Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-11-14
Commodore MalIy'S Virginia
Port.
The West Point that He Predicted would be
The EntrGpOt fur The Commerce Of
the Great West.

the Great West.
1T FULFILS HIS PREDICTIONS-ITS GREAT
FOREIGN AND CoAsTwIsE EXPORTS AND
IMPoRTs-THE FIFTH COTTON PORT OF
THE UNITED STATES-A GOLD MINE
IN WATER FRONTS ALONE-sTART
LING GROWTH OF THE CITY-ITs AbTE-
SIAN WELL SYsTEM-THE TERMINAL
IMPROVEMENT COMPANY FORMED TO
DEVELOP IT'S PossIBILITIEs-A MAGNI-
FICENT FUTURE BEFORE IT.
&C, &C, &C.
WEST POINT, Nov. 10.
IEditoriat correspondence of the Staunton VIM
DICAToR.l
Looking from the hotel this morning on
the broad eXpanse of salt water, the rip
ping waves of which fOamed over the
beach at the. foot of the piazza, [ saw a
British steamer of about 5000 tons burden
steaming up to the wharf. 1t was the
s'Grenshell, - the second largest ship that
has come here. She came to take in a
cargo of $500 bales of cotton. and as she
drew up to her wharf she passed a Spanish
ocean steamship, beyond which was lying
another English ocean steamship, both
loading for foreign ports, while at these same
wharves lay American coastwise steamers
representing three different lines. AT
these same Wharves any day in the week
you will find ocean steamships loading for
Liverpool, Havre, Genoa, Bremen, Client,
Antewerp, Rio Janeiro and the West
Indies. 1t will not surprise any one who
sees this evidence Of q coming great COM
mercial point, to know that a company has
been formed to add more industries to the
town and develop to its utmost it's magni-
ficent possibilities.
COMMODORE MAURY's OPINION. AND PRE-
DIcTIoN ABOUT WEST POINT.
say magnificent advisedly. NJ city on
the Atlantic lies more directly across the
path of prosperity and increase and must
more inevitably reap both. If you leave
the wharf Of Norfolk you travel about
twenty miles out of the harbor and across
Hampton Roads to reach the Chesapeake
Bay. If you leave the wharf at West
Point you travel straight III a direct line
over forty-foot deep water way and in
three hours reach Chesapeake Bay. So
direct is this route that Commodore Mathew
f. Maury U. S. N, who examined this
port thirty-fiVe years ago at the request of
the Richmond & York River Ry Co., then
just organized, said that Y ork river runs
to the Chesapeake Bay by "a course so
l'singularly straight and direct as to give it
s'the appearance of a canal with boundless
''capacities." Of the advantages Of West
Point as Il harbor, Commodore Maury
also said, "that from West Point
''there is water enough to pass right out to
''sea any merchant ship in the country.
''Being between the two rivers which form
"the York, West Point also has the rare
advantage of double wharfage. On the
''Mattaponi side there is ample wafer and
t'perfect shelter for coasters. steamers and
t'all light crafts; while Oh the other side
there are good accommodations for the
Largest Indiaman.' In the same report
Commodore Maury predicted in regard to
the future OF industrial and transportation
development, that millions of produce
''Wil start up from the West and come to
'the call of the Virginia steam whistles
seeking through her borders for the cheap
''est and best ways to the sea, "and Sin this
respect, as well as in others, West Point is
superior to all of it's competitors - Heheld
further that wherever the inland trans
''portation ends and the sea transportation
''begins there is generally to be found the
principal e1strepot Of the region of the coun-
"try which is Che basis of the trade carried
ION. In obedience to this law We see a city
"built at the head Of the Chesapeake tBalti-
|'more) and Delaware philadelphia Eays.
mot at their mouth. In obedience to this
Flaw in the movement Of tonnage, New
DIRK is at the mouth Of n orth River not
''at Staten Island" To so much from SO
!stinguished an authority, may be added
that Oh account of the climate West Point
is harbor of refuge. and it is 10 unusual
sight In winter fof the wlarves to be
crowded with shipping from other ports
driven here by necessity. In 1875 and
during several winters since that time. all
the harbors North of the Potomac were
closed by ice, while the York river WAS
entirely free.
THE FIFTH COTTON PORT IN THE UNITED
STATES.
Since Commodore Maury wrote these
predictions they have been verified to the
letter The great railroad managers who
are always on the watch for the nearest
deep water settled on this point. The great
Richmond & Danville system took this
point to which to bring for shipment the
products OF the South and Southwest. 1t
established its terminus here, and here is the
point at which it's three thousand one hun
dfed and twenty miles of railway embarks
Its freight on deep water. The past wear
1t brought here of cotton alone. 400 600
bales. and its warehouses covering thirty
acres, are filled with cotton. tobacco and
slaves for shipment abroad, and general
merchandise and produce for shipment To
the Northern cities. In these warehouses
alone there are employed from 500 to ! LOCO
laborers who have a yearly pay roll of
$4,000 In confirmation of Commodore
Maury prophecy there are now running
from this point steamships to London.
Liverpool, Havre, Rio Janeiro, Client.
Antewerp and Genoa, and the products of
the great South and Southwest that seek
the nearest water way to the Northern cit
les have induced the Old Dominion Steam
ship Co. to New York. the Baltimore
Chesapeake &c Richmond Steamship Co.
to Baltimore, and the Merchants and
Miners TRANSFORMATION Go. to Boston and