USA > Virginia > City of Richmond > City of Richmond > Virginia, especially Richmond, in by-gone days; with a glance at the present: being reminiscences and last words of an old citizen > Part 17
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Mothers of America ! teach your children Wash- ington from the pages of Marshall, of Sparks, and the yet more attractive ones of Irving, but not from those who had not the soul to appreciate him!
Can disorganizers and politicians by trade, read the Farewell Address of Washington, without a blush of shame ?
To descend to the subject of our chapter-the James River Navigation Company was chartered with a capital of $100,000. On the 20th Octo- ber, 1785, the stockholders met and elected George Washington President ; John Harris, David Ross, William Cabell and Edmund Randolph, Directors.
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Washington declined the active Presidency, be- cause he could not give it his personal attention, and Mr. Randolph acted as President pro tem. In 1789 he was appointed Attorney General of the United States, and William Foushee was elected President, which office he retained till 1818, when he was succeeded by J. G. Gamble, whose successor was W. C. Nicholas in 1819, and in 1820 a new charter was granted, subject to the assent of the stockholders under the old one. The capital ex- pended up to that time was $140,000, and the profits in addition increased the amount to $234,000- for the relinquishment of which and of their char- ter the stockholders were to receive an annuity of 15 per cent. on the capital of $140,000.
The narrative must however recede to give it continuity. On the 29th December, 1789, the members of the Legislature were invited to take a trip up the canal and through the locks. The canal was then opened from Westham to Broad Rock, a short distance above the city. In 1795 the canal was completed to the head of the Basin, and in November, 1800, the water was let into it.
The principle of rotation in office does not seem to have prevailed in those days. Perhaps the loaves were lighter or the fishes smaller than in later ones. Be this as it may, Dr. Foushee retained the office more than a score of years. Robert Pollard filled and fulfilled the offices of
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Treasurer and Secretary for thirty years, to May, 1823, and Hezekiah Mosby performed strictly and correctly the duties of toll-gatherer for thirty-seven years, terminating with 1830.
As the charter of the Company required a con- nection of the canal with tide-water, a contract was entered into with one Ariel Cooley, a cute, uneducated, but practical man, (at least as far as Ariel was interested) for the construction of thir- teen locks between the Basin and Mayo's Bridge, for the sum of $49,000. A large excavation was required to be made along the descent of the hill, which Cooley estimated at about $9,000. He stipulated for the use of the water in the Basin, if he required it ; and he did put it in requisition to some purpose. He cut a small ditch along the centre of the line which the locks were to occupy, and opened a sluice into it from the Basin. A rapid and increasing sluice it was. In some twenty-four hours the water had wrought the $9,000 worth of excavation, and the only diffi- culty was to prevent its "helping over much." It had wrought an opening for the upper navi- gation and a contrary effect on the lower one, by washing an immense quantity of earth into the river, making work for another Cooley.
The whole work was executed in the most econo- mical and temporary manner ; a few boats passed the locks, after which they became locks without
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keys or hinges, and the gates were never more opened. The upper chambers had to be filled with clay to prevent the escape of water from the Basin, and when the present splendid locks were con- structed, which were opened in 1854, the rubble stone and some of the timber of their predecessors were removed.
The canal as originally constructed was navi- gated by open batteaux, carrying ten or twelve hogsheads of tobacco, and the river was rendered navigable by dams and sluices as far as Lynchburg. The continuous canal of increased capacity for boats of sixty tons, was opened to Lynchburg in 1841. It now extends sixty-five miles further to Craig's Creek nearly, and it requires a further extension of twenty-nine miles, and an expenditure of about as many hundred thousand dollars to reach Covington, its western terminus, unless it be prac- ticable to reach the Kanawha.
The cost of the work executed has thus far been $10,437,000, and the estimate of that to be executed, is about $13,000,000.
Besides the State subscription to capital stock of $3,000,000, she has loaned $3,352,000, and guaranteed $2,260,000, and the Company is otherwise in debt, about $400,000. As this statement presents a hopeless aspect for the progress of the work, or the payment of the debt, the Legislature has granted most liberal relief, by increasing the stock of the Company to $12,400,000, taking it at par, (tho' it has but a nominal value at present) to the amount of her loans and guaranties, and also of the annuity to the old stockholders and the floating debt,
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in all 74,000 shares or $7,400,000. The Company is also author- ized to borrow at 7 per cent., $2,500,000 for completing the canal to Covington. In addition to all this, the State agrees to place under the exclusive control of the Kanawha Board, the sum of $300,000 in 6 per cent. State stock, for the improvement of the navigation of Kanawha River. May the result of all be propitious.
It was the first canal commenced in the United States. It is to be hoped it will not be the last one to be finished.
CHAPTER XXX.
ROADS.
THERE has been a wonderful change in the facilities and the mode of transportation from the interior, during the period embraced in these reminiscences. At the early dates referred to in them, McAdam had not broken a stone; turnpikes bore the highest rank in furnishing the tracks for travel or trade, but not a turnpike road entered Richmond, and the natural ones (so called) were almost impassable in wet seasons and in winter, when the farmers were most at leisure to send their crops to market.
The Brook Turnpike, towards the north, was the first one constructed; then north-westwardly the 26
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Richmond Turnpike, in the line of Broad street ; the Westham, in the direction its name indicates, and lastly, the Mechanicsville, north-eastwardly ; but neither of these extended beyond eight or ten miles, and some of them soon acquired the name of mud pikes, the demand of toll being the only dis- tinction by which to know them from county roads.
Railroads have fortunately been substituted for some of them, and the experiment of plank roads recently tried on others, but it is a doubtful one, for already it is proposed to substitute gravel for timber on one, while the reverse has just been adopted on another road.
The substitution of railroads offers an immense facility to the farmers, at the expense of the stock- holders, who are receiving little or no profit on their outlay. The travelling community also de- rive great facilities from them, and it has increased so much, that as many cars carrying fifty passen- gers each are now required, as there were formerly of stage coaches carrying nine passengers each ; but some of our most important railroads have only one end to them in a practical and profitable sense, for they do not connect with important lines of rail, west or south-west. * They are like neigh-
* The Virginia & Tennessee Railroad and extensions West have removed the barrier, and New Orleans is but three days from Richmond. In 1815, it was three weeks. Dividends also begin to appear .- 1860.
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borhood roads on an extended scale, and they must extend their arms further, to reach those ready to meet them, and then in their joint embrace they will include the regions from the Mississippi to the Chesapeake ; but the log-rolling system of Virginia has diverted her energies from the completion of any one useful work, to partial operations on a great number, many of which are antago- nistic, and others, if completed, would scarcely be profitable.
The travel and transportation on our railways are small, compared with those north and west of us. We have no large cities to create a great local travel, nor any connection with the Western States to furnish an extensive traffic. We waste our energies on various local improvements, instead of carrying out one or two grand extensions.
P. S. 1860 .- The railways which commence at Richmond, are 1st, the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac. 2d, the Central, which extends west, and will soon reach the White Sulphur Springs on its way to the Ohio, which it will not soon reach. By means of the Orange and Alexan- dria road, the Central connects with Lynchburg and the great West, and also with the northern cities. 3d, the Richmond and Petersburg road, con- necting with Norfolk, and the entire south and west. 4th, the Richmond and Danville road, connecting by the South-side road with Lynchburg
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and thence to the great West, north and south. 5th, the York River road, now near completion-a great desideratum to the lovers of fish and oysters, and the salt-water bath.
Petersburg commenced the first great railway enterprise in Virginia, by constructing her road to the Roanoke, whence it now connects intermi- nably with the south and west. 2d, the South- side to Lynchburg, thence by the Virginia and Tennessee road it has a continued line to New Orleans, the lakes and everywhere. 3d, the Petersburg and Norfolk road, from which latter place the traveller may go by land or water to both extremities north or south. Alexandria is extend- ing, and Fredericksburg is commencing her roads. There are many other projects which will die in the bud or be slow to expand.
After two such dry chapters, I advise the reader to take a drink, if he is awake. If he is a stockholder, I fear he has not enjoyed the perusal of either.
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CHAPTER XXXI.
THE BRIDGES AND MANCHESTER.
MAYO's bridge, at the Richmond end, and as far as the toll-house on the island, was, I am told, originally constructed of large logs, raft-like, spiked to the rocks, with a rough floor laid on the logs, and from the island to the Chesterfield side, a bridge of boats was thrown.
The log system was soon abandoned, (I wish the log-rolling system was,) as each freshet threat- ened, or effected its demolition; but the boats floated a number of years, and were very popular with anglers.
What with one change or another, with the destruction or decay of one portion, while another was being repaired or renewed, the bridge was in the hands of workmen through two generations, and the work was completed when the third came in possession. On one occasion, when the floor of the bridge had been taken up for repair, and the large sleepers remained, the keeper of the toll- gate on the island was aroused one dark night, and to his astonishment, found not only a man but
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also a horse waiting to pass. "For God's sake, how did you get here ?" he asked. "By the bridge, to be sure; how else should I?" replied Isham Randolph. "No other man could have done it," said the toll-taker ; "the floor is taken up." " Well," said Mr. R., "floor or no floor, I rode here, and now I'll pay my toll." "Pass on, Mr. Randolph ; I wont take toll from a man who rides where there is no bridge." A wonderful instance of courage and steadiness on the part of the horse ; as to the rider, he was fearless also, and a man of great muscular strength and power of endurance. He would occasionally take a walk from Eastern Virginia to West Tennessee, and he bore arms under Jackson in some of his Indian fights-being a man after his own heart.
Mayo's bridge had a formidable competitor in " Coutts's Ferry," a more ancient establishment, the proprietor of which long resisted the grant to Mayo for the erection of a bridge, on the ground that it would be a violation of his rights. Finding opposition useless, he at length withdrew it, saying : "Let him build the bridge, if he can, but he will be ruined first."
Col. Mayo was indefatigable in his efforts, but lacked the means to erect a permanent work, and moreover the science of bridge-building was not then understood or not acted on. A writer in the Southern Literary Messenger, who seems to know,
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states that Col. Mayo was frequently arrested and placed within the prison bounds from inability to meet his engagements ; his expenditures on other objects than his bridge absorbed so large a portion of his means.
The ferry landing was on "the Sandy Bar," at the end of Eighteenth street, and the ferry was kept up for many years after the bridge was con- structed ; indeed, it could not have been dispensed with, as the bridge was very often impassable-be- sides which, the charge of six and a quarter cents for each person, horse, and wheel, was so heavy, that by accepting a lower rate of toll the ferry at- tracted much of the travel.
At that period, the resort of shad and herrings to James river was much greater than now. Coutts had a fishery as well as a ferry, and he once crossed the river without the aid of either boat or bridge in real Triton style.
A large sturgeon caught in the seine, and hauled to the water's edge, was on the point of returning to it, when Coutts made a simultaneous leap with his captive, alighted on his back, and fixed his hands in the gills. Off they went together. The fish could not stay under water, nor could he dis- mount his rider, who piloted his nose towards the opposite shore. A speedy and successful voyage they made. Had Coutts been a Barnum he would have kept his sturgeon in training, and added
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others, so as to have formed a team; harnessed them to a car of Neptune, and rode the waves triumphant.
When Coutts was on his death bed, he received a message from an old crony who was ill also, re- questing Coutts to wait a few days and they would go together. The reply was, "When Patrick Coutts is ready, he waits for no man." It became a proverb.
The progress of shad and herrings up the river has been so much intercepted by the numerous floating and other seines lower down or by some other cause, that few comparatively pass up the falls. Formerly, during the fishing season, the rocks in the falls were alive with fishermen casting their nets in the sluices, and catching the finest shad-such as had strength to stem the torrent of several miles continuance. It was a beautiful sight in May, when the vegetation on the islands had assumed its delicate green, and the flowers, shrubs and trees were in bloom, to see each rock tenanted by a fisherman.
On one occasion this scene was awfully changed. It was a beautiful May morning, and there were an unusual number of fishermen on the rocks in every part of the river above Mayo's Bridge. Suddenly, without the slightest previous indication or warn- ing, the river rose so rapidly that all had to run for their lives. Swimming was in a very few
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places practicable. A great number of the men were partially immersed before they were aware of it, and their access to the shore cut off. As the water rose, the poor fellows might be seen clinging to the rocks, and presently a huge log would be borne along by the current, strike against one of them, break his hold, and perhaps a limb, and sweep him down the rapids against the rocks in his descent. Another more expert, would be saved by seizing on the floating tree or log and descend with it to smooth water. The cries and supplica- tions of the distressed victims were drowned by the roaring of the waters, but not disregarded. Boats and ropes were obtained, and some daring and skill- ful men attempted by shoving off from the shore some distance above, to float down near enough to cast a line to the fishermen-but in vain, with very few exceptions. The rapid current took possession of the boat, and all that its occupants could do was to direct its course so as not to be swamped them- selves.
This awful scene lasted many hours. It was chiefly on the Manchester side, and the river bank was thronged with spectators, viewing the sufferers, without the means of rescue-but among them were agonized wives and children watching the rising and raging flood which would in a few moments overwhelm the one dearest to them.
The number known to have perished, was about
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twenty. No rain in this part of the country had preceded the flood, which was caused by a most violent one some distance above, raising the streams instantly, which swept away mill-dams in their course.
Trent's bridge, erected about 1815, in the rapids, by spiking the timbers to the natural rock- work, was a short-lived structure; but it was intended by its enterprising projector merely to precede a permanent one, and he commenced quar- rying granite for the purpose, but his efforts were arrested, first by lack of means, and then by death. Just above its site now looms the high Petersburg Railroad bridge, awful to timid passengers. A short distance above Mayo's, the Danville Rail- road bridge, or rather bridges, span the river from island to island, by four successive leaps.
I introduce the bridges with the intention of taking my readers beyond them to the town of Manchester, originally designated Rocky Ridge, a more appropriate name, as was Bellehaven for Alexandria .* Virginia and New York have been peculiarly injudicious and deficient in taste in their nomenclature. New York was ridiculously classi- cal; her Surveyor General made Lempriere's Clas-
* Alexandria and Balaclava have borne the same name, ac- cording to some etymologists of the latter, who derive it from Bella Chiava, the beautiful haven of the Genoese, as Alexan- dria was originally called Belle Haven.
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sical Dictionary his vade mecum; and as he laid off the western portion of the State, he labeled his maps with the names of ancient poets, philoso- phers, orators, cities and countries, in the most indiscriminate manner-bringing Syracuse, Man- lius, Jordan, Rome, Delphi and Tully into a queer proximity, such as their original owners never dreamed of; and Virginia almost abjectly loyal, must have made the Court Calendar her guide ; instead of retaining as far as practicable the In- dian names, all the royal families of successive reigns, and many of the nobility were put in requisition, to furnish names by which to distin- guish her counties, rivers and towns. Anne seems to have been a great favorite, for we have Princess Anne, Urbanna, Rivanna, Fluvanna, North Anna, South Anna, and Rapid Ann-resigning to Mary- land Queen Ann and Annapolis. Elizabeth was not neglected, nor Charles, nor James, but their counties were dubbed cities. Why? I should like to know. The most glaring and unjust usurpation of a name (and which ought even now to be restored to its original monarch), was the depriving of Pow- hatan, the patron of the Virginia weed, of the name of the river which watered his own domin- ions, and conferring on it that of the " learned fool" King James, who wrote the counterblast against tobacco.
In this tirade against the misapplication of
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names, I have wandered from Manchester's rocky ridge, and will return from the digression. This town, which is now in the course of resurrection, was once a place of considerable trade. Several wealthy British commercial houses had establish- ments there, and imported large quantities of goods. Three tobacco inspections received five or six thousand hogsheads of tobacco; a flour mill was in operation, and Manchester felt herself a rival of Richmond. So she might have been, and a powerful one too (according to tradition), but for the selfish and narrow-minded policy of one of her richest merchants. When the James River Canal was projected, an engineer who made the survey for its connection with tide-water, reported that the best route for the terminus of the canal and for the required connection, was on the south side and through the town of Manchester, and his report was submitted to the Legislature.
A wealthy Scotch merchant believed that if the canal was brought to Manchester, it would induce many merchants to establish themselves there, and create competition for the trade, which was then in few hands. He therefore retained Patrick Henry with a large fee, to oppose the adoption of the pro- posed route of the canal, and if he did not show his judgment in opposing the improvement, he did in the selection of his counsel, for Henry suc- ceeded in diverting the canal to the Richmond side,
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THE BRIDGES AND MANCHESTER.
and his client lived to see the folly of his selfish policy. One by one the merchants of Manchester removed to Richmond, and Mr. L. was "left alone in his glory," to retail the old remnants from his shelves, with no inducement to replenish them.
Manchester continued to decline until no trade remained, but its great command of water power, its cheap property and its comparative exemption from taxes, began to revive it after some years.
It now contains two extensive cotton mills, two flour mills of large size, a foundry, a machine-shop, and several large tobacco factories, and the town in its corporate capacity having a right to half the water-power of James River, can furnish an addi- tional number of mill-sites. Its ruinous old houses are being vamped up and new ones built, and should it obtain a communication with Richmond, untaxed by tolls, it will probably attract many residents to its handsome hills and heights, and mechanics to occupy the streets below them.
Having introduced a freshet, I will conclude this chapter with a
A DROUGHT AND A SNAKE STORY.
In the year 1804 or '5 an unprecedented drought prevailed in Virginia. The small streams in the country were nearly or quite dried up, and scarcely any mills could grind between the Roanoke and 27
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James rivers. Only one in Manchester and one in Richmond were at work, and these were flour mills ; but "necessity has no law," or rather, necessity resorted to law, and insisted that not only one pair, or two pairs of stones, should be employed as usual in grinding meal, but as many pairs as were required to give dispatch to applicants.
Wagons thronged to the mill at Manchester from a distance of fifty or sixty miles, and the vacant grounds in the vicinity were covered with their encampments. The people of the country were starving in the midst of plenty. It was distressing to see them "waiting for their turns at mill," according to the rule "first come, first served." Some would feed away to their teams, half their corn, before their turn came to get the other half ground. Slow as the process of "beating hominy" is, it was a great resource, as was the eating of it for lack of hoecake.
James river. was then so low as to permit pleasant promenading in the falls, but for the rugged or rounded surface of the rocks, and active persons could cross it dry shod.
It was curious to see how the solid granite had been worn away and bored into holes from the size of a hat to that of a hogshead, by the action of the pebbles, from small to large, which had been rolled down in freshets, and lodging in fissures would there revolve by the action of the water,
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until both the active and passive rocks had worn each other away, and the debris was lodged at Sandy bar. A larger pebble would be washed into the cavity formed by a small one, and so on ad infinitum, or until the granite was entirely worn 7 away. In some places it was evident that two or more neighboring cavities had been worn until they united and formed one, of irregular shape and of great size. In many of them the active agent could be seen, resembling a cannon ball. This abrasion of the rocks has been very great, but I will not undertake to calculate when they will be entirely worn away. The sand market will continue to be supplied until then from this great mill of Nature's construction. It is very curious to take a walk on the northern shore of Belle Isle when the river is low. One can look across to the Richmond side without seeing a drop of water, but only billows of rocks, between which it flows in deeply worn channels.
A truthful old friend told me, that in the course of a walk near the spot I have mentioned, on a spring morning, he saw a pyramid or rather a large ball of snakes, so coiled and entwined together as to form one mass, the heads of all projected to the exterior, forming a living head of Medusa. He dared not approach for fear of dissolving the union and of being attacked by the separate members.
ยท
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CHAPTER XXXII.
BANKS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES.
THE reader need not fear that he is to be bored with an essay on banks. As a piece of news to most of my readers, I will state that there was a bank established in Virginia before the Revolution, the first no doubt in America, called the " Virginia James River Bank." The engraved form of the notes was not adapted to that in which they were issued, as is shown by the following copy of one that I have seen. The written portion, most of it interlined, is here printed in italics :
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