Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-01-05
[For the Dispatch-l
Dtrb,unpd and James River.

the Virginia Pilots Association" The pur-
pose of the article was TO induce the Legs
lature TO reject the petition sent TO
them by the Chamber of Commerce and
some other bodies asking that the plot
laws be modified or repealed.
If Mr. Edwards had confined himself to
this subject should not have had word
to saw pro or con for have never looked
into these laws. consequently know no.
thing about them and If | shonld venture
TO express an opinion on their pOllcy L
should expect Mr.. Edwards to expose my
ignorance lust rs | now propose to expose
his in matter which he has unnecessarily
introduced into his paper-a matter into
which hare looked and know something
about 49,
This is what I allude to: Speaking of the
alleged tax the pilot-laws impose upon
Richmond he says:
That this tax Affects the trade Of great city
claiming 5000 inhabitants, claiming 70 Do q sea
port tsfld she seems TO 10 claiming everything
elseN, appears 10 Va 10 be TOO ridiculous ami al
suri 10 merit serious consideration. tee rum
is. her trade has gone to dep tcGtsr-We4 Point,
Newport News, and Norfolk. The United states
Commissioner OF Navigation says In his laSt re-
Dor that the coasiwise trade ~ IN prosperous
condition; but Richmond will not recognize mo
old saying that "it is hard TO mako SILK purse
out OF "a sOw's carr {; that IL IS bard 10 maze
Richmond, naturally a1d essentially place Tor
manufacturing, q seaport when she is up on mo
hills lii miles from ssa, beautifully situated on
the historic James, which In the summer-iime
you can almost stop over dry-shoi, aud WI
the United states Coast Survey 10 tneir reppr,
for 1876, estimated Il would cost about f,,lJJ,tNJ
10 dredge out 10 depth n twenty-five ieet from
its mouth, when twenty-eEht feet depth OF wafer
(. had at Newport News without say dredging at
oil.
| understand Mr.. Edwards is pilot.
licensed to take vessels in and ont of
James river. If this be so, his declaration
that lin the summer time you ;an almost
step drv-shod across James river" Is
very remarkable one-as proceed TO show.
MIR. G. p. f.. Burgwyn, Civil Engineer, has
been engaged in the work OF deepening
the river for twelve consecutive years. In
that time be has been for two years under
Colonel Hanes and ten under Colonel
Craichill, both United States engineers.
For eirht wears of the twelve he has been
in local charge of the work. His retention
proves that he has been faithful and COM
petent What does he say on the depth OF
the river? | have before NE table or
soundings taken by him in 1857, from the
ship-locks in Richmond to Falling Creek
in Chesterfield, which includes nearly all
of the expensive dredging that remains
TO be done to get the requisite TWENTY-FIVE
feet at mean low tide, As required by the
schedule under which the work IS
done. The distance sounded Is $1,000
feet, in round numbers six and one
half miles; the soundings number
~, or " TO the mile, at regular DIS
tances. The table shows an average depth
of l7.16 feet at mean low tide, or, as the
tide rises 81 feet, then 20.GG feet at high
tide. Theshalowest places are (afew with
in the rock limits - feet, equal to 1886 at
high tide. The deepest is 23.5 feet at low,
equal to 26.2l feet at high tide. The Ia
bles of similar soundings taken IN 1886 and
1874 show the depth to have then averaged
g. 93 and 1856 feet respectively. SO there Is
n present gain of 500 feet upon the former
and $50 upon the latter and It has been
proven by the test of time that the WORK OF
deepening once done according to the plan
of the Improvement remains with practl-
cally no change, except for the better; that
is. In the increased depth resulting from
the scour of the current within the lines OF
the jetties.
AS 1O4 miles, or 50 per cent. Of the whole
distance-I am still speaking after Mr..
Burgwyn-has already the required mini
mum depth of 90 feet-running up 10 80,
40, 60, and 80 feet IN long stretches-it must
be this upper g. miles with its channel
width of 200 feet which Mr.. Edwards tells
the public they can almost step over dry
shod in the summer time. Why summer
time? Is Mr.. Edwards, a licensed pilot for
James river, so ignorant OF the stream he
navigates as to suppose that 1t gets appre-
Gladly lower in the summer timer Does
he not know, what the riyer-guage would
have told him at any time, that II not q
drop of water came into james river from
above it would reach the level OF Its high
tide twice dav from the sea?
| am sorry to infer from other things Mr,
Edwards says that he has imbibed some
Of Norfolk's jealousy of Richmond. Thus
he saws il is hard to make Richmond a
seaport when she u up on the hills l4i -
he should have said l27-" miles from the
sea-" But Richmond is not trying to be-
come a seaport 10 rival Norfolk and Ports
mouth with their joint population of
1856. She is trying TO become port of
entry like Philadelphia, ninety;;six miles
from the sea and mp on the hills 30
feet high, with a population of si7,I7O !;
or New Orleans, 100 miles from the
sea, with population OF 2l6,000 or St.
Louis, 800 miles from the sea, with popu-
lation of $50, 5lS, most of il up on the hills
that rise in terraces from l50 TO 200 feet
above the river. TO which they descend. %
do the hills in Richmond. in gradual slopes /;
or Cincinnati, 500 miles up the Ohio, with n
population of 255, 900. its narrow plateau on
the river bounded by hills 400 to 465 feet
WI ilc NOHIllN II Aull VI SUM
cities, all larger than our Virginia seaport,
and many of them the recipients of Federal
aid, why should not Richmond aspire to =
similar position by similar means! Seated
on james river. whose tide marks the deepest
nayigable western indentation on the At
lantic slope, she has. with Petersburg aad
Manchester in the falls of the James and
Appomattox rivers, more horsepower than
the whole State OF Massachusetts,. and
Al. IL. \
right around her, she has great and
Independent advantages for handling
the raw material that many converging
railroads bring into her lap. She has
tributary to her larger geographical area
than New York, Philadelphia, and Baltl-
more combined. as an inspection of the
map will show; she is accessible to that
territory by shorter routes and on
better grades and in a better climate
than any of them; and she is nearer
than any of them to San Francisco by an
established route. In the river at
her feet she has the finest and
most capacious harbor in the world /:
land-locked for ninety miles from Mulberry
Point to Richmond. with fifty miles Of
fresh water and the best land safest, be-
cause naturally the most defensble) loca-
ton in the United States for the building
of ships and the manufacture Of ordnance,
When the wealthy city of New York has
received upwards of S5,OO0,OO for her har.
Dor, and Baltimore has had eighteen miles
Of her channel deepened through the Pa.
tapsco shoals at cost of more than
s., 900 900, why should it evoke sheer from
Norfolk when Richmond asks mere pit
lance from the Government to improve the
| finest harbor in the world?
Because, replies Mr.. Edwards, twenty.
eight feet depth of water is had at New.
ports News without any dredging at all.n
cannot recall an instance in which preiu,
| dice has had more binding effect. The
effort Of Richmond, ll6 miles from Nor.
folk. excites Mr.. Edwards's opposition. but
Viewpoints News, an apparent rival, only Il
miles of. is spoken of with q sort OF sp
probation; Newport's News Think of It.
II is not the outgrowth OF any necessity OF
trade nor spirit OF Legitimate enterprise, II
originated in one of the commonest device.
resorted TO by men who control railroads.
| the seating of settlements which they cal
| .;xsa~ an v>iacos ~ land