The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1872-01-30
A New Development Of National
HSlEIfl,

During the past two years great work has
been going on toward completion with that
steady and vigorous but quiet activity which
denotes earnestneSs and fOretellS success.
And while most people who take any note OF
what is going on around them have seen the
tokens Of its presence and the evidence OF its
progress, very few have formed any concep-
ton of the magnitude and importance of the
results which wait upon its contamination.
The discovery of new domain of mineral
wealth, equal in extent and richness to the
islands of Great Britain rising out Of the seas,
close to our shores and within our national
jurisdiction, would fill the national mind with
interest and excitement, a Tact similar i'll
Importance and III future results is being
actually wrought out in the opening Of the
great kanawha Valley of West Virginia,
with its wonderful deposits of coal, and the
ncighboring region of unriyalled iron ores,
by the extension Of the Chesapeake and Ohio
railroad to the Ohio river.
The great natural advantages Of this re-
giOn, trlverscd by the western half of the
Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, now nearly
completed, and its iucalcllable riches in coal,
iron, salt, timber, etc, have been long known
and appreciated, and the restless fingers Of
American enterprise have been itching to get
at them for years; but the absence of railroad
facilities has rendered the extensive and pro-
fitablc development which they now invite
hitherto impracticable.
Nearly 10000 square miles Of the best and
most available portion of the coal-felds of
the American continent lie in West Virginia,
and the greater portion Of this vast area ma
ture has rendered of easy development,
through the agency of the numerous streams
which traverse it, and by the marvellous con-
venience of the manner in which she has To-
Gated and distributed the choice varieties OF
bituminous, camel, and splint coal, with
which it abounds. a.-.
Besides the opening and development OF
the region above described, the completion
of the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad as q
great East and West trunk line, linking to.
gether the waters of the Chesapeake bay and
the Ohio river, has other important bearings.
1t will stimulate the production of wheat
tobacco, and other agricultural products OF
Virginia and West Virginia, as it passes
through some of the finest agricultural por.
tons of those States.
1t will also, with its connections, form the
much-needcd short and economical route to
the Atlantic ports for the cotton Of Tennes.
| see, Arkansas, and Mississippi; the tobacco
mp, oAA SttsiS, VI AAShluShS, OllO, dllu
Indiana, and the provisions and breadstuffs
of the western and northwestern States.
MIR. Huntington and his associates, discern
ing the extraordinary demand for transpor.
tation between the Mississippi valley and the
seaboard, which has been sufficient to enrich
and strengthen Immensely each successive
East and West trunk line, and discerning
also the great superiority of the Chesapeake
and Ohio route in distance, grades, and fuel,
determined to extend the line to the Ohio,
according to the original design. as soon as
| possible.
The value and importance of this route are
| well understood and appreciated throughout
the West, and important lines are now being
constructed and projected through Ohio and
| Kentucky In various directions to connect it
with Louisville, Nashville, Memphis, New
Orleans, ST. Louis, Chicago, Cincinnati, Day
ton, and all important centres Of consump-
ton and shipment west of the Alleghanies.
About 800 miles of the railroad are now
finished, or nearly so--227 miles on the east
ern end, from Richmond to White Sulphur
| Springs, and about 95 miles on the western
end, from the city Of Huntington, on the
Ohio river, to the vicinity OF the Falls OF
Kanawlla-and the whole viii be completed
during the summer or autumn of the present
year. 1t Is sud to be one of the best rail-
roads in its construction IN tic United States,
being brought up in every particular to the
requirements of the large traffic which is ex-
pected to flow over ii.
The cost Of the road and equipment, wien