The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-12

soil.
When the small remnants of Lees army
surrendered at Appomattox Virginia was
PROSTATE.
Four wears of WIZ had stripped her; her
labor was metemorphased into an incnpus
ber institutions were overthrovn; her debts
ard burdens we're increased; her property
and tavoble values were annihi'at her
energies we're paralyzed; her very existence
was suspended.
THIS was twenty-thrce years ago. During
q large rart of this period the problem OF
existence. the paramount question OF simple
being engrossed all her powers. Msuncer-
stood ana Stunned by al without. threat
ened and burdened by many within. 81 had
TO devote a.! be! facilities to the imperative
demand Of the hour. the preservation o. "e'
being as a State and a'peope.
At last she stands uprigh. again in the
yIg6r Of renewed strength, in the JOY OF re-
stored health, in the full powerof sovereign
State and the pride Of hale and prosperous
people .sc,,
As such her Capital City, her beautiful
Richmond on the James now sets her
house IN order, prepares her feasts' sets out
her wares and stretching out her HANDS unto
her sister cities, gays to them
GONE AND SEE Nj"
Richmond, the Capital of Virginia Is 'ne
Oreen ofthe South enthroned upon her tree
clad hills and crowned with the diadem q
beauty and health
situated on the elevated plateau at the
Falls ofJames River once the Powha'ah' she
stands at the gateway between the uplands
| 90 ,,o p;edmond and the lowlands Of the
,ridewater. The breath Of the mountain
fans her brow. the tides Of the Ocean WASH
her feet.
Old William Byrd Of Westover' whose
,.;s,oric mansion not many miles below is
ono Of the landmarks Of the continent anu
ono of the heirlooms Of American history
gentleman of Virginia. member Of the hing
Council Representative Of the Colony Dur
reys of his County, was entrusted to run the
mich questioned line between Virginia ana
her sister North Carolina. Thus occupied
living awake one night in the juniper recesses
of the Dismal Swamp came 20 him tho"sh's
| of his home. and with them one oil those IN
snirations which may be the whisper OF
passipg angel, and may be the emana'ion oil
genius. He would found city, nay ne
would found two: one should be on the APP
pomattox. but the other should be on YET
fa;rer spot on a queenier river, his own
majestic James.
He knew the spot for it. There Nature
herself had laid the site-a more skliiiui en-
eineer than he had drawn the plan-a OWNER
architect had laid the foundations.
It was already city and wanted but the
buildings and the people. These must III
eyitably come in time. Indeed that most
rash but most brilliant and farseeing young
man who had been once his father nelgh-
Dor bad chosen the spot with his rare WIS
dom and had there a plantation or quarter
and when the Indians had come down ana
killed his oyerseer and cattle, had he not
clamored for revenge until he had stared
revolution which came deuced near upset'lng
His Maiesty's Government, and played the
devil generally. 1t would be the chief city
in Virginia, the largest in the souiherh
colonies if not on the continent. if the peo-
ple would but recognize its advantages and
build il up. What spot it was
An elevated plateau right at the falls OF
the river. above malaria and ague' WIN
the fresh air Of the mountains, keeping II
cool in summer. and incompatible climate
and purest water from appropriated
snrings. view of the iosming
waters. CHANGING and dashing over
immense bouders for nearly two miles
made a landscape whose beauty was I'M
riyaled as place ofresdence fora beauiy-ioV-
ing people, this side Of the oak clad reaches OF
the Thames. The river front was easily ac-
cessible and evenly stributed and at the
same time so immense that il would grind
the grain of a continent, and run The factor
ies of a nation. Behind it was the rich Pied
mont running up to the Blue Ridge and yet
further back behind the azure mountains an
UNEMPLOYED region which stretches to the
French territory, Louisiana. Before 1t was
the ..-,o,.
HEAD or DEP WAFER NAVIGATION
with its diurnal tides which could fioai any
vessel that His Majestys marine could send
across the seas.
How could it be otherwise than city
Thus must have thought Colonel VIVA.
Byrd lying under the stars reading the future
with prophetic vision, for on the completion
of his mission he laid out the streets ana
SQUARES Of a city on the fairspot at the faiis
of the James. a nd 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,
BICHNOYD.
This was IN 1887 and from that day to the
nresent. Richmond has been the Gem City OF
the South.
For beauty. for salubrity for convenience,