, 1874-01-04
OF the goods. This heavy toll is in addition n
the legal TAX and charges.
CHEAP TRANSPORTATION IN THE LAST CEN.
1URY.

have improved or beguilel the recess to ~ :,
New Orleans and make further stules in thu
transportation question, and there is lu1kine
disposition on the part Of some OF these gentle.
men to recommend canals over mouuta;r.
submits as the pauacea for all our woes in tin
way Of getting g7ain to tbs sea.
There are just five canal propositions befor,
the country: l. The canal to connec: the Ten.
oessee hlEer With some stream empty1ng into
the Atlantic; 9. The extension Of the Jane,
River Canal ac1oss the mountains to the Ks.
nawha; 3. The extension OF the Chesapeake 4
Ohio Canal from Cumberland across the noun
tains to the Youshiosheuy and Ohio /. TIE
widening and deepening OF the Erie Canal: 5.
An American canal. or the enlargement ot
the present Canadian canals, go al to gi;e ocean
commerce between Lake Erie and tho Gulf ot
St. Lawrence.
THE CHESAPEAKE ONO SCHEME
Alb two OF the above canals are mountain en-.
terplises, and, If they eau be eliminated from
the public mind, will reduce the area Of CON.
plexisy, We propose to show bg ths illustration
Of the Chesapeake l. Ohio Canal the impr1cti.
cablGty of carrying stream Of water over the
tup OF the Alloshanies, either By tho James, ,ha
Potomac, or the Jun;a.a routes.
The canal system in America has almost tho
antiquity Of the turnpike system. The Chcca-
peake j. Delaware Canal, the first Link in chai.
OF lock navigation which connects the sounds OF
North Carolina With the harbor Of New
York, inla2l, waa begun in 1924. aul, although
but II miles long, it cost, By reason of cut
ting only seventy feet in tbs deepest part. til.
sum of =, 200, 900. and five years OF heavy WORK
Tho Chesapeake J. Ohio Canal, chartered in
1924 and completed in 1923. got to Cumberland
alter the railroad lad overtakon it, and gained
the OHIO, acd there it stops to this day. Tho
proposition to continue it across the mountains
would never have been suggested By either Of
the town corporations nor by the State which,
after innumarabts difficulties, pushed IT to tla
coal region.
The James River Navigation Company was
chartered in 1854, before We had any wagon
roads to ii Q West other than military. This
Company reached Lynchburg in 1911. Then tho
James Kiver d kanawha Company took up the
work and carried it to the foot Of the mountains,
having paid out by 1855 moro than S13 000,O ,Ooo
The Pennsylvania Caual long ago completed,
undertook to climb By water to the bases Of the
mountains, and then pass over BY portage
railroad 81 miles long. This road, by successive
inclined planes and stationary cngncs, carried
capal-boatB to the altitude OF .491 feet; the
road alone cost above 8, 100000 and has long
been dlsused-
The Chesapeake i Ohio Canal Was reyivol
last GUNNER and recommended to Congress-
As it was, in its memorable struggle, tue most
national attempt Of tue day. engineered BY M
poleon's chief topog1apher, and supported by
Washington himself, and voted money By tho
p.1k
Georgetown, and Villa msport, and finally su.-
rendered by the General Government to Mary
land, and by Maryland carried on with tho same
energy which achieved the Baltimore l. Ohio
Railroad, it may make d chapter useful to our
day.
GEORGE wAsH1SoToN's COMPANY. :.
The canal along the line Of the Potomac River
from Georgetown, and subsequently from Alex
andria to tile City Of Cumberland. has two chap
ters: Tho first organization aspiring to this fest
in inland navigation WAS called the Potomac
Company. In 1854, twenty years before the Rev
olution, George Washington In person explored
a route for connecting the East and the West by
the waters OF the Potomac end foushiogheny
Rivers, and made report on the entire country
to the Colonial Legislature Of Virginia. Again,
III ITO, he made another report to the Governor
Of Maryland, and, after the close Of the Rc7o1u-
tion in 17s4, he went to Annapolis with Gen La-
fayette, and obtained concurrent act OF tho
Legislature, thereby adding himself to tho
abused class OF lobbyists, authorizing canal
on this line. He computed the distance from
Detroit to Washington to be COT miles,
against $40 to Richmond, 745 to Plilade1-
phia, and 1,103 to New York. LII fact:
Waahington's first public act after conquo1lns
the independence OF the country was to have
this canal dug. The traveller on the Potomac
ELL not go astray il he associates the grave and
martial figure OF our 6zAt President, from youth
.c declining age, with almost every landscape
along the stream.
He travelled ESQ miles, mainly on horseback,
in 1854, and. in 1853, at the age Of q, 10 had
ridden from Williamsburg, by Alexandra, to
Northwestern Pennsylvania. Thus, Washington
was q pioneer and an engineer, IS we'll as
soldier and statesman.
Tie Virginia Legislature addod Con. Gates
aud Col. Blackburn to depntatlon, OF "hlch
Washington was the head, to proceed to Annapo-
lis. Gates only was able to 20 with Washington,
and thus the conquoro1s Of CoEnwa!ls and Bur
royne arrived at Annapolis about Dec. 20, l75A.
The weight Of the Virginia deputation prevailed;
a road was decrccd to be cut 80 feet wide, from
Fort Cumberland to Cheat River, at the joint
e1pepso of tue two States, this road to precede
canal. Soon afterwards the Potomac Company
was organized.
After ,hirty-scven years Of hard labor. aud an
expenditure OF $780, 900, tho Potomac Company
was pronounced
L FAILURE N 1920.
Meantime coal had been discovered N Alleghnn7
County in tho year 1901, and in 1928 the blsusnin-
ons coa1-fields we're well understood else the
canal would have stopped far short Of tumoer'
land. The three great central States OF tne
West had been admitted into the onton' anc
they partly joined in schc1ns to carry tue cana
over the mountains, and thus unto the AaAcs
and tho Ohio with the Chesapeake
THE SECOND ATTEMPT
Juno 90, 1898. the Chesapeake Il ONO lana
Company was formally organized in tue C''y Q.
Washington; Challes Fcnton Mercer, Of VT
ginia, made President, and Benjamin Mfisn
Chief Engineer. July 4, 1923, John @a'nc
Adams. President Of the United States, dug IN
first spadctul OF earth at Little tails' III Ii
presence Of foreign Ministers, Cabinet ml''ta1.
and popnlace, Aug. Is, 1928, the old fotona