FARMERS' REGISTER 



543 



the dwollini? house, would add about twenty per 

 cent, to their value, and ofcourse, about one and a 

 halTper cent, to the cost ol'crops as interest. 

 Rcspectluliy, and very truly thy friend, 



ADAM ANTHONY. 



CANALS AND RAILROADS OF VA. 



From Tanner's Hailroads and Canals of llie U. S. 



James River and Kanawha Canal and Railroad. 

 — Tliis woiU is nearly completed, by canal, with 

 some slack-water navigation, between Richmond 

 and Lynchburg, and is under contract between 

 Lyncliburg and the mouth of North river, Rock- 

 bridge county, Virtjinia. Beyond this point it is 

 yet doubtful what direction it may take. One of 

 the plans being to continue the canal to Coving- 

 ton, and thence construct railroad across the Al- 

 legany mountains to the Greenbrier, and thence 

 along tliai stream and the Kanawha, and by way 

 of the valley of the Mud river and the Guyan- 

 dolie, to the Ohio, at the mouth of the latter 

 stream. The other to continue tlie canal only to 

 Buchanan, taking the railroad thence along the 

 valley of Virginia to the New river, and thence 

 down this river and the Kanawha to the point of 

 divergence to the valley of the Mud river and the 

 Guyandotle, as above. The latter rout seems to 

 be prelerable, not only by its greater natural facili- 

 ties, but because (he position of the railroad be- 

 tween Buchanan and the New river would, whilst 

 constituting a part of the great western commu- 

 nication of the state, be at the sarne lime so much 

 done of its south western railroad, a work promis- 

 ing perhaps to the coramonvvealth even greater 

 advantages than its connexion with the Kanawha 

 and Ohio, inasmuch as it would reach a trade not 

 competed lor by the lines of improvement through 

 Pennsylvania and Maryland, and which might, 

 therefore, be secured en'irely to Virginia. What- 

 ever direction the James and Kanawha line of 

 improvement may take, it is to be hoped, for the 

 welfare of the s;ate, that its great south-western 

 railroad will not be long delayed. As soon as 

 it shall be completed, it may be expected to pour 

 into the canal an immense trade, and to convey on 

 it a very great travel ; and until it is efi'ecled, the 

 state can scarcely be expected to derive from her 

 investment in the canal, an amount of reventae to 

 justify her expenditure in its construction. 



The whole length of the James and Kanawha 

 canal and railroad, when completed to the Ohio, 

 will be about 425 miles, that of the proposed South- 

 western railroad from Buchanan to the Tennessee 

 line, about 160 miles. 



Dismal Swamp Cano?— extends from Deep creek, 

 a tributary of Chesapeake Bay, to Joice's creek, 

 a branch of Pasquotank river, of Albemarle Sound; 

 length 23 miles ; 46 (eet wide, 6^ deep ; at inter- 

 vals of a quarter of a mile, the canal is widened 

 to 60, for turn-out stations ; 6 locks, 100 by 20 feet; 

 summit level 16| feet above the Atlantic at mid 

 tide. Two lateral canals, one from Lake Drum- 

 mond, 5 miles in length, which, in addition to its 

 uses for the purposes of navigation serves as a 

 feeder to the main trunk ; and the othor 6 miles 

 long, opens a communication between the princi- 



pal canal, and the head waters of North-West 

 river. 



The navigation of the Roanoke, Rivanna and 

 Slate rivers, has been partially improved by means 

 of dams and locks. Companies have been incorpo- 

 rated lor the purpose of improving the navigation of 

 the Shenandoah, Catawba, Nottoway, Upper Ban- 

 nisier, Tuckahoe and South Anna, Coal, Smith's, 

 Cowpasture, Goose, North Anna and Pamun- 

 key rivers. 



KAILnOADS. 



The principal works of tins description in the 

 state are the Richmond and Fredericksburg, Rich- 

 mond and Petersburg, and Petersburg and Roa- 

 noke railroads, immediately on the line of northern 

 and southern travel through the state, and consti- 

 tuting portions of the great northern and southern 

 line of communication so rapidly progressing to 

 completion between New York and New Orleans. 

 When Virginia shall have completed the railroad 

 between Fredericksburir and the Potomac, and 

 connected the roads at Richmond and Petersburg, 

 she will have done every thing that can reasonably 

 be expected for her in lacilitating the traveller on 

 this important line of thoroughfare. A railroad 

 between Washington and the termination of the 

 Richmond and Fredericksburg railroad on the 

 Potomac would still be required to prevent the in- 

 terruption which now exists, when the Potomac 

 is frozen; but such a work seems to be rather 

 an object of national than of state concern, or at 

 all events one in which the national government, 

 so deeply interested in its execution, may reason- 

 ably be expected to co-operate with Virginia to- 

 wards its construction. The followinnr details in 

 relation to the works above named, will probably 

 be of interest. 



Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Rail- 

 road. This work lies in Henrico, Caroline and 

 Spottsylvania counties, between Richmond and 

 Fredericksburg. It is 61 miles long, and when 

 extended to the Potomac, at the mouth of Aquia 

 creek, (at which point it is proposed to terminate 

 it,) will be 75 miles long. It has on it several fine 

 bridges at the crossings of the North and South 

 Anna rivers, Little river, and Chickahominy, and 

 will pass the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg by 

 a bridge forty leet high and 600 feet long, and 

 Potomac creek by a bridge three hundred feet 

 in length and seventy feet high. The grades 

 and curves of the road are in general favora- 

 ble ; the sharpest of the latter being about 2000 

 feet radius, and the maximum graduation, with 

 a single exception near Fredericksburg, (where 

 a grade of fijrty-five feet was necessary,) be- 

 ing about thirty feet per mile. The execution 

 of the work is, with the exception of the super- 

 structure, highly substantial. The superstructure 

 is of the ordinary wooden rail, plated with iron, 

 in general use in the south, and recommended on 

 diis and most other southern roads by the cheap- 

 ness of timber and motives of economy. When 

 the travel on this road, which is increasing very 

 rapidly, shall have become larger, the company 

 will prodably find it to their advantage to lay 

 down heavy iron rails the whole length of their 

 road. With this addition it would be one of the 

 best, as it promises to be one of the most produc- 

 tive, in the countrj^. 



The whole cost of the Richcr.onJ and Fre- 



