Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-11-11
WHERE WAVES ROLL.
n,,sy NEWPORT NEWS, iTs HISTORY,
ANpI DEVELOPMENT.
A cre.t Fort and tho Nucleus " Great
ty-Enterprises--Iow Future Ne
ccssities arc to fse Met

Take map Of the Peninsular and O
rair OF dividers, stick one point Of tho
dividers at Newport News and the other
ri Hampton, then describe an arc from
the latter place TO James river, and you
will have embraced piece of country
which some two decades ago was about
as desolate-looking as il is possible to
imagine any section OF Virginia could
have been. In 1907 Captain Chris
topher Newport was driven 10 Newport
News under stress Of weather. Between
the close of tho war and the year 1880
il would have taken more than ordinary
distress TO have driven a man TO seek
refuge there. In that year, however, a
poSt-oflice was established OF Newport
News Why this daring move the
people in striking distance Of the peiDt
could not explain. save upon the ground
thnt tho postmaster was an Ohio man,
who, true to the Ohio instinct, had
gotten a Government appointment, aud,
SIS he had no place else to put his post
Office, put it Mt Newport News, where he
could whittle sticks TO bis hearts con
tent, gaze upon the deserted wharf, and
listen to the sad sea waves.
A DIFFERENT VERSION.
However, the Ohio man, who ia now
connected with ono Of the largest ship
ping interests ri Newport News, gives a
different version OF the matter. He
pleads guilty 10 the soft impeachment
that the Ohio instinct was strongly de
veloped in him, but says he knew the
railroad was coming to Newport News,
and that, as the brakeman said OF Wei
don when that much-abased North Caro-
Ina town consisted of a depotshed, q
bar room, and blacksmith il was
bigger than New York, only it wasn't
built no yet
TIE RAILROAD CAME
Well, the nilroad came TO Newport
News nine years ago last month, and
with il the time Of Newport News came.
To-day il has 5000 inhabitants, the air
Of dosolation / referred TO has faded
and given place TO hustle, life, and bust
ness activity, and though Newport News
may never be bigger than New York it is
the nucleus of what is destined to DO a
great city.
A REVELATION.
A visit to Newport News would bo a re
violation to those who have not kept posted
on It's development. / confess that as
much as l knew Of it my present VISIT
was a revelation 10 me. 1t Is one OF the
busiest places on the Atlantic seaboard.
What wonld one of the Confederate
prisoners who was confined in the prison
camp here Just after the close of the
war aud who has never seen the place
since say were | to tell him that the
Chesapeake and Ohio railway now
Las in its yards between seven
teen and eighteen miles Of siding ; that
within the last twelve months it has
handled at its piers here within frac-
tion Of 100000 tons of bunker-cOal
alone: that IN the last six months 1t has
hauled 10 and from these piers 49,, 3Ol,-
C52 pounds of other freight; that the
company has q grain-eleyator here with
q capacity of ] 800, 600 bushels that the
piers five in NUMBER are lighted by
electricity, and that on them and around
the yard are employed some 800 hands !?
ANOTHER QUESTION
What would he say were to tell him
that there is located here the largest dry
dock in this country. and that III connec-
ton with IL there are under roof thirteen
immense buildings-constructed, with
three exceptions, of brick and iron
which are to be used as q ship-building
plant, where eight OF the largest sea
going wooden or iron vessels can be
built at a time? What would be his
reply were | to tell him that
at this plant there are already
five piers that a marine railway is to be
constructed that the yard when fully
equipped and in full operation Will be
able TO give employment TO some 5000
hands, and that the cost of the plant viii
be over g, 800, 600 ? What would he say
were | to tell him that about one hun
dred new houses are going up; that the
demand for stores and dwellings exceeds
the supply that several thriving manu-
featuring industries have already been
established here. and that others arc be-
Ing negotiated for?
HARD FACTS.
He would probably say that | was I'M
folding q fairy story, but | would simply
he dealing in hard facts, and then would
not have told the half. A day spent here
would not only convince him Of this. but
demonstrate TO him that the change
is in accordance with the laws of trade
and commerce. IL would further de-
monstrate to him that the present New
port News is but a suggestion of its pos
sibilities. AT the piers at Newport News
there istwcnty-s six feet of water at low tide,
which is sufficient TO float the largest sea-
going vessels. Just off the piers there is
sixty feet OF water, and the history of
the port gives no record of Disasters or
phenomenal tides. The Chesapeake and
Ohio railway has go miles of track, drains
sections Of Virginia and West Virginia
in which now towns are rapidly building
mp, and mas proratng arrangements
10 the great Northwest, the Pacific Coast,
and the Gulf Of Mexico. Put these con
dtions together and there IS no difficulty
in accounting for the resultants- nothing
marvellous in tho fact that running to
and from Newport News are five Old
Dominion steamships per week, -four
steamships per week of the Merchants
and Miners Line OF Boston, o Clyde.
Line connection, n line of barges carry
Ing coal to New York and the Enst, -four
steamships per month of Brazilian
line (which is building four more), tive
steamships per week of transatlantic
line. aud numerous tramp steamships
and smiling vessels.
NOTHING ILLOGICAL.
The same reasons that led the Chesa
peake and Ohio railway 70 make its east
err terminus at Newport News influence,
the Newport News Ship-Building anC
Dry-Dock Company to put its plant here
where IL owns sixty acres of land, ans
has river frontage Of 1880 feet an,
there Is nothing astonishing in the fac
that around these two great enter
prises dwellings and stores shout,
have been erected. streets shout,
have been laid off, and populatio,
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