone erected
in 30 feet water 80 feet wide at the base 40 feet wide
at the ton and 10 feet above high water The struc
ture is vet incomplee requiring another portion TO
mite the two in one seawa but il is Of great use,
making the only harbor where vessels can ride safely
in a storm between Sandy Hook and Hampton
Roads-a coast Of near 800 miles. just now, the
weather being fine there is not vessel in the bar
Dor but have frequently stood IN the porch OF the
hotel. when an easery storm was threatening, and
seen first a single sail like speck on the horizon.
then directly another and another, until the view
WAS "specedr with vessels OF every grade, from the
war steamer down to the lumber sloop; ana, before
The nj ght closed in there might DE O anchored De-
hind bis urotecting Breakwater. After change of
wind from east to west, single hour would see the
whole deot spreading it's wings again for the open
sea. The number of vessels taking refuge in thI5
manner in the port of Lewes, has reached nearly
5000 year
The immediate interest Centoring around LeweS at
tha present time arises from the late completion of
the Junction and Bgeal,water Railroad, which untcs
the transportation of the interior roads of the Della
ware Peninsula wi, the sea-cOGst, and makes this
shipping port for the products Of three million acres
of land heretofore shut of from the Newly orh mar
ket By the high inland freights. The Junction and
Breakwater Railroad has Just effected q contract
with the Delaware and New-Yorlk Steamship line of
New-Yorl TO run for ten years, under which steam
eTs are now regularly plying between the two points
They already carrying Peaches of the crop just
ripening, and will deliver them in New-York i'll
much fresher condition than they possiblybe
carried by rail- The land distance is 240 miles, and
the sea distance 40
Your correspondent on Wednesday, at p. m, left
pier No q, North River, in the Granite State, and
had the qualification of seeing the Dauntless come
no the bay on her home stretch, with all wings
spread within 100 feet of the steamer, and beauti-
full sight it was. We arrived at the Lewes pier at
o'clock a. IN. Thursday.
The present pier is of wood, and is 1000 feet long
1t is the third that has been built within 81 years
the two former having been broken down by the
waves after the piles were hOney-combed by that
pest of warm seas, the teredO. This worm pene-
t1ates the wooden pile the bottom of ships, in
about nine days, then bigger than small needle,
and in few years fills it with holes attaining the
length of nine inches sometimes, and diameter OF
half an inch When 50 bored, any severe shock VIII
break down the thickest pile The piles of the new
pier are pine trees with the bark which fos the
worm as long as lasts-sovcral years unless rubbed
off by the ice The new iron structure provided
for by the Government insures here permanently
of port accommodation.
This practically new agricultural region is capable
of producng in perfection all the fruits and vegetables
of a semi-tropical climate. The soil is a sandy
mold on q bottom of yellow clay, and with the
short Winter of the latitude is open for the plOw ten
months of the year. But the country Is sadly III
want of Yankee occupation. Land is cheap. In
some places. not near any present railroad FARMS
can be bought for S15 per acre, which in few years
will be within locomotive reach and be quadrupled
in value. Heretofore, the resident farmers have
raised mostly Corn and Wheat; but hereafter they
will produce Fruits and general truck Sussex
County is as rich spot of earth any similar thou
sand square miles on the continent II alone is
CAPABLE of raising 100000 bushels of Sweet
Potatoes, and the same Of other vegetables, and
will do it when the Yankees come. Peach
orchards are sprnging up like young forests. In
short this is the natural garden for our great me
trOpolis of New-York The opening of the shipping
port and the establishment of the steamship line,
though effected without noise and without bonds III
Wall-st, is TO New-YOrk what the discovery of a
new State of Illinois would have been, within
twelve hours by steam navigation, open all the year
Consider what fact that would be, if it should or
could be brought ont, one of these fine mornings!
Yet here is such fact with territory large enough
to produce one hundred million bushels of food
products every year.
Settlement is going on slowly. The port is now
accessible by water from any part of the coast of
| New-England and houses and household gods can
be transferred to this region with very little
pense. The climate is healthy, and the Summer
temperature not higher than that of New-York or
Boston. At Lewes, which is the western cape Hen
lopenD OF Delaware Bay, there is a bathing shore,
not surpassed by that of Long Branch or old Rocka-
way.