472 FARMERS' REGISTER— VIEW OF PUBLIC WORKS, &c. IN VIRGINIA. 



country, and thus test by experiment, the propriety 

 of entering: upon a jjeneral system of improvement. 

 This phm will accompany the report l^eibre alluded 

 to, and the importance of the subject, will insure 

 for it a favorable consideration. 



This re<jion of marshes is represented by the 

 engineers who have explored it, as spreadino- over 

 a surface of two millions and a half of acres, three 

 fifths of which is the exclusive property of the 

 state. Some of the most intclliiieut, enterprising 

 and well governed members of the confederacy, 

 have their little republics confined by narrower 

 limits. It constitutes a twentieth of our own soil 

 in extent, and perliaps an eighth in fertility. It is 

 not only without productive value in its present 

 condition, but is probably more than all other 

 causes, the source of disease, rendering life uncom- 

 fortable and insecure; and thus blighting the pros- 

 perity of the fairest portion of the state. I believe 

 that no doubts exist among those acquainted with 

 the subject, of the practicability of reclaiming 

 these pestilential wastes, and rendering them abodes 

 of plenty and comparative healthfulness. The 

 effect of all our previous legislation, has been to 

 lock them up from individual appropriation, with- 

 out making any effort to improve them. 



KXTRACT FROM GOVERNOR FLOYn's MES- 

 SAGE, TO THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIR- 

 GINIA, DEC. 2, 1833. 



General vieic of Public Works in J-lrginia. — Geo- 

 logical researches recommended. 



I cannot refrain from bringing to your notice 

 once more, the subject of the improvement of the 

 James and Kanawha rivers, and the construction 

 of a rail road from the Ohio river to some suitable 

 point on the James river. I have so often presented 

 the subject to your view and consideration, that 

 little else can be urged, than what heretofore has 

 met your view. So far as at present advised, the 

 scheme of accomplishing that great work by a 

 joint stock company, which is truly national in its 

 character, has again failed ; which seems to enjoin 

 it upon the state to accomplish it upon her own 

 resources, and reap the rich reward in the receipt 

 of the profits of the tolls, which, in a few years, 

 will more than equal the total revenue of this go- 

 vernment, and will enable the general assembly 

 to abolish every tax. The canal of New York 

 yields now nearly a million of dollars annually (o 

 the state, though, for several months in the year, it 

 is wholly closed by the ice, and the inclemency of 

 the winter ; an inconvenience we rarely ever feel 

 on this line; besides its being the shortest route to 

 that rich country, to obtain the products of which, 

 our sister states have already expended sums of 

 money, more than sufficient to have accomplished 

 the object by our route. 



The country lying to the south west is of such 

 growing importance, and the trade with the states 

 in that direction of such increasing value, that a 

 rail road from some point of the James river to the 

 Tennessee line is earnestly recommended. Though 

 the numl)er of tons annually transmitted u|)on this 

 road may not equal that to the Ohio river, yet the 

 products will be of so much greater value, that 

 the commerce of the state will be not less bene- 

 fitted. 



It is commerce we need — commerce will enrich 

 any country, though the soil be indifferent ; but | 



when both fertility of soil and a brisk commerce 

 are had, by timely and judicious regulations and 

 improvements, the prosperity of our citizens is 

 secure beyond interruption; since no outlet to the 

 sea from so extensive an interior will be so short 

 as our own. New channels of commerce are 

 sought, only because the old do not afford the ade- 

 quate supplies; and it is well known to the mer- 

 cantile world, that the more abundant and certain 

 the supply in commerce, the more certain the 

 market — and generally affording a more advanced 

 pi'ice. These improvements would enable the 

 state to occupy the flour markets at an earlier 

 period than other grain growing states, from the 

 early harvests ; and would also bring into culture 

 much fine soil, well adapted to the growth of tobac- 

 co. It cannot have escaped the observation of any, 

 that the inequality of the wealth of the different 

 parts of the state is the result of a contiguity to 

 market, afforded by nature in giving the one beau- 

 tiful bays and rivers open to the sea, and suited to 

 vessels engaged in the trade of the ocean, whilst 

 the other contributes little, from the expense of 

 sending their products to market in the present 

 condition of the roads. 



Nothing can more clearly demonstrate the cer- 

 tain results whicli must ensue from the completion 

 of these works, than what is well known from the 

 effects w hich have been produced upon a long line 

 of rail road, already completed by the enterprising 

 citizens of Petersburg, from that place to VVeldon, 

 a distance of fifty-nine miles. That work was 

 undertaken and finished in a shorter space of time 

 than almost any other, and the whole amount of 

 subscription paid up as promptly as desired. Steam 

 cars are daily employed to transport the products 

 of the country near this road, which is now the 

 grand rail road of the state. Lands are brought 

 into cultivation, and fields which have heretofore 

 been abandoned as worthless, are beginning to con- 

 tribute something to enlarge the trade and comforts 

 of the peoj)le, by a better system of culture, en- 

 couraged by the facilities of that road. Formerly, 

 days, and in the soft weather of the early spring, 

 a week was consumed in carrying their tobacco 

 and cotton to market, with all the concomitant ex- 

 penses of hands, horses and wagons, whicli is now 

 performed in four or five hours. 



The enterprise of Portsmouth has been awak- 

 ened to her interest, and a rail road has been deter- 

 mined upon from that place to the same point where 

 the Petersburg rail road terminates; and many 

 miles of road, as we are informed, are in a state 

 of rapid improvement, and will doubtless share 

 j'our favor and attention. 



On a former occasion I brought to the notice of 

 the general assembly, the importance of a rail road 

 from this city to Fredericksburg, which time has 

 fully demonstrated to be necessary. By a well 

 constructed rail road, the entire communication 

 through the state, presently by uniting it with the 

 Petersburg rail road, would be made complete, and 

 can be done at a small expense. The ground over 

 which the road to Fredericksburg must pass, is 

 adapted to an improvement of this kind, and will 

 require but little excavation ; and that in a soil not at 

 all difficult to remove, and may, in a very few years 

 be ready for the transportation of commodities and 

 of persons. This improvement is viewed as of 

 great importance in the completion of the chain of 

 improvements through the lower country, where 



