The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-09-21
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad ! hs
Straight Shoot"

Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad-Tne
Straight Shoot"
In reference to the important matters ~ =
r.i,road uroiects nowadays, we fnd IL "a
d,snensable to recur often to history a s"o
geographical description IN or ..a hearing
people may understand WEI" %"
and merits Of those projects !. .ho Germ
Then lot us begin by sasips w. ohio rail.
or the nresent Chesapeake "nu tie hv the
rood was the Louisa raitro"u, rr,~n,n,cr
accountable energy OF Ola IA. W.. ,..ta,aoa
m'on,s If Louiss. 1t was AZ hi9' Ia, Ia.ssn
la. - On rs far as Louisa eou,snouse,
onH ~ ,s only feeder to the Richmond
""a fredericksburg railroad, when IL
,n;nod at the Hanover junction.
Tho road was finished to Louisa Court
,o-,so and old MIR. HARRIs--a noble old
nantIamsn of the Golden time tiled.
CnloncI FosrArsE, Of Hanover, was elected
his successor. Colonel F. conceived the
idea of extending the line to GordonsYilie
and as much farther as he could get the
means to carry it. AS time passed the
coloners views were expanded, and soon
be was actusted by the ambition to extend
the road to the Ohio river.
As might have been expected, at an early
dsv he "Iockcd horns " with Mr.. MoNcURE
Ros,ysos, the governor Of the Richmond
and Fredericksburg railroad, on the SUBJ
icct OF the charges for freights delivered by
his road at the junction to Dir. RoBINsoE's
road. They were both exacting and, to a
good degree. uncompromising men. They
we're incapable Of settling their differences,
and Colonel FoNTAISE, full of pluck and
-. determined to cut loose from the
spun, road and TO cut MIR. ROBIN
Fredericksburg IF his transporta-
son off from the lat emu y no Han
ton. Hence came the road from ill.,
over Junction to Richmond.
The next step in this history was the ex-
tension of the Louisa road, Under the ne"
name of the Virginia Central railroad 10
Gordonsyille. There, like snail-lt had
progressed ye:y slowly-it put forth It's
horns towards the Blue Ridge mountain 10
see where it would cross that. Pending
the consideration of that matter two par
ties were created-one which advocated the
route via Charlottesville and Rockfish Gap
to staunton, and thence westward by Bui-
falo GAP to Jackson's river, and thence
across the Allegheny Mountains, and
down the Kauawha Valley to the Ohio.
The other party propose to continue the
line via Stanardsvilie and Simmons's Gapto
Harrisonourg, in Rockingham county, anu
thence northwestwardly to Parkersburg'
on the Ohio. We have always been satls-
fed that this route was the proper one Tor
the Central railway, which had veered so
far in the direction oil the northwest that IL
would be loss Of distance and waste OF
force to bend it down by the way OF Char
,ottcsyiIle. The true route for the accom-
mediation OF the James River valley, III
which Charlottesville was located, was by
q railway following that valley. But Col.
FosrAINE was after means, and he ana MS
directory were determined TO choose tna'
route which afforded the most ala 10 the
enterprise. For two days or more the ques'
ton was debated at GordonsvIlle.
The Charlottesville and Staunton route
had the advantage of mental ability. Inc
late WILLIAM G.. RIvEs, A. b. III. STUART,
and John 3. BALDWIN were representatives
of the Charlottesville and Stanton route,
while on the opposite side there were no
debaters of equal force. The late FLEMING
JAMES was the chief speaker in behalf OF
the Harrisonburg route, and he was sorely
pestered by bis superior antagonists, aldeu
bv the late Col. PRICE, of Hanover, who
JAMES had offended by a little attempt at
patronizing the old gentleman-a demon.
stration exceedingly offensive to him, as he
had q very LIBERAL amount of sell owe. Lie
frequently interrupted JAMES by irrcssti-
bly, ludicrous interrogatories, and brought
him more directly 10 grief than did the ar
guments Of his very able adversarics.
The upshot was that Charlottesville and
Staunton out-bid the HarlisonburgerS,
and the road was twisted via Charlottes-
vile and Staunton. Hence its present I'M
systematic and impractical direction !:
which is the wonder of ell sagacious and
experienced men. When the New York
company Of capitalists purchased the
lire to the Ohio, under the name OF Chesa-
Deake and Ohio Road, gentleman re-
marked to one Of the company that they
had great bargain. He replied that he
did not think it was so great bargain !;
for, indeed, the line Of road was the most
impracticable that could be we'll con-
ceiyed, and he thought that the company
would be US we'll of with q naked charter,
via the James River valley to the Kama
wha, and thence to the Chic. We believe
he was right. The line is absurd, and Sc
we may say Of great deal of the RAILROAD
planning of Virginia, done under the oil
system by which the Treasury was robbed
to carry out the crude and selfish notion
Of little sections, little towns, and yer.
small bob-tailed politicians, who were en-
deavoring to Fix up sinecure situations fo
themselves. Virginia has suffered more
from these contemplate causes than from
all other disadvantages combined.
Well, so it was-the present Chesapeake
and Ohio Railroad Company had to take
this absurd line of railway to the Ohio
with its Objectionable angles and its i'm
practicable grades to Clifton Forge. AM
what is the consequence Why, that
new road must be built from Clifton Forg
down the James River Valley to Rich
mond. The ponderous freight that tn
line will have to transport makes it impos
sible that the grades of Bath, Rockhridge
and Augusta, can be trayersed with sue
cess. A new line and easier grades are in
dispensable. Mr.. HUNTINGTON, with hi
iptuitive sagacity, go declared upon th'
instant, and SO says the whole company
The grades, they wisely say, must not eX
eeed thirty feet to the mile coming east