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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



France, dueling is habitual. And so, at 

 the very height of the Yorktown cele- 

 bration, one of Virginia's " captains," 

 who had got a national reputation as 

 a candidate for an office iu the United 

 States Senate, was principal in two 

 duels in a single day ; and when he re- 

 turned to Eichmond the same evening, 

 instead of being " publicly Hogged by a 

 nigger," as he ought to have been, he 

 received an " enthusiastic reception." 

 Will the honor of its " chivalry " save 

 the State from the disgrace of repudia- 

 tion? 



Militant ideas being opposed to busi- 

 ness ideas, Virginia presents a case of ar- 

 rested development. The world's be- 

 neficent work is mainly done by private 

 enterprise ; Virginia ideas have not fa- 

 vored this, and so she has been left be- 

 hind in the race of State development. 

 Legislation has been invoked to bring 

 out her splendid resources, but there 

 has still been wanting that vigor of pri- 

 vate effort which can alone give effect 

 to legislative measures. This is well 

 shown in the history of one of her great 

 public works. The project of opening 

 commercial communication with the 

 "West was early entertained by saga- 

 cious Virginians. The distance of the 

 Atlantic from the Ohio Eiver through 

 the valleys of the James and the Ka- 

 nawha, which almost connect at their 

 head-waters in the Alleghanies, is short- I 

 or than by any other route. It was a 

 favorite idea of Washington to open 

 this communication, and he strongly 

 advocated a hill, passed by the Virginia 

 Legislature in 1784, for the improve- 

 ment of the James River, with a view 

 to developing a Western water-commu- 

 nication. This project was worked at 

 in an ineffectual way for a number of 

 years, and in 1832 the James Eiver and 

 Kanawha Company was chartered to 

 construct a canal up the James Valley, 

 and this was opened between Eichmond 

 and Lynchburg in 1840. It was further 

 extended to Buchanan, a distance of 

 one hundred and ninety-seven miles 



from Eichmond, in 1851. Some further 

 work was begun beyond this point, to 

 secure an avenue for through West- 

 ern trade, but the sections beyond were 

 not completed. The work as far as 

 constructed was inadequate, only very 

 small canal-boats being available ; and 

 60, in 1873, Congress was urged to as- 

 sume, enlarge, and extend the work, 

 which, in this era of developing rail- 

 roads, it wisely declined to do. And 

 then, after a hundred years of State ef- 

 forts and the expenditure of ten mill- 

 ion dollars, the undertaking completely 

 broke down, and the dilapidated and 

 useless canal property was offered to 

 anybody gratuitously who would take 

 it and pay its debts. 



A couple of years ago a private com- 

 pany of Northern capitalists came for- 

 ward and took the concern off the hands 

 of the State, and proposed to see what 

 could be done toward carrying out the 

 original plan. They organized the Eich- 

 mond and Alleghany Eailroad Company, 

 and, under the stimulus of intelligent 

 business enterprise, and without a dollar 

 of State aid, two hundred and fifty miles 

 of solid road-bed, laid on the old tow-path 

 as far as it went, with heavy steel rails 

 and numerous iron bridges, were con- 

 structed through the valley of the James 

 Eiver to its head- waters in the Allegha- 

 nies in eighteen months. Seventy miles 

 more will soon be built, connecting the 

 new line with the Ohio Central, which 

 terminates atToledo and the aspiration 

 of Washington will be fulfilled. 



While the military doings at York- 

 town were at their height, absorbing 

 the attention of Virginians, the formal 

 opening of this railroad, replete with 

 all modern improvements and appoint- 

 ments, took place. It was not so strik- 

 ing as the war-show, but it was of far 

 greater moment to the prosperity of the 

 Commonwealth. It was a foreign en- 

 terprise, made possible by free com- 

 merce, and inspired solely by the mer- 

 cenary purpose of making money out 

 of poor old Virginia; yet it was an ele- 



