Daily Republican., 1881-06-23
The River Road.

The action OF the City Council %
Tuesday evening, in preferring th'
south side route to the river, while !!
may crafty few leading manu;ac
turers, we are sure will not be re-
ceiyed with favor by the masses Of the
people The people see city Of A.
600 inhabitants located on a number OF
hills mile or two miles from one otthe
finest navigable rivers in the United
States. They see front on that river
mile in length belonging to the city
and yet Cor want Of % road 10 the river
and wharf at the front, the city has
NO connection with this great natural
river highway except through narrow
tortuous stream OF water extremely
difficult to navigate and extremely diff
cult to keep in navigabie order If
Wilmington was really an inland city,
of course nothing would be thought OF
water course but it is not, and the
large mauufactorieS and trade of the
city naturally seek the wa;er courses
The Christiana and the Rgandywine are
lined with them and as new ones are
built they are drawn naturally in the
direction Of the river front. Only the
piece of marsh land intervening pre-
vents the city from building up at once
on the Delaware river front. 1t Las
been demonstrated that . road 10 the |
Delaware on the north side and wharf |
could have been built aV Il moderate |
cost at the present time--lHuch cheaper
than the road on the south side could be
completed and a wharf erected that
would be an injury to the navigation OF
the Christiana. Bat the great question
is, has the City Council satisfied the
people by locating the road on the south
side? We do not think they Lave, In
the first place it is tortuous winding ,
way to the river. In the second place,
Col. Ludlow, an experienced and prac- ,
teal United States engineer, says: a
wharf on the south Si1e Of the entrance +
to the Christiana will cost 1nuch more
money in its construction and will in II
jure the navigation of the Christiana {
when it is constructed. Iu tie third I
place the $4,000 appropriated for the I
construction Of route to the river and u
the 5fildhHg Of wharf were clearly I'M n
ders4 md to bt for road and wharf on II
the north side. These and other reasons ii
are arguments against the choice Of the v
City Council.
If the City Council exuends $4,000
upon the south side route they Mill b.
clearly under obligations to proceed >,
farther and build wharf at the front :,
'fhsy are both coupled together and the
public demands will not be met until y.
both are finithel. This is what was
started out to be done and there should \,
be no stoppage half way
We are not blind to the fast that a =,
south side road to the river will be of
great benefit to the city, as we are in od
formed that foundry is Immediately ,a
10 be erected on the route; the new roll
ing mills never yet operated are to be -.
put in operation, one hundred houses =,
are Immediately to he built, ard the 49,
Christiara will be wharfed instead of :,
the Delaware. This will be some com
pensation for the outlay of 3d. 900 but a.
1t will not give what the people want .
and what they have been expecting, NJ
wharf on the Delaware A negative ~
view to the construction of northern ~,
route to the river and whicl appears to -
have obtained credence amongst some -
Of the City Counclnen, is, that hun 90
ired thousand dollars would not con. :,
'truct such road a. is needed that ~
he ground is nothing but quagmire; =,
nat person can stand upon what is -;
allied tllssick and shake it for several :, :.
DDS around like bowl-fGl of Jelly; that !,
would require piling the whole way nj,
through, and piling costs money; and -.
hat it would ke many years before the
COZ
oad constructed of soft mud from the -.
Iver would be solid enough to bear =.
luch traYel. We do not know how far -.
1ese objections are well founded, but 49,;
neither well founded or not, it is some -,
hing little strange that it has not been ~,
und out until this Late day Practical 49,
Id experienced men have been over -,
10 route time and again and surveyed w,
Id examined it, and we have never ,,,o
ld such report as this before. If they .;o,
Q true, then they form good reason how
ny the judgment of our City Council uno
en- should be inclined to the other =,
de- If true it is no credit to our en- C;+,
neers and scientific men that it was .
'ver found out before. However we
oov,,o H. wv can
esunie the people will survive the a.,
appointment, If the south side route oa,
constructed to the river and wharf =.
lllt, and the results flow from it that ti
we been predicted, there will soon fol- ~
" an opposition road and wharf on the ''i'
rth SIDE even if it should cost 500 600 p0''
construct them and therefore all wa A,
say now is, 60 ahead with the noIa
ithern route, and not stop short of q n;1ot
larf at the east end of it. ro..
assn
HesracffOn for the Benefit of D. min,