National Republican., 1873-02-05
THE GREAT FALLS.
Manufacturing City In Embryo

correspondent Of the Baltimore American
writing from MOntross, Nd, says
there is now a prospect OF the Great Falls water
power OF the Potomac river being fully and prac-
tcally developed for manufacturing purposes.
As ! am informed some enterprtslng men Of
Washington have taken the matter In hand with
the determination TO found and build great
manufacturing centre At and around this roman
tic and picturesque site. They will certainly
ind ample power, so far as advantageous fall
and now can give It. There Ia about ninety feet
descent within the scope Of the Great Falls prop
erty, with now OF over 9,aO0 cubic feet per
ceeds three months In the year) and which, a.
cotton mill men say, will run about 10000 looms
with 100000 spindles. About one twentieth
gl-2O) Of this now however, ls turned on through
the conduit for supplying the cities Of George
town and Washington with water From Sep
tember to June the now Il considered immeasur.
able, and for these nine months certainly fur.
nlshes inexhanstible power, from which any
II II stated by knowing ones that every lOC
horsepower actually used In the manufacture OF
textile fabrics guarantees the accumulation OF
1000 population. And q this proposition be
correct, and these men should nobly proceed "a
develop this vast water power, we may expect
at no very distant day a thriving city at the
Great Falls.
Iron and coal, the two great features Of the
manufacturing interests, Abundantly exist
along the lines Of railway soon TO connect with
this water power, and the Chesapeake and Ohio
ore is to be had at and around the Falls and
throughout the adjoining and adjacent counties
The Cumberland coal mines are directly con
nected by the canal, and as the Piedmont and
Potomac railroad, now about leading from
Washington, Ia, so am informed, TO cross al
the Great Fails, and thence TO Staunton, there
tapping the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, the
Falls will be directly connected with the greai
kanawha coal region and the New river Iron
nelds, Us well as those Of Tennessee and Ken
lucky, and also Missouri.
There IL abundant ilne marble and granite, a
well as lnexhaustible supplies Of divers kind Of
building and paving stone at hand, also plenty
OF wood and timber.
The vast cotton, sugar, rice and tobacco neldi
Of the South and Southwest will be In direct
communication by way OF the connections with
the several lines OF railroad conyerglng at Rich
mond, and the connections via StauntOn, Char
lOttesville and Lynchburg, and by way OF watel
through the excellent harbOr at Washington.
We hope this enterprise will stimulate thu
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company TO estab
llsh an air line from some point on their Wash
ington branch via the Falls, thence through
Smokers Gap, not only connecting with thell
line from HArper's Ferry down the Shenandoah
river via Winchester, but on las nearly alOnI
parallel thlrty.nlnc as practicaD TO Grafton o
Pennington, whereby they can still shorten the
route West over one hundred miles. And u
seems that they will have to do this u they woult
compete with the more direct through line Of tn,
Chesapeake and Ohio, as formed by and with ~
Eastern and Western connections, for this lin,
Is about one hundred and forty miles shOrte
than that Of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad Il
| ST. Louis.
have sought to communicate these facts ant
| ideas because Of their vital importance TO you
many readers In this section, all Of whom, I an
| confident, will most earnestly support any enter
prise looking to the speedy practical develop
ment Of the Great Falls as manufacturing dis
trtCt