Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1877-12-22
CUMBERLAND RIVER.

1t is known that a convention has
recently been held at Chattanooga
of persons interested in the naviga-
ton of the Tennessee river. Natu-
rally the people of that district take
t;v9ly interest in the Tennessee,
but there is another river in this
State of vital importance to- the cities
of Nashville and GAINESVILLE which
ought to be heard from when river
navigation in Tennessee is brought
before Congress. The following is
an extract from the Nashville Amer
lean, to which we call the attention
of our readers, only adding that
GAINESVILLE is even more interested
in the navigation of the Cumberland
than Nashville. The essential con-
dition for our city to become a man
ufacturing centre is that water COM
munication with the sources of our
coal and iron shall be open the whole
year round:
The action of the Tennessee River
Convention at Chattanooga ought to
be suggestive to the people of Nash
vile. The American urged upon a
business community, which is deply
interested in the Tennessee river, to
take a prominent part in that con-
vention, and to urge the cOnsidera-
ton of the Cumberland river inn
prOVements as a subject kindred to,
and properly presentable with, any
river improvements proposed by
Tennessee. We find the COOsa men
toned and suggested to Congress for
consideration, but not a word of
the Cumberland. Chattanooga has
shown wisdom and a live, progress
siVe spirit. She is looking after her
own interests, and directly she has
every interest in the Tennessee and
none in the Cumberland.
The business community of Nash
vile have a deep and vital interest
i'm the Cumberland, both as a means
of cheap transport and of reaching a
country above and below Nashville
which no railroad in existence, or
likely to be constructed soon, touch
es. The Cumberland, with its mar
row rOck-cut bed, is easily and
cheaply susceptible of such improve
ments as will make it navigable
from the Mouth of Mill Spring, Ken
lucky, the year round. No river
can be made naVigable the year
round so cheaply as the Cumberland.
Not a canal is required along its
course and but few locks. The en-
tire cost of making it navigable at
all seasons would be but a small part
of the cost of making the Tennessee
naVigable. The real value of the
river only partly appears from the
large trade it brings Nashville in
the brief busy period of high water.
What is needed for thorough devel-
opment of the country along its
banks is a steady and continual nav
igatiOn, equal to the trade, and not
going by jerks-sOmetimes too much
and Improbable freights for carriers
sometimes too little and unprOti-
table freights for producers. If the
Cumberland were made steadily
navigable the transportation would
soon become as regular and reliable
a. a railway line, preserving contin-
ual communication, and thus, by
this means alone, vastly increasing
the trade, without considering the
immense increase in production it
would stimulate. The low water
period practically cuts off a large
trade and confines it, for that period,
at least, to such produce as can be
stored and accumulated until the
period of navigation arrives. With
a steady, continuous navigation and
communication every day or two,
the enhancement of trade by the
saving and shipping of small articles
daily and the continual production
of such as are not now produced on
account of want of transpOrta-
ton, would prove an enormous ac-
CeSSiOn. We leave out Of view the
coal and the future stimulation OF
manufacturing and saving of fuel,
and speak now only of that increase
of trade and, in the long run, saving
in transportation, which every bust
ness man knows will be derived
from a continual and steady trans
port and the advantages it possesses
over a single crowded season with a
long interval, in which navigation
and to Il certain extent production
saving are suspended. Every man
knows, who has studied it at all,
that the shipments of ut least many
articles will be trebled by making
shipments possible every day, when
compared with shipments only pos
Sible at Il certain period. Every
business man knows, too, that the
continual crowding and competition
i'm freightS Is in the end detrimental
10 the interests OF carrier, producer
and merchant. There is absolutely
nothing gained in the long run for
anybody by freights below compen-
sating prices, for every such falling
below is some time or other cOmpen-
stated by a want of Transportation and
rise in freightS. Best for all is a
system of continuous and steady
transport, when supply and demand
are nearly equal and competition
merely sufficient to preserve the lust
average, which is not too low for the
carrier nor too high for the producer.
The business community of Nash
vile cannot afford to allow Chatta-
nOOga to SurpaSs them in energy,
enterprise and progress. We should
be pressing the Cumberland river
Improvement at the same time that
they are pressing the Tennessee, and
the two should cooperate. Our Rep
reSentative in Congress, Col. House,
has already shown Il deep interest in
the matter; he will not omit any eff
fort to press it /; but the local business
community should strengthen his
hands and lend that assistance which
they alone can render. They can
collect data, ascertain facts, prepare
the material for work which the
member of Congress might NEVER run
upon. We should remember that
the case is like law suit which
takes a good lawyer and a good eli
ent. 1t requires ability and address
ut Washington and live energy and
attention at home.