Viewing page 245 of 291

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

(5.)

ingredients to give them consistency & permanence.

By the partial draining of certain Lakes in the Eastern part of the same state, alluvial Lands on their margin have been laid dry, of more value than the cost of the work. Is there not more of the same work yet to be done?

4. The Tenessee is a noble river, navigable through near 800 miles of its length.

Some 300 miles above its mouth are the Rapids known as the 'Muscle Shoals.' A Railroad now forms the missing link between the navigation above & below; but this must be a most inadequate substitute for a continuous & homogenous  mode of conveyance. A canal was once made around these falls; but probably from insufficient depth; or imperfect construction, it has been abandoned to decay.  Should it not be re-opened on a larger scale & more permanent plan; so as to admit the passage of steamboats of heavy burden at all seasons?

5. Should there not also be a ship canal across the Isthmus of Florida?  More than thirty years since, a Report was made to Congress on this subject which stated, that up to that time, the loss of property by shipwreck from the dangers of the navigation around that coast, & the consequent increase of insurance, would more than suffice to have constructed such a work.  Its benefits would not be less now, than then; & from the greater experience of the Country, the work could be entered on with better hopes of success.

6-8. Other improvements,- promotive of the immediate interests of the State, but of consequential benefit to the whole country, -would be: Draining the Everglades & other swamp-lands in its interior.- The construction of a Railroad through its entire length from North to South: -The closing of some of the passes between the narrow islands which skirt its Eastern coast; Hereby assisting the Ocean-Tide, in its influx, to deepen others; the which inlets would furnish approaches to towns to be built at convenient points on the opposite mainland.
   
To show that these improvements are of national importance, it is sufficient to
   

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-01-22 10:26:32 alluvial: made up of sand and earth left by rivers, floods, etc.: an alluvial plain homogeneous: consisting of parts all of the same kind. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-01-22 13:10:56