The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-06-05
For the VALLEY yIRGlN1AS.
The Advantages of York River, Va.

The Advantages of York River, Va.
/ see by the last number of the VIRGIN.
Ian. that your "Richmond correspondent
furnishes the intelligence that considerable
uneasness is experienced in Richmond If
contemplation of making West Point, OF
Port Richmond, as it is now called, shin
ping point for all the through freight OF tie
Chesapeake and Ohio Railway"
1t is surprising that the Chesapeake anf
Ohio Railway Company did net see and Sc
cure years ago the advantages which West
Point and York River possess over James
River. as "a shipping point for its through
| freight.
The history Of railroad management. in
this or any other country, cannot produce a
similar instance of such business and finan-
cial stupidity and blindness as the Chesa
peake ana Ohio Railroad Company displayed
in selecting Richmond and the James River
as a shipping point in preference to the
York River. Any man with sense enough
to comprehend that two and two make four
could not fail to comprehend that York River
In commercial sense, possesses natural ad
vantages which fifty to seventy five mil
lions OF dollars expended to improve the
James, would not make it equal to the broad
and deep channel of the former. Not a
session Of Congress is permitted to pass
without an appropriation for $75, 900 to
100000 to improve the navigation of the
James river, but when has Congress been
asked to make an appropriation TO improve
the navigation of York river? With as
much consistency Congress could appropri-
ate money to improve the main channel OF
Chesapeake Bay as to attempt to improve
the present commercial advantages of York
river.
1t is within bounds to say that coal and
iron can be shipped from West Point and
York river at cost of one third less per ton
than by the Richmond route; that a sailing
vessel, without the aid of steam tug, could
convey 1000 to 1000 tons of coal from West
Point to New York two days quicker than a
vessel carrying 600 to 800 tons could make
the trip from Richmond to the same port
Thus. by a saving OF forty-eight hours of
time, and channel deep enough for vessels
carrying from I,2C0 to 1,500 tons, it is low
estimate to say thatsfreight can be carried
for one. third less 6y the York than bv the
James.
Lieut.. NJ. F. Maury, U. S. n, in his re-
port to the stockholders of the Richmond
and York River Railroad Company, thus
describes the advantages which the York
possesses over the james and other Virginia
rivers
"Many fine arms of the sea branch off
from the Chesapeake Bay and embellish
Eastern Virginia with noble sheets of wa
ter, and, commercially speaking, York river
is the noblest OF them all. York river differs
in one respect, and that very important
one, from all the other principal feeders of
the Chesapeake Bay. The Potomac, the
Rapppahannock, and the James meet tide
water at their lowest falls. Before they
pass these they have received the waters
with the mud and silt of all the turbid wa
tiers OF these streams-and ir times of flood
they are very, very muady-leaps the falls
and meets the tide. this mud and silt com :
mence to settle, and the consequence is that
all three of these rivers are raising up their
beds and obstructins navigation, particular
ly near the head Of tide, with bars. This is
tie case with the Potomac near GEORGETOWN
and Washington, and the Rappahannock at
Fredericksburg. There are places in front of
these cities where large sea-going crafts used
to lie, but where now the lightest skiffs can
hardly pass, so much mud have these rivers
brought down and deposited in the way of
navigation. AS soon as the turbid waters
OF these rivers meet the tide, the rapidity of
their flood is checked, and the deposit Of
sediment commences. Hence the most rap
id filling up OF channels takes place at and
near the head of tide water. Where the run
ming streams from the land meet the flow of
the tide from the sea, there is always con-
llict, and in this conflict of waters deposit
of sediment is made and bars are formed
This is a law of nature.
sOn the other hand, the York river is with
out falls, and is formed by two tidal streams
in which the conflict of waters has already
taken place and heavy deposit of sediment
been made long before they come together.
Moreover, these streams themselves receive
10 large tributaries. The tide runs far up both
OF them, (the Mattapony and Pamunkey
rivers. and the mud which their head wa
tiers, when in a swollen state, bring down
TO them, is generally deposited before they
join the York. Consequently the York,
which is now navigabie for ships Of the lar
gest class. will probably remain so for ages
to come"
Lieut.. Manry's report gives true des-
crlption CT the distractions constantly accu-
mulating in the channel of the James. If con-
gress should see fit to withhold its appropri-
atoms for ten successive years, vessels of
less than 100 tons would find it difficult
matter to reach Richmond. 1t will ever be
a conflict between the peoples money and
the mud and rubbish constantly coming
in contact in tide w.t4r, wl4Jh,r the
James, at no distant day, will be closed
against sea-going vessels. Another impor-
tan5 advantage which the York has over 9th
er Virginia rivers, ice never forms of suf1i-
Gent thickness to close navigation, while the
James is frequently blockaded by ice for six
to eight weeks, and navigation completely
suspended.
TO connect the Chesapeake and Ohio Rail-
road with York river will require the
building OF track from Hanover juno
ton to West Point, distance of for
ty miles overland, perfectly level and
straight. BY this new route the distance
between Hanover Junction and the Chesa-
peake Bay will be reduced more than one
half. BY the present indirect route the dis
tance from Hanover Junction to Richmond
is 50 miles; from Richmond to the Bay, 122
miles total $50. From Hanover Junction
to West Point, 40 miles; from West Point
to the Bay, 80; total, TO- The latter route
is as straight as an arrow-the former as
crooked as rams horn. (See maps of Vir-
ginia)
This saving of 90 miles, with the advan-
tages ola deep channel and straight course,
and the carrying OF a third more freight
than the shallow channel of the James will
admit, would be equivalent to reduction OF
one-thrd the cost for shipping the products
of Virginia and the West to the great Eas-
tern markets
Taking all these facts into consideration,
it is not surprising that the directors OF the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad have decided
to abandon the James for more practical
route-the York ''the noblesJ river of them
all.'' DIT.
Washington, D. C.
Gen. Jos. q. Johnston offered resolu-