Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1871-12-05
Predictions Verified.

A week since friend placed In our posses
sion petition to the General Assembly, writ.
ten by Hon. A. H. Fl. Stuart in lS4S, invo
king action on the part of the Legislature look.
ing to the extension to the Ohio River of the
railroad, at that time the Louisa Railroad,
(which had not yet reached Charlottesville af-
terwards the Central, and now the Ches &
Ohio, aud we make the following extract from
it that our readers may see how the predictions
of the author, which at that time seemed to
most persons to be visionary, have been veri-
fed.
THE Gordon of States extending from the
Mexican to the British boundary lines then
predicted now exist, and ''the stupendous enter
prise of railroad from the Mississippi to the
Pacific coast, - is an accomplished fact, and no
longer ''excites our special wonder save the
wonder that it was predicted with such conf
dence twenty-three years ago. The following
is the extract referred to;
By our recent treaties with Great Britain
and Mexico, our title to the greater part of the
Oregon territory has been recognized and es-
tablished, and an almost boundless domain
west and southwest Of our ancient boundaries
lumbia River and harbors of San Diego and
San Francisco, the best ports On the Pacific
Ocean, have passed into our hands. Already
our enterprising citizens are crowdlng to those
distant shores, and in few years we shall have
a densely populated Gordon of States, extend
ing from the Mexican to the British boundary
lines. An immense trade will naturally spring
up between the cities on our Pacific coast and
the Islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans,
and all the countries stretching along the Ash
attic Continent more than seven thousand miles
from Kamtschatka to the Straits of Babelman-
DEL OF the extent and value of that trade it
would be impossible, with the lights now before
us, to form any just estimate; but no one can
doubt that we will successfully compete for it
with all the world The products of those
countries must seek an outlet In Europe and on
our Atlantic coast.
The route around Cape Horn. equal to voy-
age around the entire globe, with its perils and
delays, will never satisfy the wants of our pro-
gressive population The next thing 10 the
natural succession of events will be Railroad
on the Mississippi, most probably St. Louis or
Memphis, and thus we shall have the trade of
the East disembogued at that point, and the
subject of eager and earnest com petition among
all our Atlantic cities. New Orleans, Savan-
nah, Charleston, Richmond and Norfolk, Bal
timore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston,
will all press their claims, and it is easy to see
that the first occupant, or 10 other words, the
city which is first prepared with the facilities
to attract it, will clutch the prize. That the
Virginia route by way of the Valleys of the
Ohio, and the Kanawha, and the James, pos
sesses greater advantages than any OF the 9TH
ers will hardly be disputed by any one who has
an accurate knowledge of the topography OF
the country.
This stupendous enterprize of a Railroad
from the Mississippi to the Pacific coast may
seem visionary to some persons but to those
who have carefully viewed the progress of our
western cities, many of which, in ten years from
their foundation, before the stumps of the prl
meyal forests have rqtted within their limits,
reckon their population By tens of thousands,
and their assessments of property by millions
of dollars. it will appear not only possible but
an inevitable event. Already it engages large
share of public attention. The public prints
are teeming with able essays commencing the
scheme to the favorable consideration of the
nation-and the politicians who are SO keen to
scent the popular gale are its avowed advo-
Gates Under these circumstances it is hazard
ing little to say that before twenty years shall
have passed away, this grand scheme will have
been partially, if not entirely, executed.