The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-03-30
Good Tidings for Richmond ana Vir-
ginfa.


The Staunton Spectator of Tuesday
says:
We have been gratfed to learn from a
source worthy of entire confidence that il
is the opinion of the United States officers
who are engaged in clearing out the OBJ
structions to navigation in the James river
below Richmond, that by an expenditure
of less than half million OF dollars it is
practicable to obtainsa depth of eighteen
feet of water at low tide. AS the tide
rises at Richmond about four feet this will
give twenty-five feet of water at high tide.
If this should be accomplished it will
we'll justify the Chesapeake and Ohio rail-
road company in making Richmond its
eastern terminus, not only for freights in
tended to be sent coastwise, but for mer-
chandise which is intended for shipment to
foreign ports. Twenty-Five feet is enough
to float large ocean steamers with full
freights. We believe that the harbors Of
Baltimore and Charleston have not much
more than sixteen feet of water at low
tide, and we doubt if Philadelphi has
more. There are times and conditions OF
the winds and tides when even New York,
the great com nercial emporium of the
United States, cannot be approached by a
steamer drawing twenty-five feet.
Why, then, should not Richmond be-
come great commercial city? She is
nearer to the capes than Baltimore by more
than fifty miles. She will have greater
depth of water from her wbarves to the
ocean than her sister city, which claims to
be the Queen of the Chesapeake. And
more than all, she has larger and more
productive back country--accessible by
easier grades and more favorable curves in
her lines of railroad communication than
either Baltimore or Philadelphia. The
difference between 80 feet per mile, the
maximum grade of the Chesapeake and
Ohio railroad, and 1169 feet to the mile,
the maximum grade on portions of the
Baltimore and Ohio railroad, must tell
powerfully in favor of Richmond.
The intelligent and energetic gentlemen
who have the Chesapeake and Ohio rail-
road in charge, have not been slow to un-
derstapd these commercial advantages, and
we have been pleased to hear that they are
about purchasing, if they have not already
purchased, frontage of 1000 feet on the
river, Immediately below Richmond, with
a view to construct the appliances necessa-
ry for large trade, and the accommoda-
tion of any number of ships and steamers
that may be necessary to remove the mer-
chandise of all kinds which may be
brought from the far West.
When the Chesapeake end Ohio road
shall have completed its line to the Ohio.
and laid down ITS four tracks, which Mr.
Huntingdon thinks will be necessary to
accommodate the traffic which will seek an
outlet along this line, bri ghter day will
begin to dawn on the beautiful metropolis
of Virginia.
Those who limit their views OF the fu-
ture freghts on the Chesapeake and Ohio
railroad to the productions of northern
Kentucky and southern Ohio, and the iron,
coal, lumber, and salt of the intermediate
country, will find that they have greatly
under-es estimated their magnitude and inn
portance. 1t is true that the trade arising
from opening intercourse with these parts
of the country will be very large But,
when Mr.. Huntington shall have perfected
his connections with the systems of south
western, western. and northwestern rail-
roads, the traffic that will seek an outlet
through Virginia will be enormous. By the
time the main line Of the Chesapeake and
Ohio railroad is finished to Huntingdon, a
connecting line will have been constructed
from Huntington to Lexington, KY, thus
bringing Richmond in direct communica-