The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-10-07
Rocgbridge Of, the Rail.

R0CkDTlQGe Ola LAC Aos~~'
,v,hs Lexington Gazette contains 0 series
:, ar,;c,es previously published IN that
"a ar ,,,at criticise very sharply the conduct
- al tbe valley Railroad Company in Its pol.
;cv towards the county OF RockbFidge.s II
ve do not overrate the prospects OF COM
nanv already organized and making some
,renaraiion for the commencement OF their
work. Rockbridge will ere long find soiu-
ton of all her troubles about ways to mar
kes. Her position is singularly fortunate
for deriving the most complete beneht from
the James. River Valley railroad. Inat soau
finished, all she has to do IS 10 pace "i'
she has for market upon it. and 1t will move
of, upon grade slightly incslnlng from .lie
noins Of starting 10 the point OF delivery win
little more than the force OF its graVitat'on'
She will have the cheapest and best transport
ration that is practicable, and her return
goods will find transportation more cheap
than that afforded upon any other returning
,,ne and viii, be as much facilitated as It IS
upon any other.
Th;s certsinIy should be all that the good
old county should ask. But she VIII oe
,,oya pratified, we believe. by another
noins. and that is that Rockbridse, after
yeors Of veyation, will find her relations
with the principal city OF her own STATE
close and fraternal. She will find both IN
tercst and inclination happily grat1heo'
and all her troubles about transportation
.,a communication with the country in all
directions at an end.
THE wonder now is that Virginia should
have been for 40 many years Dino 10 hei
,bvs;cal advantages and her domestic ln-
terests. She kept the gap through the Blue
Ridge at Balcony Falls as monopoly 1or
the ,Jamcs-River canal, which has proved TO
he nm inter failure, and would not think OF
putting railroad through that pass as 4
means OF connecting the eastern and west
ern divisions OF the State
Two dreadful consequences have ensued:
1st. II has been necessary to make tuhnei
at Rockfisb Gap, at enormous expense, that
permanently cnt,|ed heavy grades to and
from that tunnel. when the way already
made BY nature might have been followed
without tunnel and without heavy grades.
Cd. The error led to the division OF the
Old Dominion into two States, with shapes
about as ugly as were ever formed by the
most uuprincipled gerrynandering OF con-
sressional districts. This division IS the
great wrong Of the war. 1t impaired the
force and dignity Of the State, dlsllgured
her venerated map, and disrupted the
attachments OF her people. The noblcst
sentiment OF the heart, next to that or
devotion to the Creator, is love OF conn-
try, and the division broke up the bounda-
rics and efaced the lines by which we
knew our dear old mother and bowed IN
love and obedience before her. 1t was
great crime against people and State.
We trust we shall now repair, as far as
we can. the great error OF those who have
gone before us in deviating from the water
lines and running across the hills and val
leys, spending the money in tunnels and
deep fills and deep cuts that should have
been expended in building the roads which,
under correct system, would now be &C.
lively and prospefoilsly conducting The
commerce and travel Of Virginia in the right
lines for swelling her wealth and population,
SO that by this time Virginia aooald be out OF
debt, instead OF grooming under the load OF
liability incurred in building ways that have
only drained her OF wealth and confused
and distracted her people so that now more
OF them have alliances with outside markets
than with the cities Of their own State.
Let us hope that we may have the power
to correct much of the bad and unWiSe To-
cations OF our railroads and bring back to
our own cities the trade that naturally be-
longs to them, and revive in the hearts OF
our people the proper devotion, which has
from untoward circumstances been shaken
and greatly diverted from its true loyalty.