Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1874-09-17

great Dlale flcn IL VIII DflnS capital
and population to mine, manufacture 4
and move the ores, coal salt and gypsum
and other products Of region which,
nature has crowded with treasure, and
which the State has heretofore left, and
must of necessity leave, which Vir-.
ginias cities and people elsewhere have
left and will hereafter leave in ,primeval'
solitude and barrenness, which can be
penetrated and developed only by fol-
lowing the courses of its streams, and
passing longitudinally over and through:
its out,cropping mineral strata that lie;
parallel with its water currents, it will
be open, by direct connection with the
canal at Buchanan, as required by its
charter access to the great water line
Of Virginia, and through it to all the
cities of the East for the coal, ores, salt,
gypsum and other mineral deposits
which lie nearer to Buchanan than to
the coal fields of the Kanawha valley to
Covington. 1t will give productive val
he to the Investments of the people,
towns and counties OF the valley exceed
ing d million of dollars, already made in
the construction Of the Valley railroad
It will make tie towns ofthe Valley and
Southwest grow into cities, and towns
and manufacturing settlements spring
up along its line, where now there
are none, and, SO the population and
taxable wealth Of the State will be in
| creased, the demand for the supplies to
be found in competing markets Of the
State be multiplied, and the profits of
| connecting lines of railway be aug.
mented. and last, but not least, con
Meeting as it will connect with other
roads, it will constitute from the Po-
tomac to the Tennessee line grand
\ thoroughfare through valleys nnshr
/ passed on the continent in continuous
unbroken fertility, in scenery, in eli
mate, in healthfulness and in capacity
for sustaining an industrious, earnest
and dense population, and beyond the
Tennessee line it will stretch away
through region just as rich, towards
and in fair and honorable competition
for the business of the South and West,
and it is respectfully asked shall the
earnest desires and hopes of nearly one
] fourth Of the entire population Of Vir.
ginia be dashed with disappointment
because perchance Baltimore may Ell
Joy small share of the harvest of pros
perity which her hands may help to
save, and which will never wave it,
golden wealth if sewers are to come
from Virginia alone?
Fourth That asking no bounty or
contribution from the State, the people
of the Valley and the Southwest, rely
ing on their own resources, and such
as means can be enlisted in their behalf,
think they have the right to demand,
and they do most respectfully demand
of the General Assembly of Virginia,
the passage of an act to authorize The
construction Of such road.
Fifth. That the Senators and dele
gates from the Valley and Southwest
be requested to urge the passage of an
act by the General Assembly TO carry
into effect the wishes of this convsn
ton as herein before expressed, aud
substantially in conformity with the
provisions Of the General Assembly.
DISCUSSION OF THE SUBJECT.
Senator Cochran, of Augusta, offered
the following resolution as substitute
for the committees report:
| Resozuea, That with such restrict.
ions as will insure equality and prevent
Determinations between through and
local freights and through and local
passengers, the Senators aid Delegates
in the General Assembly of Virginia
from the counties represented in this
convention he, and they are hereby, in
structed to vote for the proposed e1~
tension Of the Valley railroad through
the counties of Craig, Giles and Bland,
&c, to the Tennessee line, whenever
said railroad company surreudcrs OK
exemption from local taxation and
gives satisfactory guarantees of its pur-
pose and ability to build said extern
sion.
Mr.. Cochran urged his resolution at
length, saying that it was better for
the friends Of the charter that it should
pass, TOR it ould deprive its opponents
OF their strongest argument against it.
1t would aid the charter before the
Legislature, for the Legislature had q
settled purpose not to grant any charter
nnless the company relinquished its
exemption from taxation In the case
Of an application from the Chesapeake
and Ohio railroad it had insisted on
this, and in the application of. the Rich
mond and Danville railroad to change
its gauge it had refused without the
road would give up its exemption from
taxation. If bis resolution was adopted
he believed the character would pass,
not now, hut in two years from now,
for he did not think the present Lsgis-
Elatare would grant it at all, though the
next would. He wanted Baltimore to
come in, but at the same time he want
ed the people Of Virginia to participate
in the beueits she would derive from
coming in.
Judge Allen, of Shenandoah, opposed
Mr.. Cochran's resolution, and urged the
adoption Of the committees report He
called attention to the fact that the
chief opposition to it had come from
the president of the Atlantic, Ohio and
Mississippi railroad and from bis organ,
the Richmond Wing, and next from the
Shenandoah Democrat, in the Valley.
He did not wish to see his county
misreprssented, for he thought ma,
jority Of her people were heart and soul
with the people of the southwest in
getting this extension, and be was sup
ported in his statement by his whole
delegation. This great route was
mapped out by nature as the great
north and south route, and when the
Southern Pacific road was made it
would be the great east and west ronta