The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-11-04
OWNERS OF DOCK
CONFER WITHCITY
Question OF Purchase Discussed
at Special Meeting, Without
Final Action.
BIG ASSET TO RICHMOND
Chamber of Commerce Interested
in Movement to Advance
Shipping Facilities.
BIG ASSET TO RICHMOND

Acquisition of the Richmond dock
by the city was discussed last night
by special committee of the City
reached, the committee adjourning
shortly before midnight to secure be-
Lore another meeting the rock bottom
William II. Trigg Company will dis
pose of the property; the proba5lc cost
Of putting it into working order in
Guiding the rebuilding of the locks
gates ana side walls, and the dredging
out OF the interior. and the probable
use 30 which SUN a canal would be
put. even II made accessible.
a committee from sie Champer of
Commerce. consisting of T. N. Car
rington. John c. Freeman, George
Bryan and f. p; Williams. was seated
mittee consisting of H. X. Pollard, Jr.,
chairman; Frank NJ. Reade and r. Lee
Peters.
Want 100000.
tate agents, informed the committee
That they were empowered to sell the
dock dS,, cas- east Of Seventeenth street TO the
some years ago, when the property had
not been allowed TO dcteriorate so as
to require practical rebuilding, ii was
enered to the Chamber of Commerce
for $l25'oOo; the price at that time in
Guiding valuable property extending
to Fourteenth Street The section
from Fourteenth to Seventeenth is not
exceedingly valuable property, and the
committee believes that a much lower
price should be fixed for that section
east of seventeenth Street, cspeciallv
as all the owners can sell is The land
and certain water power rights guar
anteed by the Chesapeake and Ohio
Railway Company. The land would
be of great value were II not for the
action Of the Corporation Commission
In forbidding the closing of the dock.
making II impossible for the owners
to use the area covered for building
purposes.
River Regulates Freight Rates.
Several members of the chamber
committee spoke at length OH tho
great value of the docl, Ill fostering
| the shipping of Richmond and keepinS
down freight rates illustrs lions being
| drawn In the river rates to this port
OH anthracite coal and on foreign chip
ments of tobacco. Members of the
Council committee asked why these
preferential rates were not fully Sc
cured by the erection of the proposed
wharves on the lower river. and were
told that those We're for the use of
larger vessels only, and that the long
haul from Rockets to the wholesale
section would more than Offset the
difference, making ii vastly preferable
ior inc merchants bringing freight by
inland ways to use small vessels and
come up into the dock 10 Eighteenth
street.
Mr.. Bryan, of the committee. told of
me long litigation which followed the
Slipping through the last Legislature
of bill TO permit of the closing Of
the dock at time when, he stated,
the Richmond delega tion including its
harbormaster, must have been asleep
at the SWITCH" and of the bale man
ner In which that proceeding had been
successfully fought by the City At
torney and others. so as TO practically
hulllfy that act, and produce the order
of the Corporation Commission reauIr-
Would He GInd to SELL
IL was explained that these owners
are bondholders of the defunct TrigE
Company; that they had lost their in
vestment in that enterprise, and had
this AS their only remaining asset, and
that they would be glad TO dispose
or 1t and get out a almost any price
They have spent nothing OIL its upkeeD.
and the dock Of to-day is said to be
almost ruin In view of the fact
mat II utilized. the property would
nave to be almost entirely rebuilt, in :
GLIDING dredging new side walls and
now locks and gates ii was suggested
mat the city had better condemn land
on the river and make u ship basin
OF the old Trigg slip by installing
gates
Members of the chamber committee
promised to compile data showing the
value of the dock to the commerce
of the city; the City Engineer was re-
quested to estimate the cost of such
disable and safe. and Chairman Polla I'd
was authorized to negotiate with the
Trigg bondholders and secure their
rock bottom price on the whole prop
crty, not merely that section east of
seventeenth street offered by the
gents.
Considcr Dock Grcnt Asset,
The chamber committee was unani-
nous in it's opinion that the dock was
a tremendous asset to Richmond and
that IL should be owned and operated
by tho city. and that the development
OF the Atlantic Inland Waterway
scheme would result in u tremendous
increase in the number of small YES
sells suck as could enter the dock
through the lock gates. The members
of the Council committee were not so
optimistic of getting such an appro-
priatlon through the Council.
An interesting feature of the debate
was the statement that if the dock
gates were enlarged the Old Dominion
Steamship Company would bring its
vessels to Eighteenth street The an
swer was that the Old Dominion Com
pany does not own it's present wharf
facilities at Richmond and that the
! city of Richmond was spending about
$1,000 month to drcdSe in front OF
| the Old Dominion wharves TO keen
| them clear of mud deposits No other
| city on the Atlantic seaboard II was
| stated emphatically, dredges for pri-
| waite whnrVes without receiving com
! ton.
n1IaaHr,trO