Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-01-10
WASHINGTON CITY.
THE FORCE gill ANTAooNlzep eY
SILVER FREE COINAGE,
Eneineerv' Reports on Surveys OF North
Carolina water-ways--The Railway
from Hampton 30 Old Point.
IRON Our Regular Correspondent

iFrcrn Our Regular Correspondent,
wAsnneros, January a.--senator Hosr
has about made up his mind 20 try next
veek 10 rescue the infamous force bill from
the ditch into which Il fell last Monday.
He has been trotting around with bis little
paper. hut the canvass of the Republicans
has had to cease because Uncle frisoie"
was .uddenlv called 70 Massachusetts,.
The talk around the Capitol IS that the
force bin is not liable to be taken up a.
long As the Radicals are threatening to
stifle In the House the free coinage OF silver
bill, g..
COINAGE 81 silver know who their friends
are and are well aware Of the tact that Y
they had TO depend on the. gold.ou ana
Radicals behind the fierce bill they con,d
not turn wheel. Neither can tney oe,
mend ON Harrison. He Is their natural
enemy. Old man Hoar may possibly get
Tho force bill ont Of the ditch. but the indi.
cations at this writing are certainly not
favorable enough 10 cause any smiles on
the faces of the Radicals.
The engineer corps made reports To-Day
10 Congress on several surveys and exanli-
tions ordered 10 be made on North Carolina
rivers.
rUSoo RIVER.
CAPTAIN William II. Bxby examined the
waterway from Pungo rver 10 the town
OF Sladesyille. n. G., and he hnds that ~ II
not worthy of improvement. ms oP,Iiio ,
;s concnrred in by Colonel William j. Craig
hill The officers state that Sladesville has
commerce of about $4,000 year, ana IL
the shipping and receiving point Tor the
neighboring country within q rsdius OF
ten miles. This commerce IS shipped
away from Sladesville by bosts OF less
than FIVE feet draught. The dredging ONT
az the branch from SHADES creek TO Siades-
vile (all that needs TO be done IN the
opinion OF the engineer) IS claimed 10 oe
o,os,;on nurely of local benefit and
one whose natural solution would be
that the town, county, or interested ship
ncrs or steamboat lines should either
dredce short canal from the creek 70
their wharves and warehouses or snouiu
move their wharves and warehouses down
10 the side of the creek and build snort
roadway 10 them. For these reasons
cantain Rixbv thinks the waterway should
moi be improved by the United States
Government.
UNWORTHY OF IMPROVEMENT
CAPTAIN Bixby is also of the opinion that
the waterway between Pamlico river ana
Raw river Is unworthy of Improvement.
lie says that the present commerce passing
between Pamlico and Bay rivers Is estl;
mated nj about 1885,. 900. While the canal
from Goose creek TO Jones bay would be
n great convenience, II does not appear
that the commerce would be thereby espe-
cially increased nor the freight charges
especially decreased Under these cir-
cumstances il does not appear that me
canal route Is necessity nor that the
resulting benefits would be proportlonate
10 its cost, The existing longest route be-
tween the two rivers is already deep. wide
and free of distractions; while the shorter
existing routes and any new inland route
are either impracticable or too cosby ID
proportion to the resulting gain 10 COM
mence.
CLOSED FOR FIFTY YEARS.
Az TO Drum inlet. Captain Bixby likewise
finds il unworthy of improvement by the
General Government. He says that this
inlet has been practically closed for the
past fifty years. The advantage of an in-
let at this point. he adds. would be to open
direct communication with the ocean TO
fish and oyster commerce OF iIOm S2OO.OOO
10 1915. 900 per year, and to save
10 each vessel q twenty-five to
forty mile sail 20 the nearest ex-
isting inlets, Ocracoke on the north and
Beaufort on the south. The increase IN
inlet might possibly amount to as much as
SiO0 900 to $l50. COO per year. IL would be
available. however, only to shallOw-draught
fshing-boats. The first cost OF reopening
the inlet would be at least $4,000 for q
ree-feet-depth channel and $4,000 Tor
ten-feet-depth channel. Once opened II
will begin to shoal upagain and practically
be closed by the first heavy storm As tne
benefits would be purely local Captain
Bixby advises Congress not to attempt the
improvement.
TO EXTEND THE TINE.
Representative Bowdcn to-day intro
duced bill in the House to extend the
time for building the Hampton and Old
Point railway from two TO four years. This
is 70 be an electric line, and will be about
three miles in length. Building opera
tons have already been commenced.
but the company cannot complete
the line within the period required
bv the act, and therefore have asked an
extension. IL is said that this line Will pay
pretty well when put in operation, Tor 10
addition to the visitors who are constantly
arriving at the Point, there are I'VE or SIX
hundred vorkmen who live in Hampton
and have TO 90 to Old Point daily.
Mr.. George NJ. Harrison. prominent
LAWYER OF Siaunton, is here on a visit, &C
companied by Mrs. Harrison. He is proml,
nently mentioned as one OF the next
Judges of the Court of Appeals by his
friends. =,
Among Virginia visitors at the Capitol
to-day was Mayor Woods, OF Charlottes
willie.
PosTMAsTERs.
Postmesters for yirginia j. A. Arnold
Dido. King George county. rice w
Owens, resigned; X. J. Mason, Gargatha
Accomac county, rice L. W. Barnes. re
moved: w. Z. Morgan. ouinton, New
Kent county, rice w. d. Gardner. removed
North Carolina. Eugene Adams. Den
yer, Lincoln county. U.oe y: 5. Razzel, re
signed. II. II. Wakefield, Friendship, Gull
ford county, rice ID. Il. Deaner. resigned
w. A. Langston, Nestor. Davie county, no
4. NJ Hendricks, resigned.