The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-20
battles Of modern warfare was fought on her


soil.
When the small remnants Of Lees army
surrendered at Appomattox Virginia was
PROSTATE.
-Four years Of war had stripped her. her
labor was metemorphased into an incubus
her institutions were overthrow; her deots
and burdens were increased; her property
and taxable values were annihi ated; her
energies were paralyzed; her very existence
was suspended.
This was twenty-three years ago. During
a large part of this period the problem OF
existence, the paramount question OF simple
he;ny engrossed all her powers. Misunder-
stood and Stunned by all without, threat
ened and burdened by many within, sh' had
20 devote all her facilities to the imperative
demand of the hour, the preservation Of her
being as State and people.
AT last she stands upright again in the
vieor of renewed strength in the JOY OF re
,to,,d health, in the full power Of sovereign
state and the pride of q bale and prosperous
people. u,;c,,
As such her Capital City, her beautiful
Richmond on the James now se's hei
house In order, prepares her feasts' SETS OUT
her wares and stretching out her hands unto
her sister cities, Gays to them
"coxK AND ZEE ME-.
Richmond, the Capital of Virginia IS the
Orae, ofthe South enthroned upon her tree
clad hills. and crowned with the diadem Oh
beauty and health.
Situated on the elevated plateau at the
Falls ofJsmes River once the Powhatan' sue
stands at the gateway between the uplands
Of the piedmond and the lowlands OF the
Tidewater. The breath OF the mountain
fans her brow, the tides of the Ocean WASH
her feet.
Old William Byrd of Westoyer, whose
historic mansion not many miles fellow Is
one Of the landmarks Of the continent ana
one of the heirlooms Of American history
gentleman of Virginia, member OF the hing >
Council, Representative OF the colony Dur
zoos NJ his County, was entrusted 10 run the
much questioned line between Virginia anu
her sister North Carolina. Thus occupieu'
lying awake one night in the juniper recesses
Of the Dismal Swamp, came to HIM Thoughts
osb;s home and with them one Of those in
spirations which may be the whisper OF
pas.irg angel, and may be the emanation Oh
genius. He would found city, nay LIE
would found,two; one should be on the APP
pomattox, but the other should be on a YET
fairer spot on a queenlier riyer' his own
majestic james.
He knew the spot for it. There Nature
herself had laid the site-a more skiliiul en-
sineerthan he had drawn the plan-a diviner
architect had laid the foundations.
II was already a city and wanted but the
buildings and the people. These must IN
eyjtably come in time. Indeed that mos'
rash but most brilliant and farseeing young
man who had been once his fathers neigh
bor. had chosen the spot with his rare WIS
dom and had there plantation or quarter,
and when the Indians had come down and
killed his overseer and cattle, had he not
clamored for revenge until he had started
revolution which came deuced near upsetung
His Maiesty's Government, and played the
devil generally. 1t would be the chief CITY
in Virginia, the largest in the southern
colonies if not on the continent, II the peo-
ple would but recognize its advantages and
build il up. What a spot II was!
An elevated plateau right at the falls OF
the river. above malaria and ague' with
the fresh air of the mountains, keeping II
cool in summer, and Incompatible climate
and purest water from unpopulated
springs; view Of the roaming
waters. glancing and dashing over
immense boulders for nearly two miles,
made a landscape whose beauty was IN
riyaled as place ofresidence fora beauty-loV-
ing people this side of oak clad reaches OF
The Thames. The river front was easily ac-
cessible. and evenly d stributed and at the
same time so immense that 1t would gnnd
the grain of a continent, and run the factor
les of a nation. Behind ii was the rich Pied
mont running up to the Blue Ridge and yet
further back behind the azure mountains an
unexplored region which stretches to the
French territory, Louisiana. Before it was
the
HEAD OF DEEP WATER NAVIGATION
with its diurnal tides which could float any
vessel that His Majesty's marine could send
across the seas.
How could it be otherwise than city,
Thus must have thought Colonel VIM
Byrd living under the stars reading the future
with prophetic vision, for on the completion
of his mission, he laid out the streets ana
SQUARES of city. on the farspot at the Fails
of the James, and the head Of deep water
which had haunted his dreams in that then
far distant shore of the Dismal Swamp, and
as there was no place this side the sea whose
beauty was comparable, he named IT after
that incompatible spot upon the loved and
winding Thames,
RICHMOND.
This was in 1877 and from that day 10 the
nresent Richmond has been the Gem City Of
the South.
For beauty, for salubrity, for convenience,
for oil the charms and advantages which can