The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-10-11
AIR LINE TO WINCHESTER.
A THOUGHTFUL AND SUCCESS
TIVE ARTICLE.
How Richmond May Control Its Natural
Territory I'm the Valley - virginis's
Need Can Re Met in the Metropolitan


Need Can he Met In the metropolitan
City.
WINCHESTER, Va, Oct. s.-[Correspon
dence. Your columns have contained
lately some sound and forcible remarks
upon the need Virginia has Of great city
A popular and wealthy mart, a financial
social and literary centre, is Of the frs
value TO every State, and would be espe
cially so to ours. For the want oft her peo
pie wander for profit or pleasure beyond hel
borders. In this way she IS annually robbine
her stock Of brain, muscle and money tC
swell that of her neighbors. AS hei
young men grow up they naturally look fol
a home upon their native soil. Failing &c
find the best field for their ener
gies at their immediate birthplace, oil
urged by a not unnatural taste for fires
| fields and pastures new, their first impulse
| is to repair TO a growing Virginia city, the
larger the better. Had we New York
Boston, Philadelphia, or Baltimore, they
would flock to it as the youth Of the states
possessing those cities do to them. And
they would be joined there by their contem
/
numbers-thus attracting hither new
strength instead Of carrying their OWL
| abroad.
Baltimore, for example, has large colo
ny of Nirginians. They are mostly sue
cessiul in their new home, some OF them
| conspicuOusly so, thus accentuating oul
loss and Maryland's gain. To us 1t is in
one sense more than a loss, inasmuch as II
increases our neighbOr states ability u
draw upon our resources for her own adj
vantage, or to monopOlize our trade at the
expense Of our own towns. The compensa
ton for this continuous drain is nil. Balti
more capital easily comes 10 Virginia. Hel
great railroad, but for the work OF which
| during the war, equal to that OF laIg'
Federal army, Virginia would have re
NAMED territorial unit, has never favored
local trade. Its policy, even under the new
reform" management, has always had al
importunate effect upon the towns ant
communities along its route, their interest
being sacrificed TO those Of through trade
On this point there is but one voice amonl
the farmers and business men OF the Val
ley. Rates per mile on Virginia produce
have been recently reduced TO four time
those on freight from Chicago. Ii actually
pays TO bring wheat from Chicago to b'
ground here. in the heart Of one of the fines
wheat countries on the globe.
Doubtless the same abuse exists on Other
great through lines In this as well az othel
States, and will continue until local Legis
latures shall find remedy more enectua
than the interstate law, which they Ger
tainly can. But somehow these other roads
do not shed the same blight of stagnation
ana decay along their path that marks
almost every point dependent upon the Bal
timore and Ohio. Here, consequent upon
the construction OF rival road, the Cum
| berland Valley, the cloud has already begun
to lift, thanks to the introduction OF more
liberal system Of railway management
CAPITAL has come and is coming. Always
noted for the variety and extent Of its in
| dustries, Winchester is giving them new
life Building Is more active than before
for many wears. A still greater impulse
wall follow railroad extensions now pro
posed.
Among such constructions, not hitherto
suggested so far as know, is an AIRLINE
railway from Richmond 10 Winchester, via
WarrentOn. The engineering difficulties Of
such work would be trifling. 1t would
pass through one Of the easiest gaps in the
Blue Ridge. 1t would derive FROM crossing
the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Virginia Mid
land, the Manassas Gap, and the Shenan
d0ah Valley roads a considerable traffic III
dependent of the local business, which
would itself be, at l9st on the upper part
of the line, good from the beginning. From
that region it would command all the traye
to the State capital, which now has to take
| "A circuitOus route or 90 outside OF the state
| AT Winchester it would meet the Cumber
land Valley and the Baltimore and Ohio
roads, with an extension of the formel
southwestwardly tOlerably certain in Tho
near future. Passing beyond Winchestel
il would find good route TO Cumberland
in an airline to Pittsburg, and itself al
important centre. II is for those more init
mately familiar with RichmOnd's trade
than the writer TO say what traffic and III
manufactures. tobacco products, fruits, anf
vegetables from the South in season, ant
travel between the South and the North
west could he supplied at the James rive
terminus.
The distance between Richmond ant
Winchester can be brought below 40 miles
say 13j, or only eight miles more than from
the latter point to Baltimore.
1t was claimed in Baltimore paper thu
other day that "the Valley OF Virginia il
Baltimore territory This Is pure as
sumption. Waving the natural claim 0
Virginia cities to the trade of Virginia terri
tory, and granting that our lovely valley
lies free spoil of commercial conquest, i
can be shown that Baltimore has in tina
rivalry no advantage derived from prOXl
nifty. She is, as shown above, Identical
with Richmond in remOteness from WIN
chester, the centre Of the Lower Valley, anC
not less 80 in railroad grades. Then she II
+ nearly hundred miles further from TIN
capes than Richmond is. The Valley doe:
not point in the direction Of Baltimore, bu
of Harrisburg. For most of its length with
in this State it makes sort of curve radi
cal 10 Richmond.
Baltimore has at present the deeper har
Dor. thanks to the large sums spent within
the past few years by the Federal Govern
ment in dredging il. That expenditure has
been her commercial salvation. Hei
wharves are now accessible to vessels draw.
ing twenty-siX feet, and are consequently
sought in increasing numbers by transat-
laniic steamers. Had Richmond within the
last two decades attained, as 1t has been
demonstrated she can attain, a like depth
in her port, while that Of Baltimore re-
manned untouched with depth about equal
to that of Richmond now, we should witness
| "A reversal of their relative commercial rank.
The estimates published show that twenty
five feet water at all tides can be had from
Hampton Roads to " arwick bar, about as
far from Richmond as Canton from
the Baltimore basin. for fraction
of the time consumed in building up West
Point and Newport News with freight
hauled through the streets of Richmond.
Above Warwick doubtless a canal will have
to be resorted to, as suggested by Charles
Elicit fifty years ago, but with Il dock al
| Manchester instead Of htS impracticable
dam at the lower end OF Nauxball Island.
| A "series of locks is spoken OF, but one, OF
"a little more lift than the present ship-lOck
at Rockets, ought to suffice. A considera-
ton in favor of the canal and separate basin
not hitherto dwelt upon is that fresh water
would cleanse the ships bottoms more thor
| oughy than the semi-salt water Of the river.
An outlay of two or three millions on this
great object would be the best investment
the city and her capitalists could make.
| This done, she would be able TO command
| equal rates from the railroads We should
no longer see her Board of Trade occupied
with complaints of discrimination in favor
OF Baltimore and receiving in reply the
cool statement that Richmond is not the
natural market of the Virginia counties
| lying within two hours run.
| Every taxpayer in the State has an inter-
est in seeing grea. city built up within
her limits. lie is tired of seeing his hard
earned means 90 10 enrich towns beyond
her borders which never lend a cent Of il
| back. If sentiment has a place in this feel