F ^•54 by the Sea. ff FACT AIVID No. 2. FIGUREIS ABOUT V / NORFOL-K, VA ISSUeO SV THE CHAMBER OF COM MERGE Class Book hl^fi i3. The City by the Sea. FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT NORFOLK No. 2. Issued by the Chamber of Commerce. NORFOLK, VA, z^ Chamber ok Comivierce, ISIORF"OI_K, VA. Organized Deoeniber 2Txh, 1888. Past Officers of the Board. 1890 1891 1889. President, I St Vice-President, 2d Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary and Superintendent, President, I St Vice-President, 2d Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary and Superintendent, President, ist Vice-President, . 2d Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary and Superintendent, President, 1st Vice-President, . 2d Vice-President, Treasurer, Secretary and Superintendent, Officers and Board President, .... I St Vice-President, 2d Vice-President, . Treasurer, Secretary and Superintendent, 1892. R. A. DoBiE, H. Hodges, A. Myers, John L. Roper, W. T. Walke, Clerk, board. O. E. Edwards W. Lane Kelly, Barton Myers R. W. Stirfs, R. H. Wright William Lamb J. J. Phillips James T. Borum Washington Taylor Samuel R. Borum William Lamb . James T. Borum H. Hodges Washington Taylor Samuel R. Borum J. W. Perry H. Hodges . Geo W. Taylor Washington Taylor Samuel R. Borum . H. Hodges Geo. W. Taylor E. B. Merritt ' Washington Taylor Samuel R. Borum FOR 1893. William Lamb N. M. Osborne . T. F. Rogers Washington Taylor Samuel R. Borum M. Glennan, B. P. Loyall, J. W. McCarrick, M. Umstadter, J. P. Williams, Kemper J. Hankins. 0£C & fonft *rHB CIXY BY XHK SBA. Away back in the year 1607, on the 26th day of April, the foot of the first Englishman made its imprint on the sands at Cape Henry, one of the guardian capes of the Chesapeake. This man was Cap. John Smith, who, with his companions, landed there and unsealed and examined their instructions, given them by King James, then on the throne of England. About fifteen days thereafter the same party landed at James- town, about fifty miles up the James river, and the first permanent English settlement was begun in America. Time passed, and the first political divisions, of which we have authentic record, was the division of the eastern portion of Vir- ginia into eight shires, corresponding to counties. THE COUNTY OF NORFOLK was one of the early political divisions, named from a county of the same name in England. In the year 1705 Norfolk was incorporated as a town. It had quite an extended existence prior to this date, but its official life dates from this last-named date. It is located at the jun6lion of the two branches of the Eliza- beth river, which, uniting, forms the harbor of Norfolk, than which there is no finer or safer one in America. This inner harbor opens out, by means of the Elizabeth river, into HAMPTON ROADS, a distance of three miles away. It is doubtful if this latter harbor (Hampton Roads) has its equal either in the Old or the New World. As regards the depth of water, twenty -eight feet can be car- ried into and on through our inner harbor, and thirty feet can be carried up to Lambert's Point, the coahng station of the Norfolk & Western R. R., while in Hampton Roads the water reaches as high as fifty to sixty feet in depth. In regard to Norfolk and surrounding country, Capt. John Smith, at a very early day, puts himself on record in these words : rv. ■*' Heaven and earth never agreed better to frame a place for man's habitation. " Later on we have the TESTIMONY OF COMMODORE MAURY, that noted geographer of the seas, who says : " Naturally, and both in a geographical and military point of view, Norfolk, with Hampton Roads, at the mouth of the Chesapeake bay, as its lower harbor, and San Francisco, inside of the Golden Gate, in California, occupy — one on the Pacific, the other on the Atlantic — the most important maritime positions that lie within the domains of the United States. Each holds the commanding point on its sea front ; each has the finest harbor on its coast, and each with the most convenient ingress and egress for ships — each as safe from wind and wave as shelter can make them. Nor is access to either ever interrupted by the frosts of winter. In the harbors of each there is room to berth, not only all the ships of commerce, but the navies of the world also." These advantages of deep water and safe harbor, and the near proximity of the same to the open sea, (only fifteen miles) has resulted in the rapid development of the commerce of this port. POPULATION OF NORFOLK proper will reach 45,000, while on the entire harbors there is fully So,ooo inhabitants. The city is so located as to fall the natural heir to the trade of Eastern North Carolina, and Virginia — a territory of fully 50,000 square miles. In this immense field, Norfolk has the commercial supremacy, to such an extent as to make her almost sole heir. Trade Area. — The local wholesale and retail trade of Norfolk has a territory embracing, besides the immediate vicinity, the entire tidewater se6lions of Virginia and the eastern portion of North Car- olina, the most fertile region of the State in which cotton is largely cultivated. Several branches of trade have a much larger scope, and extends to several other Southern and Southwestern States. The U. S. Navy Yard. — There is located here one of the largest navy yards of the Government, which employs hundreds of mechanics and laborers. The yard requires immense quantities of supplies and material which, as a rule, are purchased here. V. XORFOI^K AN^U VICIXIXY II.I.USTRAXEt>, The reader will find in this pamphlet an accurately - drawn map, showing Norfolk, its nearness to the ocean and the location of several growing towns and villages, improving and expanding in trade and population in proportion to the enterprise, public spirit and broad-mindedness of their several inhabitants. Within five to ten years they have each felt the benefit of Norfolk's progress, and by a large majority are taking advantage of it. From these thrifty suburbs our merchants derive a large busi- ness, and the ferries and roads which conne(5t them with Norfolk realize also a goodly share of the general prosperity. No city on the Atlantic coast embraces as many miles of deep salt water frontage, with equal beach, boating and bathing facilities. To Sewell's Point a frontage of nine miles is presented ; then around Willoughby Spit to Ocean View, eight miles ; to Lynn- haven bay, 12 miles ; to cape Henry, 20 miles ; and to Virginia Beach, 18 miles distant from Norfolk city. At Ocean View and Virginia Beach there are Hotels, but there is ample room and patronage for a dozen more, fronting all of them, on Hampton Roads, Chesapeake Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, — surely, here is abundant opportunity for good investments, and sure profits. IVHBRH TO FIND DEEP 'WATER. Col. Wm. P. Craighill, U. S. A., and engineer in charge of Norfolk harbor improvements, gives, in his ofiicial report for 1889, the following depth of water and channel-way, from Hamp- ton Roads to the wharves at Norfolk, Va., with no bars to impede in any weather : — FEET MIN. FEET MAX. The channel-way from the Hampton \ Roads to Lambert's Point \ 26 45 From Lambert's Point to Fort Nor- ) folk.. i 25 31 From Fort Norfolk to the wharves at ) Norfolk f 28 40 Width of channel from Hampton) Roads to Norfolk f 500 700 V!. TRADE FIGURES IN 1892 COMPARED WITH 1888. LUMBER Article Lumber, feet. . Logs, feet . . . . Staves Shingles Railroad Ties. 1888 138,625,263 105,637,554 5,843,966 30,714,540 185,173 1892 Increase 293,725,122 114,386,459 8,798,917 47,790,696 631,425 112 per cent. 8 " " 52 '♦ " 55 " " 241 " " GRAIN, ETC. Hay, tons Corn, bushels Oats, bushels Meal, bushels Rough Rice, bushels Bran, bushels Rye, busbels Wheat, bushels Peanuts, bags— four bushels each. 7,709 736,858 247,970 183,924 6,168 103,442 1,181 138,338 289,162 14,017 1,206,691 424,543 313,388 37,434 169,182 124,500 552,101 404,514 82 per cent. 64 " 71 " 70 " 513 " 64 '* 955 " 300 " 40 " GROCERIES Coffee, bags.. . Sugar, barrels Cheese, boxes. Butter, tubs . . Flour, barrels. Flour, bags . . 10,024 30,154 14,168 20,185 181,798 2,300 10,807 49,277 22,108 23,413 228,721 559 19,123 7,940 3,228 46,923 bags barrels boxes tubs barrels 381,583,379,283 bags PROVISIONS Pork, barrels . Fish, packages Meat, lbs Lard, R)s 13,852 47,617 19,779,783 3,405,620 2,773 bbls. 23,678 pkgs. 5,960,708 lbs. MISCELLANEOUS Cotton-Seed Oil, barrels. . . " Meal, bushels Naval Stores, barrels Horses, head Cattle, head Coal, tons Pig Iron, tons Coke, tons 5,799 61,539 14,198 922 2,949 938,369 38,545 168 31,560 91,657 55,906 3,364 11,635 1,802,385 127,455 4,159 25,761 barrels 30,127 bushels 41,708 barrels 2,442 head 8,686 " 100 per cent. 231 " " The above figures give the increase for four years only in a few lines of business. The trade in dry goods, drugs, boots and shoes, VII. hardware, clothing, milling supplies, etc., is very large and con- stantly increasing, yet there is room for enterprising houses in all these lines, if adive effort is made to widen the territory within easy reach. Railroad and water transportation is abundant, and almost un- limited, with reasonable rates of freight. IP(CRHASE II« POPUIvAXIOX AXD MANU- FACTURES. POPULATION. The census returns of all the Atlantic and Gulf ports, from Nor- folk to Galveston, have been made public, and Norfolk shows a greater percentage of increase, during the last ten years, than either of the others. This is a gratifying: faft, when it is remembered that the distance from the Capes of Virginia to the southern border of Texas is fully fifteen hundred miles, in a direft line, while the coast- line is perhaps twenty-five hundred miles in extent, and that the intervening territory — an empire in extent — is capable of almost indefinite development, not only in agriculture, but in mining and manufa6luring as well. Satisfadory as our progress has been during the past decade — and it is very pleasant to know that the percentage of our growth has been greater than that of Galveston, the chief commercial city of. the great Lone Star State ; of New Orleans, the Queen City of the Southwest ; of Mobile, Alabama's Gulf port ; Savannah, Geor- gia's commercial metropolis ; Charleston, South Carolina's chief mart, and Wilmington, North Carolina's most important city — the aim of our business people should be to still further extend Nor- folk's trade and influence, not only in the dire6lion of commerce, but in manufa6luring as well. Many interior cities in the South show decidedly larger gains in population than do the cities on the sea board, but Norfolk is favor- ably situated for both factories and commerce. I'he Elizabeth river and its different branches can afford wharfage facilities to an un- limited extent — forty or fifty miles if necessary — while the raw materials for manufacturing purposes can be laid down here at a minimum cost — especially coal and iron, those two elements which enter so largely into the wants of modern civilization. — Norfolk Ledger. MANUFACTURES. Our sister city, Norfolk, shows a marked increase in its manufac- tures during the ten years from 1880 to 1890 — in fa6l, a larger increase than any other Virginia city so far reported on by the VIII. census bureau. This is shown by the comparison found in census bulletin No. 253. The following table gives interesting figures. Capital Hands employed Wages paid Material used Value of product Average wages per capita 570,276 00 752 00 317,528 00 861,026 00 1,455,987 00 419 55 1890 $3,120,819 00 2,791 00 1,292,813 00 2,288,518 00 4,634,263 00 463 15 It is a showing of remarkable progress, but which will, we are sure, be exceeded by the record of the current decade. So far as may be judged by the bulletin quoted, the profits upon- invested capital have been large. The wages paid, and the miscel- laneous expenses, the latter being $255,138, represent the total cost of manufa6lures, and in this instance amount to $3,776,267, while the value of the produ6l is $4,634,263, giving a profit of $857,996, which is about 27 per cent, upon the investment. All of us re- member the great financial trouble that had so depressing an efie6l upon business of the city early in the decade, and to show such progress in the face of what appeared, for a time, to threaten the future of the city, is indeed at once cause for congratulation and promise for greatness. And may the promise be abundantly re- alized. — Petersburg hidex - Appeal. ASSESSMEP^X AXD XAXAXION. The following figures show the total assessment of real estate in the six wards of the city, for the year 1892, the tax being $1.60 per $100, and 10 cents per $100 water tax. Real estate valuations $18,942,600 Total taxation 274,730 Brambleton and Atlantic City wards, annexed a few years ago, pay a reduced property tax, and none for water, under the an- nexation contra6i; for the term of years therein specified. City Credit. — The securities of the city, which bear a low rate of interest, sell uniformly from five to ten per cent, above par, and are eagerly sought as investments. This is the best evidence of a healthy financial condition. IX. TRANSPORXAXIOI^ FACILITIES. There is no city of Norfolk's size in the country which affords equal transportation facilities by rail and water, and the same a6live competition in the matter of rates, etc. There are nine lines of railway and sixteen lines of steamships radiating from Norfolk, penetrating and conne6ling with every por- tion of the Union. Trunk lines conne(5t Norfolk (with New York, Cincinnati, Chicago, Columbus, Ohio ; and with the great West, Southwest and South, We have, in addition, direct steamer and sail connexion with Great Britain and continental ports. The Norfolk and Western Railroad, with its main line, branches and feeders, traverses the richest coal and iron producing sections of Virginia, and touches all the developing towns of the south- western portion of the State. It reaches also, by its connexions, the cotton country of the South and Southwest. It is just completing its great Western connection, making a dire6l trunk line from Nor- folk to Louisville, Cincinnati and. Columbus, Ohio. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad traverses another rich and productive se6lion of Virginia and West Virginia, a se6lion rich also in coal and iron, and connects Norfolk with the great West and Southwest. The Norfolk and Carolina Railroad, a section of the Coast Line, connects Norfolk directly with the great South, as does the Sea- board Air Line to Atlanta, and the Atlantic & Danville road by the Richmond and Danville system. The Norfolk & Southern Rail- road connects Norfolk with the produClive country of Eastern North Carohna, which is also tributary to Norfolk by canal and sound steamers. The New York, Philadelphia & Norfolk Railroad conneCts Nor- folk by rail with the North and East. The Virginia Beach and Ocean View Railroads conneCt Norfolk direClly with the delightful ocean shore resorts. All the rail and water lines leading from and into Norfolk are equipped with every modern convenience of travel and every facility of freight transportation. The fine lines of steamers which conneCt Norfolk with Boston, New York, Provi- dence, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, and the rivers and sounds of Virginia and North Carolina, constitute impor- tant factors in securing for Norfolk the very lowest freight and passenger rates. Norfolk has elevator facilities lor handling grain. Street Cars. — Norfolk has a splendid system of street cars, traversing the entire city and suburbs, conne(5fing with railway de- pots and steamship wharves, A large extension of these facilities is soon to be made, in order to keep pace with the rapid growth of the city. X. FORHIGX SHIPPING. The following figures show the entrances and clearances of ship- ping to foreign ports only, for the years named, at this port : — 1891 — ENTERED. Sailing vessels... 30. Tons 14,521 Steam vessels. . . 571. Tons. . . .786,052 Total tons.... 800,573 1891 — CLEARED. Sailing vessels. . . 35. Tons 1H,635 Steam vessels ...556. Tons. .. .772,761 Total tons. . .789,396 1892 — ENTERED. Sailing vessels. .. 10. Tons 5,261 Steam vessels 454. Tons .... 638,716 1892 — CLEARED. Sailing vessels... 60. Tons..., 27,477 Steam vessels .... 463. Tons .... 668,740 Total tons.... 643,977 Total tons.... 696,217 FOREIGN EXPORTS OF MERCHANDISE. 1891 $15,286,407 1892 8,382,412 POCAHONXAS COAI.. The fame of this celebrated coal for either steam or domestic uses is growing world - wide, and the great double piers at Lambert's Point, in this harbor bear witness to the heavy de- mand for it at home and abroad : — Its introdu6lion by the Norfolk & Western Railroad, owning and developing the mines, began its deliveries in this harbor in 1 886, and has grown from a half million tons in that year to a figuije exceeding in 1892 three hundred per cent. In 1886 504,153 tons In 1887 695,822ton8 In 1888 883,759 tons In 1889 1,020,508 tons In 1890 1,159,019 tons In 1891 1,469,825 tons In 1892 : 1,654,298 tons The fleet of vessels — steam and sailing — required to carry coastwise and foreign, amounted to 1,825 in the year 1892. Messrs. Wm. Lamb & Co. are the sole agents, to whom all orders or inquiries for information should be addressed, at Nor- folk, Virginia. XL COTTON. On page 12 of this pamphlet, full figures are given of Cotton Receipts at Norfolk, for the years 1858-59 to 1889-90 inclusive. The Receipts since then were as follows: For 1890-'91 year ending Sept. 1st 660,537 bales. " 1891-'92 " " ' " 540,193 •' NO BETTER PI.ACE FOR MANUFACTURERS. There is no point in the South where the "raw material' may be gotten together as cheaply as on this harbor. There is abun- dant and " cheap labor," also *' cheap steam coal " of the very best quality ; and there seems to be no real or substantial obstacle to the making of Norfolk a first - class manufacturing point. The natural advantages are here. All that is needed to utilize the same, is capital and experience. With an abundance of rail and water lines for transportation to all parts of the country, reasonable rates of freight may al- ways be obtained. Then, in addition to this, the indirect trade of the city is im- mense and getting more so each year, drawing articles for export from away " beyond the Mississippi," and also from points in the remotest " great North-West " by means oi her TWO GREAT TRUNK LINES, viz. : the Norfolk & Western and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroads. As a distributing point for imports, the city is already noted for the large field covered and the favorable freight rates. There is no city in the country that enjoys such liberal rates of freight to all the great Northern consuming centres. Advantages. — Norfolk offers unequalled advantages for the es- tablishment of mechanical industries, large and small. There is hardly any industry that can be mentioned which would not find at Norfolk a favorable location for the manufacture, sale and distribution of its product, as well as for the cheap gathering of it^ material and labor. xli. THE CI^IMATE or NORFOI.K. The climate of any sedion of country is a very important item — an item that makes powerfully for or against that se. 1 rt fc>D ,_H M Ph o3 n ^a 67 14.4 2.86 16.3 5.10 78 14.2 8.09 74 17.6 1.88 84 16.6 3.58 89 17.2 1.56 97 16.0 8.90 91 14.6 5.87 94 14.6 2.43 90 14.7 6.89 88 14.2 2.11 74 l/.O 1.36 75 15.6 50.63 97 as 3 a 25 24 23 33 44 56 59 61 59 36 23 22 KARLY VEGEXABI.E TRADE, The country around Norfolk is famous for the cultivation of early vegetables. Statistics, carefully gathered and compiled at the Chamber ot Commerce, show that shipments to Northern markets of this profitable industry, beginning in May, and ending in August, were as follows : Barrels, boxes and crates, in 1891 . 1,488,531 " " " " " 1892 2,054,639 These packages represent about four millions of dollars, and if we add the local consumption for resident population, and that of over one million tons of shipping in this harbor annually, we may safely place the receipts from our " trucking " interests at six millions of dollars. ]^(ORFOI.K & I^YXNMAITEX RAII^ROAD. Books of subscription to the capital stock of a railroad from Norfolk to Lynnhaven have been opened. This road will combine business and pleasure. It will form a connecting link for the short line between New York and Florida, and will connec?!: this city with the shores of Lynnhaven bay, the most attractive location for pleasure in this se6lion. [See map.] IrOCAI^ XOP9XAOE IN 1892. The total tonnage of vessels and steamers plying the harbor of Norfolk, and comprising established lines to Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D. C, Richmond, Va., and the coastwise trade, is as follows : — No. Chakacter Tons 86 Bay and Ocean Steamers- . . . ^ 50,176 89 Biver Steamers and Tugs 11,276 19,786 420 Sailing Vessels Total 81,238 XIV. RBAI^ CSXAXE XRAP^SPCRS. 1890 — 1891 — 1892 — City of Norfc^lk $2,540,695 00 $1,720,969 00 $1,920,276 00 City of Portsmouth.. 734,900 00 222,740 00 435,122 00 Norfolk County .... 3,801,003 00 3,121,919 00 1,926,657 00 I^YNNHAVE^i BRBAK^VATBR. The feasibility and necessity of a harbor of refuge for vessels in Lynnhaven bay, just inside the capes of Virginia, has been dis- cussed in maritime circles for many years, but it did not take shape until the 51st Congress, at its second session, passed an a6t author- izing a survey to be made and an estimate of the cost for " a break- water, to form a harbor of safety and refuge, in Lynnhaven" bay, near cape Henry, at the foot of Chesapeake bay, Virginia." The survey was intrusted to Col. Peter C. Hains, U. S. Engineer, and, in his valuable report to the Secretary of War, sent to the 5 2d Congress, he strongly recommends the constru6lion of the break- water, and, after giving statistics, says : " It would thus appear that a harbor of refuge at Lynnhaven bay is demanded for humanity's sake, no less than for commercial reasons." A breakwater, costing one million and half dollars, could shelter a fleet of at least 300 vessels. The construction of the great work which will certainly be commenced by the next Congress, will be of great advantage, not only to the commerce of Virginia, but of the whole country. POSTAI^ RBCHIPXS COIUPARBO. From the postmaster in this city we give the following postal receipts for years specified : For year ending June 30th, 1887 $ 48,056.75 " 1888 50,023.86 " " 1889 54,688.79 " " " " 1890 58,476.60 " " " " 1891 68,419.83 " " " " 1892 74,360.20 A net increase of $26,303.45 in five years. Cost of Living. — The cost of living in Norfolk will compare favorably with any other locality, the market affording a great variety. XV. BABiKINO AXD FII^AXCH. The following figures are up to March ist, 1893. CLEARING HOUSE STATEMENT, 1885 $ 33,228,851 1886 40,342,389 1887 42,013,162 1888 45,447,259 *1889 39,945,470 1890.;!;.'!.".;;.'!.';;!.":.!;;...;; 48,210,486 1891 54,167,968 *1892 50,620,725 ^Reduced by short cotton crops. BANKING CAPITAL, Norfolk National Bank (see adv.) $ 400,000 Citizen Bank (see adv ) 300,000 Marine Bank (see adv.). 110,000 City National Bank 200,000 Bank of Commerce 100,000 Three Savings Banks 55,000 Two Private Banks (capital unknown) ^ $1,165,000.00 The following figures embrace a condensed statement of the finan- cial condition in the aggregate, of banking houses only. Capital Stock I 1,165,000.00 Surplus, and Undivided Profits 427,573.54 Deposits.. 4,449,114.80 Loans and Discounts 3,839,361.93 Investments, (Bonds) 1,285,435.00 It is safe to add that there is, at all times awaiting investment, prwate capital to loan upon mortgage, or other approved security, $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 at rate of interest suited to the risk, say six to ten per cent. Churches. — The various Christian denominations are fully rep- resented, the aggregate number of Church edifices being over thirty. Two Hebrew Synagogues. Norfolk has a splendid Young Men's Christian Association building, with gymnasium, which cost four years ago $45,000. . Schools and Colleges. — Norfolk's educational advantages are equal to the best. She has a fine system of public schools, and, in addition, numerous private schools, academies and colleges for both sexes. Hospitals. — Norfolk has two excellent hospitals — the St. Vin- cent de Paul, under the sisters of the Catholic Church, and the Retreat for the Sick, under the Protestant Women's Charitable Organization — both excellent institutions. XVI. Norfolk. — Norfolk's geographical position, as the most conven- ient port and distributing point on the Atlantic coast, is too well known to require description. The distance from Norfolk to British and continental ports is the same as from New York, and shorter to South American ports. Our proximity to the consuming marts of this country is shown by the following figures : Boston, 20 hours by rail, 40 by water. New York, 12 hours by rail, 21 by water. Philadelphia, 10 hours by rail, 18 by water. Baltimore, 8 hours by rail, 12 by water. Washington, 7 hours by rail, 12 by water. Richmond, (State Capital) by rail 2? hours, by the James river water lines, which have special historic attractions, 10 hours. Cincinnati, by rail 23 hours. Chicago, by rail 34 hours. St. Louis, by rail 34 hours. Norfolk is nearer than New York to San Francisco. Water. — The water supply of Norfolk is abundant, and is fur- nished through the Holly system from fresh water lakes, five to seven miles distant. This water is admirably adapted to manufa6luring purposes, being free from the properties which cause boilers to corrode. Wells fur- nish plenty of water, also of equally good quality, and at small expense. Light. — The city is lighted by electricity. Gas is $1.40 per M. feet. Sewerage. — The city is supplied throughout with the Waring sewer system. 'WHEN XREAXEO XWICIE. Trades and subjects which are mentioned more than once will be found on pages as indicated below : Lumber, ...... VI and 7. Coal, . • . . . . . X and 8. Vegetables or Truck, .... XIII and 10. Peanuts, ...... VI and 11. Cotton, . . . . . • . XI and 12. Exports— Foreign, . . , . X and 18. Population, ...... VII and 15. Manufactures, ..... VII and 16. Assessment and Taxation, .... VIII and 17. Climate, etc., ..... XII and 25. Assessment and Taxation, .... VIII and 17. Railroads and Transportation, ... IX and 19. The reader should not scan hurriedly these pages ; they contain a vast amount of truth, which an earnest seeker may find it to hisi interest to ponder. OUR i.ijmbii:r xradh* There is no article of Southern production that can vie with lumber in its importance to this port Prior to the year i860 the manufacture of timber in this section, was a financial disaster to every one who engaged in it. Not that we lacked the crude material, in the millions of acres near at hand, of Southern pine, oak, ash, poplar, maple, chestnut, gum and other woods ; but the machinery, skilled labor and di- rection, with a limited market for the manufactured product. Since about 1870 a new and prosperous era has favored that trade. In that year the total production of manufactured lumber, ready for the hand of the carpenter to mould into use, was given at fifty millions of feet; and now, in 1890, it reaches the stupendous figure of three hundred and twenty millions of feet, cut from the forest, sawed and dressed by the most approved machinery, some of which is original with our local millers, patented and controlled by them, and not in use by any other lumber manufacturers in this country. The capital invested in this branch of trade and industry, in order to produce such an immense output of lumber, is greater by many times than any other branch of business in this locality. There is no article of our commerce that gives employment to so many persons, or that maintains so many families by the large amounts of money annually paid out to a class of laborers and mechanics as is distributed by our producers of manufactured lumber. To make these facts plainer, we give the figures in detail as fur- nished the Chamber of Commerce by the Lumbermen's Committee. " There are in and around Norfolk sixty (60) saw mills and plan- ing mills whose annual production is now three hundred and twenty million (320,000,000) feet of lumber, worth about 4,500,000 dollars at wholesale prices. These mills employ about (5,000) five thousand men ; their pay- rolls aggregate ($150,000) one hundred and fifty thousand dollars per month, or nearly ($2,000,000) two millions of dollars annually. In addition to these figures, these mills require thousands of dollars worth of provisions for their men, and many more thousands 8 of dollars worth of hay and feed for the j^reat number of cattle employed in hauling timber and logs out of the forest. This, together with a large amount paid out for chains, axes, rope and other supplies needed in this work, places the lumber interest, in this immediate locality, very far ahead in the line of /lome profit and production of any other branch of business enterprises in our midst ; and it is growing larger and larger every year in order to supply the increasing demand from all parts of this great country, for Southern pine lumber. Norfolk, therefore, becomes the distributing point for this large output of lumber, and, at times, it is almost impossible to secure readv transportation for it, even with our numerous lines of railroad and steamers ; but when the fact is stated that three hundred and twenty millions feet requires 32,000 freight cars of 10,000 feet each, or 3,200 vessels of 200 tons each, to carry this lumbf^r away, sortie idea may be formed as to the requirements for transportation facili- ties, and occasional delays made obvious. The amount of capital invested in these mills and outstanding timber exceeds ($5,000,000) five miUions of dollars. Our trade in staves, shingles, railroad ties and other prepared lumber, for coastwise and foreign demand, is estimated at not less than ($1,500,000) one million five hundred thousand dollars. COAI.. In addition to our local trade in coal for home consumption, which is estimated at 55,000 tons, we have at our doors the great depot at Lambert's Point, where the celebrated Pocahontas mines deposit their product for sale and delivery, and which is now conceded to be the best steam coal produced in this country from any source. The pier constructed at this point was constructed in 1884. It is 894 feet long and 60 feet wide, with an extreme height of 48 feet above high water mark. The water is twenty- six feet deep at low tide, where the largest class of vessels can take on cargoes of this famous steam coal. The loading is done to expedite the demand both day and night. 9 From this pier at Lambert's Point there was delivered by the agents in 1886 504,153 tons in 1887 695,822 " in 1888 883,759 " in 1889 1,020,508 " G-iving a total of 3,104,242 tons for the four years named, and which was delivered to 3,821 steamers, brigs, ships and other sailing craft, both large and small. It may be added that the Norfolk & Western Railroad Co., the owners of these now celebrated mines have, within the present year, doubled their capacity for storage at Lambert's Point, that they ma}^ be fully prepared to supply the demand which is steadily growing. Their stately piers in our harbor, only two miles below the city, do not fail to attract the attention of every person who reaches our city through the broad arid deep waters of the Elizabeth. OUR OYSXEB* XRAOE. The waters of the Chesapeake Bay and the rivers and creeks by which they are washed are known the world over for the immense beds of oysters which lie beneath their surface, and many thousands of men, both white and colored, earn their living at "oystering." For the shucking and preparing these oysters for other markets, there are about twenty firms engaged in this business in Norfolk and its suburbs. The total "catch" for a season will average about 2,000,000 bushels. The season lasts about eight months, say Irom September ist to April 30th, and boats carrying from ten bushels to hundreds of bushels are constantly employed to supply the demand for this and other cities. This industry enables a large portion of our population to live comfortably, and they like the work. In 1878 the estimate made of our oyster trade was $350,000, and in 1886 has grown to the surprising amount of $2,500,000 per annum . Our state authorities reported in the last year named that there were 18,864 persons engaged in fisheries, all of which are in tidewater Virginia. Norfolk, being the center of this great business, the re- port gives the capital employed at $1,914,119, and the value of the products at $3,124,444. 10 TRUCK, OR BARI.Y VKGHTABLKS. Norfolk may be said to be the centre of the greatest market garden in the United States. These great truck farms extend over an area of about twenty five miles in diameter, covering Norfolk county and a part of Princess Anne and Nansemond, and no other section of like proportions can show the amount of truck produced by this or the amount of cash received for the produce. The heart of the trucking season lasts about six weeks, covering June and apart of May and July. During this period our large transportation lines put on extra steamships, and a daily line is es- tablished between Norfolk and all of the Northern markets. From the best information obtainable, we would estimate that the mcJve- ment of truck during these six weeks kverage between 250,000 and 300,000 packages per week, or about 1,700,000 packages during the season. To handle this immense volume of produce, both- in gath- ering and preparing for market and in its transportation, a very large number of people are required, a large proportion of whom have to be drawn from other parts of the country, principally North Carolina, though many come from long distances during the season. This trade in 1879 was estimated by growers and dealers at ^i,75i.,645, and for the current year it is estimated to have reached about $4,500,000, as the following schedule will justify : Cabbage, Potatoes, Spinach, Kale, Lettuce, Melons, Tomatoes, Beans, Cucumbers, Peas Asparagus Berries, KIND barrels . QUANTITY. boxes quarts Misc. vegetables, pckgs. Total 347,130 500,000 122,839 177,707 8,174 836,153 92,591 80,935 46,280 185,415 2.928 9,465,306 180,949 VALUE. $ 433,912 50 1,500,000 00 245,658 00 177,707 00 28,609 00 104,519 00 69,443 25 121,402 50 34,710 00 324,476 25 17,568 00 946,530 60 536,241 75 4,541,077 85 11 OVM. PEAKUX XRABIK, Virginia is recognized as the largest producer of peanuts. North Carohna and Tennessee also produce them, but statistics show that they fall far behind our o\\«i state, and, in fact, the crop of these two states combined in the fifteen years from 1874 to 1888 inclusive, did not equal Virginia's production by about seven and a half millions of bushels. The crop in Virginia in 1874 was estimated at 225,000 bushels, and in 1888 at 2,250,000 bushels.- Last year (1889) the crop was very short, owing to unseasonable weather, but the crop for the present year, 1890, (now coming into market) is estimated at 2,700,000 bushels of g6od quality, and exceeds the crop of 1889 by 1,100,000 bushels. It >will therefore be seen that this year's crop is likely to turn into the^pockets of our farmers about two million of dollars ($2,000,000) as the proceeds of that crop, and Norfolk mer- chants will handle, as usual, a liberal share of this crop. PEANUT FACTORIES. There are four large buildings in this city devoted to the purpose of cleaning and grading peanuts. These establishments are operated by different companies, who employ a large number of operatives, a majority of whom are colored women and girls. The nuts are taken from the farmer and put through machines which take off the dirt and polish the shell. This machine is a Norfolk invention, and the process is a secret one. There is also a bleaching process, a Nor- folk invention, which is applied to mildewed nuts to brighten them, thus materially enhancing their market value. The amount of capital required in the business is between $400,000 and $500,000, working between 600 and 800 operatives, male and female, earning quite $75,000 per annum wages in the re-cleaning and hand-picking process. This city has for years occupied a leading position among the few large peanut markets of the world. 12 OUU COXXOX XRAOie. Until about the year 1858 the receipts of cotton at this port were almost too insignificent to be noticed in our trade reports. The sec- tion of country then trading in Norfolk produced largely of corn, oats and peas, and these were the principle articles at that time to which the farmer gave his attention. But about this period the at- tention of these farmers was turned to the cultivation of the great sta- ple as being more certain and profitable to them. The following table exhibits the receipts of cotton by bales at Nor- folk for the years named, beginning with September ist and ending with August 3rst of each year : Year. Bales. Ye^ir. Bales. 1858-'9 6,174 1876-'? " 509,612 1859-'60 17,777 1877-'8 430,557 1860-'l 33,198 1878 '9 443,285 [1861 to 1865— the Civil war.] 187b)-'80 597,086 l865-'6 59,096 1880-'l 713,026 1866-'7 126,287 1881-'2 622,883 1867-'8 155,591 1982-'3 -.. 800,133 1868-'9 164,789 1883-'4 582,837 1869-'70 178,352 1884-'5 548,823 1870'1 302,930 1885-'6 562,580 1871-'2 258,7.30 1886-'7 556,538 1872-'3 405,412 1887-'8 500,308 1873 '4 472,446 1888-'9 , 506,171 1874-^5 393,672 1889-'90 412,741 1875-'6 469,998 And for the present crop of 1890 the receipts from September ist to December 13th were 342,795 bales, being an excess of 86,059 bales compared with a like period in 1889. The falling off m our receipts since 1883 was attributable to re- duced crops in the Carolinas, and the combination of transportation companies in diverting the staple to West Point, in this State, which otherwise would have been brought to this port. The tide, how- ever, is already turning in our favor, as shown in the receipts of the present season at both places ; the figures being furnished by our Cotton Exchange as follows : WEST POINT, VA. Receipts from Sept. 1, 1889, to December 13 200,006 bales " for same period this year 191,299 " Decrease 8,707 13 NORFOLK, TA. Keceipts from Sept. 1, 1890, to Dec. 13 342,795 bales " for same period last year 256,736 '• Increase.., 86,059 " The recent completion of the Norfolk & Carolina Railroad and the Atlantic & Danville has contributed largely to our trade this year in cotton and general merchandise as well ; and upon the ex- tension of the Seaboard & Roanoke system to Atlanta, Ga., which will be completed before the next cotton season — these lines will greatly augment our receipts, Norfolk has now five powerful presses with capacity for compress- ing 7,ooo bales in twenty-four hours, or 4,000 bales in twelve hours of day labor, and it may be claimed that with low rates of handling and port charges, Norfolk has no rival upon the Atlantic coast for the handling cf this great southern product. OUR EXPOMT TMAOH. We obtain from the Collector of Customs at this port the fol- lowing figures, giving tonnage and values at this port for the fiscal years ending June 30th, from 1870 to 1890 inclusive : Year ' Tonnage Value Year Tonnage Value 1870..... 13,502,......$ 886,594 1881. ...,. 127,964. ..... .$16,264,137 1871 19,174 727,997 1882...... 120,838 19,845,337 1872. ..... 20,371 975,793 ii 1883. ..... 99,282 14,315,298 1873. 30,795 1,2.55,420 ■' 1884 103,014 15,585,377 1874 48,675. = ..... 3,701,006 1885. 85,261 10,341,709 1875 53,638 6,395,162 : 1886 185,150 14,145,211 1876 66,188 7,815,112 ji 1887 259,844 14,714,404 1877 62,148 6,277,249 ' i 1888 259,291 13,812,641 1878 84,771 10,029,248 ■ 1889 .335,021 12,813,854 1879 108,287. ..... 9,820,258 ^ 1890 401,217 14,247,477 1880 132,608 18,166,959 Variations in these figures for the several years is accounted for in our cotton receipts, which is the leading article in our export trade. Other merchandise and products consist of coal, lumber, timber, staves, bark, corn, wheat, flour, naval stores, cattle, tqbacco ancj other miscellaneoun articles of minor note, Vessel entered and cleared at this port during the fiscal year ending June jotk, i8fCIAl, ORO^WTM. The reader of these pages cannot fail to realize that there has been a marked material development in this ancient city within the last ten years, and that the forces now at work will necessarily bring a more wonderful increase within the next decade. It I as been our aim to place only facts before the public, as they are, that far-seeing men may calculate the profits which judicious investments are sure to bring in the near future. With the advent ol the current year a notable demand was observed for city and suburban property, and gradually the figures paid were startling. Property on or near the water front, within three to five miles above and below the city found ready buyers at $500 to |)1,500 per acre, about ten times the price at which they could have been bought two years ago. This activity, not yet at the flood, has been stimulated by our growth in trade relations with other sections through railroad extensions, and the de- velopment by trunk lines concentrating in this harbor. Capitalists from the money centres in this country and in Europe have placed, and are placing their capital here in vast sums, thus showing their coofidence in the belief that Norfolk, with its great harbor and location, is about to attain the destiny Avhich many great and wise men have in the past predicted for her. The followiog figures will illustrate the movement in property transfers for the current year : Transactions in Real Estate in Norfolk County, and the Cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth During the Year 1890, are Recorded as Follows : In Norfolk County $3,801,003 00 In Norfolk City 3,540,695 00 In Portsmouth City 734,900 00 Total 17,076,598 00 It is estimated that the. sales of land in Norfolk County for the year, and represented in the above table, reached about 8,500 acres. assessment of real estate in NORFOLK CITY FOR THE YEAR 1890 COM- PARED WITH THAT MADE in 1885. IN 1890. NOBFOIiK CITY (FOUR OLD WARDS.) Value of land. $ 9,435,661 Value of buildings 7,134,688 $16,560,849 ATIiANTIC CITY WARD. Value of land $ 1,419,180 Value of buildings 151,350 $ 1,570,430 iS BRAMBLETON WARD. Value •f land ....$ 1,237,191 VaUie of buildings 557,220 $ 1,794,411 Total value of land $12,092,03-' Total value of buildings 7,833,158 $19,925, IPO Assessed value of real estate in eity of Norfolk $19,925,190 COMPAKED WITH 1885. Four old wards, new assessment $16,560,349 Four old wards, old assessment 12,307,130 Inci-ease in five years in four wards $ 4,253,219 Add new assessment in the new wards, given above in detail 3,364,841 Total increase of taxable values in five years $ 7,618,060 The following is a comparative statement of the taxable values as between 1890 and the assessment for 1891 : Four wards (new assessment for 1891) $16,560,349 Taxable real estate value 1890 12,785,395 Increase $ 3.774,954 Brambleton (new assessments for 1891) 1,794,411 Assessments 1890 1,082,730 Increase $ 711,691 Atlantic City (new assessment for 1889) $ 1,570,430 Assessments 1889 57,370 Increase , $ 1,033,060 Total increase of the assessment for 1891 over values of 1890 $ 5,519,705 Total state and city taxes, $2.20 per $100 of value, (city $1.60, water 20c, state 40c.) CITY REVENUE COMPARED. For taxes. Licenses. In 1890 $285,556.31 $74,677.84 In 1884 236,352.64 54,087.90 Increase $49,203.67 $20,589.94 XORFOLK'S ACREAGE. Prior to the annexation of the two Wards now known as Bram- bleton and Atlantic City, the acreage of the city was, upon the au- thority of City Engineer W. T. Brooke, 88o acres. In 1887 Bram- bleton added 340 acres, and in 1890 Atlantic City gave an additional 1,250 acres. Total acreage of the present city is therefore 2,470, or within a fraction of four square miles. 19 OUR RAILROADS AND XHHIR COB(NHCXIONS. The following railroads, alphabetically arranged, practically terminate in Norfolk. Those that have planted their depots in the suburbs reach the city by their own special ferry and barge connections : THE ATLANTIC AND DANVILLE RAILROAD, from Portsmouth to Danville, Va., via Suffolk, Franklin, Courtland and Belfield, to Danville, Va., and now extending their line west of the latter city to Bristol, Tenn. THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO RAILROAD, from Norfolk by steamer to Newport News, thence to Richmond, Charlotts- ville, Staunton, the principal Virginia and West Virginia springs, Hunting- ton, Cincinnati, Louisville, Chicago, and all points west and southwest, and connects with the Southern Pacific railroad. THE EASTERN CAROLINA DISPATCH, from Norfolk to Newberne, Kinston, Gloldsboro. and all points reached by the Atlantic and North Carolina railroad by steamer to Washington, N. C, and landings on the Tar river. THE NORFOLK AND WESTERN RAILROAD, from Norfolk to Suffolk, Petersburg, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Bristol, and all points south and west via East Tennessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad, with connections at Suffolk with the Seaboard and Roanoke, the Atlantic and Dan- ville, Norfolk and Carolina, and west as far as Kansas City. Other connections at Waverly with the Atlantic and Danville railroad ; at Pe tersburg with the Atlantic Coast Line ; At Lynchburg with the Virginia Midland ; at Roanoke with Shenandoah Valley ; at Burkville with Richmond and Danville. Ex- tensions from Radford to Pocahontas ; from Pulaski City to Ivanhoe ; from Glade Spring to Saltville. THE NORFOLK AND CAROLINA, from Norfolk to Tarboro, a part of the Atlantic Coast Line system, reaching via Tarboro, Goldsboro Wilson, Fayetteville and Raleigh, Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, and points in South Carolina, Florida and Georgia, with branches to Scotland Neck, Greenville, Plymouth and Kinston, N. C, connecting with all points on the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. THE NEW YORK, PHILADELPHIA AND NORFOLK, via -Cape Charles to Wilmington, Chester, Philadelphia and New York. All interior Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania points, with connections east and west over the Pennsylvania railroad, of which this is a favorable connection. THE SEABOARD AIR LINE SYSTEM OF RAILROADS is composed of the Seaboard and Roanoke, Raleigh and Gaston, B&leigh and ^6 Augusta, Carolina Central, Durham and Northern and Georgia, Carolina and Northern Railroads, with branches from Franklinton to Louisburg, N. C, from Moncure to Pittsborough ; from Cameron to Carthage, and from Hamlet to Gibsons, and gives Noriolk direct connectioDS with Weldon, Henderson, Durham, Raleigh and all points on the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley Rail- road, Wadesboro, Monroe, Charlotte, Lincolnton, Shelby and Rutherfordton, N. C, and Chester, Clinton, Greenwood and Abbeville, S. C; also Augusta, Atlanta and Macon, Ga., and all parts in the South. THE NORFOLK SOUTHERN RAILROAD, from Norfolk to Elizabeth City, connecting with steamers for the Pesqiiotank and Alligator Rivers. At Eden ton, steamer Plymouth for all points on the Roanoke River and by steamer Roberts for all points on the Scuppernong and Chowan Rivers. THE OCEAN VIEW RAILROAD. This road runs Irom Norfolk to Ocean View, a favorite summer resort on the Chesapeake Bay, eight miles from the city. A good hotel, fine bathing and fishing, and many thousands frequent it from May to September. THE VIRAINIA BEACH RAILROAD. From Norfolk, eighteen miles to the Atlantic Ocean, at Virginia Beach, five miles south of Cape Henry. The finest sand beach on the coast only a hundred yards from the hotel piazza. Surf bathing in all its purity and stimulating effects, fishing, hunting and boating on the lake immediately in rear of hotel. Beautiful shade, lovely promenading grounds and numerous private cottages. OCEAN, BAY ANO RIVER I.INES. The following lines by water transportation have a home in this Harbor and for many years identified with this port. Many of them have grown from small beginnings to great power and wealth through their connections with our railroads which transfer both ways their freights to destination : The BAY LINE, from Norfolk to Baltimore, William Randall, Agent. The OLD DOMINION S. S, CO., from Norfolk to New York, CuLPEPER & Turner, Agents. The CLYDE LINE, from Philadelphia to Norfolk, Jas. W. McCaarrick, Agent. The CLYDE NORTH CAROLINA LINE, Jas. W. McCarrick, Agent. The OLD DOMINION AND NORTH CAROLINA LINE, CuLPEPER & Turner, Agents. 21 . The OLD DOMINION VIEGINIA LINE, CuLPEPER & Turner, Agents. The MERCHANTS AND MINERS TRANSPORTATION CO., Richard H. Wright, Agent. The VIRGINIA STEAMBOAT CO., Jas. W. McCarrick, Agent. The INLAND SEABOARD COASTING CO., to Washington, D. C, Jas. W. McCarrick, Agent. The POTOMAC STEAMBOAT CO., to Washington, D. C, V. D. Groner, Agent. The PETERSBURG AND NORFOLK STEAMBOAT CO., W. L. WiLKiNSOJs, Agent. Numerous other lines navigating the waters of Virginia, and penetrating North Carolina, are known as Bennett's, Jones', Harbinger's, Johnson's, Roanoke, Norfolk and Baltimore, etc., forming close connection with scores of towns and villages having Norfolk as their trading point. CANALS. The Albermarle and Chesapeake Canal, with only one lock, 210x40 feet, connecting this port with the rivers and sounds of North Carolina through to Florida, is a valuable feeder, and brings to this market millions of ton- nage of lumber and farm products that cannot otherwise reach or bear land transportation. Franklin Weld, President. A XO^^l^J I:N 1680 — A BOROUOH IP^ 1736— A CITY IN 1845. From the fourth edition of "Norfolk as a Business Centre," issued in 1884, we learn that the name Norfolk was originally bestowed upon the district, afterwards county, by one Col. Thorogood, one of the earliest settlers, in honor of his native country in England, and a similar sentiment of patriotism would appear to have suggested the designation of other towns and localities in Virginia which abounds in names borrowed from the mother country. We learn, also, from the same source, that the General Assembly of the State in 1680 authorized the purchase of fifty acres of land for the "town" of Norfolk and in pursuance of this authority a tract which forms the northwestern portion of the present city was purchased in 1682 for 10,000 pounds of to- bacco, from Nicholas Wise, a carpenter, whose father had acquired some rep- utation as a local ship builder. From that time forward the town appears to have enjoyed a long period of almost uninterrupted prosperity, during which the population continued to 22 increase and multiply and her commercial influence to expand, for in Sep- tember, 1736, she was formally incorporated by Royal Charter, as a Borough, with a mayor, recorder and eight aldermen. Such has been written of the early history of Norfolk. Her share of the horrors of the revolution, and the war of 1812, are matters of history, and need not be repeated here. In 1787 a charter was obtained by the States of Virginia and North Caro- lina under which the Dismal Swamp Canal was commenced in 1787, and opened for navigation in 1828. In 1801 the navy yard on the Portsmouth side of our inner harbor was established, the land being ceded by the Gov- ernor of Virginia to the United States Government by authority of the Gen- eral Assembly. In 1804 Tom Moore, "Erin's sweetest poet," visited Norfolk, and subsequently embalmed in verse the famous "Lake Drummond, That Mighty Reservoir of Water in the Great Dismal Swamp." The visit of General Lafayette to Norfolk in 1824 was the occasion of much social entertainment, and great honors were paid to this conspicuous friend of the American Republic. The centennial of Norfolk's incorporation as a Borough was duly cele- brated in 1836, and on February 13th, 1845, by an act of the General Assem- bly, Norfolk's charter was amended and she became a city with all its honors, privileges and responsibilities. AS SEEN BY OXHER EYES XHAN OURS. So much has been written by non-residents of Norfolk to the journals of other cities, about its growth and prospects, and the abundant opportunities here for the investment of capital, that we have been constrained to reproduce a few of these letters to give additional force to what we have ourselves written. Disinterested praise will go further with some readers than that which has the suspicion of self-interest. We, therefore, commend these letters to the careful perusal of every one who turns these pages for light and information about Norfolk and its vicinity. The Harbor of Norfolk. — Lieu't. Henry H. Barroll, U. S. N., in charge of the branch Hydrographic office in Norfolk, has, by special request, con- tributed to this report an article upon the harbor of Norfolk. Of course, the writer, who is a keen observer and has had experience, by reason of his posi- tion and intellectual attainments in various portions of the world, sees, and is willing to commit to print his own impressions of this great harbor. 23 — FOR — Land and IjMProvkmknt coivlpanies. In the Corporation and Circuit Court records for the city we find the following Charters granted during the year 1890. All enquiries addressed to the Presidents of these Companies at the Norfolk P. O. will receive prompt reply : NAME OF COMPANY. CAPITAL. PRESIDENT. The A-tlantic Improvement Co., ' The Atlantic and Chesapeake Real Estate Association, ; The Atlantic City Improvement Co., ' The Brambleton Heights Co., The Bedford Park Land Co., The Bedford City Development Co., The Chesapeake Land Co., The Commonwealth Realty Co., ' The Central Land Co., The Cape Henry Park and Land Co., The Eureka Co., The Eastern Branch Improvement Co., The East Norfolk Land and Improve- ment Co., The Elizabeth Land and Improve- ment Co., The East Virginia Land and Improve- ment Co., The Glasgow Development Co., The Investment Co., of Norfolk, The Lambert's Point Improvement Co., The Lambert's Point Co., The Lambert's Point Land and De- velopment Co., The Lambert's Point Development Co., The Lambert's Point Co. of Norfolk, The Land Investment Co., of Norfolk, The Lambert's Point Water Front Co., The Lambert's Point Land Co., The North Brook Land Co., The Norfolk Co., The Norfolk Water Front Develop- ment Co., 50,000 00 D. Lowenberg. 500,000 00 ! W. D. Pender. 50,000 00 L. H. Shields. 50,000 00 100,000 00 100,000 00 50,000 00 300,000 00 175,000 00 300,000 00 25,000 00 100.000 00 L. H. Shields. Walter F. Irvine. O. M. Styron. Foster Black. A. E Campe. J. A. Welch. R. H. Baker. Fergus Reid. W. A. Wrenn. 50,000 00 F. D. Pinkeiton. 300,000 00 100,000 00 750 000 00 300,000 00 25,000 00 200,000 00 100,000 00 100,000 00 300,000 00 300 000 00 300,000 00 75,000 00 100,000 00 5,000,000 00 William Pannill. George D. Pleasant. Barton Myer?. Barton Myers. C. W. Fentress. William Lamb. Granville Gaines, W. R. Marbcrry. Barton Myers. C.A. Nash. Barton Myers. William Lamb. George R. Dunn. John H. Dingee. 300,000 00 : Barton Myers. 24 NAME of COMPANY. CAPITAL. PRESIDENT. The Norfolk and Lambert's Point Land Co., 1 100,000 00 B. Moor maw. The Norfolk Manufacturing Co., 50,000 00 E. Campe. The Norfolk Investment Co., 50,000 00 , E. V. White. The North Norfolk Co., 500,000 00 Jno. M. Littig. The Norfolk Suburban Land Co., 15,000 00 H. L. Page. The National Investment Co., 300,000 00 Geo. T. Scott. The Norfolk Industrial Development Co., 1,000,000 00 Barton Myers. The Norfolk and Lambert's Point Co., 100,000 00 L. H. Shields. The North Roanoke Land and Im- provement Co., 50,000 00 Jas. S. Simmons. The Norfolk Rolleston C(.). 50,000 00 Jas, W. Gerow. The Norfolk and Eastern Investment Co., 1,000,000 00 John Q. Hoyt. The Northeast Norfolk Land Co., 500,000 00 M. Umstadter. The Norfolk Development Co., 100,000 GO L. D. Smith. The Norfolk Terminal Land Co., 500,000 00 J. T. Fitzgerald. The Old Dominion Investment Co., of Newport News, 100,000 GO L. P. Stearnes. The River Front Laud Co. . 100,000 00 ^ V. D. Groner. The River View Land Co., 150,000 00 Charles R. Nash. The Rock Creek Co., 150,000 00 T. S. Garnett. The South Norfolk Land Co., 50,000 00 C. G. Joynes. The South Portsmouth Land and Im- 50,000 00 F. Richardson. provement Co., The Seaboard Land and Development »Co., The Safety Land Co., 100,000 00 i Waller Sharp. 200,000 00 Thos. Pannill The South Border Investment Co., 300,000 00 : J. Taylor Ell y son. The South Norfolk Investment Co., ■ 300,000 00 I J. W. Perry. The Virginia and Kentucky Improve- ment Co., 50.000 00 ' Barton Myers, The Virginia Investment Co., 50,000 00 E. V. White. The Virginia Land Co. of Bedford, 150,000 00 Mills L. Eure. The WeBt Atlantic City Land Co , 25,000 00 ; Fred M. Killam. The West Portsmouth Land Co., 50,000 00 F. Richardson. The West End Real Estate Co., of Norfolk, 1 300,000 00 \ Geo. R. Dunn. ^5 HYGIENE AND CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. By special request the following article is furnished for publication in this report. It is prepared with care by a close student and ob- server of all matters relating to hygienic and climatology, whose able help was invited by the late Dr. A. Y. P. Garnett, U. S. A., at Wash- ington, D. C, to furnish the data for this portion of tidewater Vir- ginia for the American Climatological Society in 1888. Dr. Jackson has resided in Norfolk for twenty-five years, and en- joys a large practice, and a high place in the profession, as a man of learning and scientific iattainments. As ex-President and Honorary Fellow of the Virginia State Med- ical vSociety, member of the American Medical Association and of the Ninth International Medical Congress, he is fully qualified to treat of the matters which are herewith furnished in behalf of his adopted home. Norfolk, Va., December 15th j 1890. SAMUEL R. BORUM, Esq., Secretary and Sujjermtendent Chamber of Commerce : My Dear Sir: — I, with pleasure, comply with your request to furnish yon sucli facts with regard to the climate and health of Norfolk, as may be "of in- terest to persons at a distance who maj^ contemplate a removal to this city for business or pleasure." To do this seems hardly necessary at this time, for, judging from the crowds of people who frequent our places of resort, it might be supposed that our delightful climate was appreciated, and that our northern friends had be- come satisfied as to the healthfulness of this locality. Persons living in the same latitude as Norfolk, but at a distance from the Atlantic coast, could hardly realize and, without a study of the causes, would find it difficult to understand the mildnees of our climate as compared with their own. The influencefof the. water is well understood here, for vegetation is much earlier on those farms which are directly located on the edge of. streams ; and for trucking purposes, such farms are afways most in demand. It may be asked "Why has the water so much effect on the climate and vegetation?" It is owing not so much to our proximity to the Gulf Stream as it is to the eddies from that great "ocean river," which are caused by the impediment to the northward flow of its western edge, which is produced by the great rush of water from the Chesapeake Bay and from all of its tributaries 26 through the narrow gate -way between the Virginia capes. This immense body of water must have sufficient momentum to force it far out to sea, and thus by heading off the current of the western (which in this latitude is the warmer) edge of the Gulf Stream, it causes a reflection of this warm water to our coast and into all the bays and estuaries with which it is indented. This is the reason why such myriads of wild fowl, ducks, geese and swan migrate to this region on the appearance of winter. And the migration of these birds, one might suppose, would furnish a suggestion to human beings as to the best localities for resort in order to escape the rigors of winter. The Gulf Stream is nearer to the American coast between Capes Hatteras and Henry than anywhere else, and this proximity, together with the eddies above alluded to, afford a satisfactory explanation of the mildcess of our climate. After leaving the Virginia capes this mysterious current trends rapidly to the east, until when opposite the New Jersey coast it is four or five times the distance from its shore than it is from the Virginia coast. The farther north it goes the greater its divergence from the American shore, and after more than 2,000 miles of travel, during which it must have spent a large amount of its heat, it reaches the Irish coast with sutlflcient warmth retained to rend"er that far off northern region the beautiful green spot that it is. But for the heat derived from this source, instead of being the ''Emerald Isle," Ireland would be as cold and barren as Labrador or Greenland. But the genial in- fluence of the Gulf Stream is felt even still further north than this. It can be traced as far as the coast of Norway, upon which it has made possible the location of the most northerly city on the globe, (Hammerfest) in latitude 70° 40^. the water of whose harbor is never frozen. It can readily be understood, then, that such a region, with a climate so mild as seldom to be colder than 16° above zero, where ice but seldom forms, where snow, if it falls at all, lies but a few hours on the ground; a region, almost surrounded by water which has been warmed, as explained above: by water whose vapo. is surcharged with oxygen ; a region contiguous io the great cypress and juniper forests of the Dismal Swamp, and to the ozone-pro- ducing pine forests of tide water Virginia and eastern North Carolina, and finally that such a region would be a most favorable locality for persons liable to pulmonary disease. However much the highlands of Colorado may be vaunted as the place for consumptives, my own experience warrants me in declaring that I would rather take my chances here than so close to the line of perpetual snow as are those elevated localities, and I believe we can furnish a better showing than they in the treatment of this class of diseases. It is well known to us that Norfolk has had the reputation abroad of being an unhealthy place. This impression, as unreasonable as it is unfortunate, was produced by a sickness among some troops who, during the war of 1812, were stationed at what was then a very unhealthy locality some miles from Norfolk, and also by the disastrous importation of yellow fever in 1855, by which latter epidemic the city lost some two thousand of her inhabitants. Thi3 would have ruined the prospects of Norfolk but for the fact that it was . 27 known that the disease was imported and had not been generated here ; and further, that the subsequent winter proved sufficiently severe to destroy the last vestige of the disease so that it has never revived since, and will never re- appear unless through carelessness or inadvertence of the health authorities. That Norfolk suffered many years ago from m-alarial diseases cannot be doubte:!, and a little reflection and a comparison of the condition of things at that time with that of the present, will explain the cause of the prevalence then as well as the present immunity from this class of diseases. When Noi folk was first located, as is the case with every town near the water, the higher points of land nearest the water's edge were selected for oc- cupation. The desire for water fronts caused the city to grow mostly at the water's edge The filling up of low places at the shore cut ofi" from the tide depressions aM^ay from the water, and converted what had been inlets into stagnant ponds, and these furnished the most favorable nidi for the ma- larial poison. Since the city has grown beyond these ponds and has reached the higher background these sources of infection are entirely removed, and at this time it may be safely declared that the malarial poison is not generated within the city limits, and, indeed, for some distance beyond. It has been my habit for some years to inquire into the history of every case of malarial fever occurring in my practice, and it is seldom the case that I fail to trace the disease to some locality distant from the city. Not only has the filling up of the depressions alluded to contributed largely to the health of the city, but also the admirable systeir. of sewerage, which has only been com- pleted within tvro years, hius had much to do in diminishing the death rate, which, at this time, compares most favorably with the healthiest cities of this or any other country. In corroboration of this statement let us refer to the statistics of the past year, which is really the first year the sewerage could have had effect upon the health of the city. The number of deaths per thousand of population for t' year ending July 1st, 1890, was 21.77; of whites the number per thousand for the same period was 16.90; of colored, 28.22 per thousand. The large excess of deaths among the colored people is w^ell understood by those who are familiar with their mode of life. Their uncleanly habit.'', the want of ventilation, and the total exclusion of sunlight from their dwellings are the chief factors in causing the production of their high death rate. For these reasons the death rate of the whites should only enter into the calculation ; and this we see is now at the low rate of 16.5 per thousand for the year 1890. Let us now sum up the conditions which are found to exist here, and which render Norfolk not only a desirable and pleasant place of residence, but also a valuable health resort. 1st. A comparatively equable climate, with less range of temperature than any locality east of the Rocky Mountains 2d. A delightful winter climate, about the temperature of Georgia or northern Louisiana, having about the same winter isotherm as Shreveport. Bd, A delightful summer elimate, go cooled by the southeast sea breeze as 28 to make our summer isotherm about that of Kansas City. There is no need of leaving Norfolk in order to escape the heat of summer. I have suffered more from heat in New Tork than I have ever done in Norfolk. 4th. The prevalence of sea breezes containing an excess of oxygen, which are peculiarly grateful, valuable and beneficial to those consumptiveis who suffer from dyspnoea. 5th. Our proximity to the great pine forests of eastern Virginia and North Carolina, which are found to be generators of ozone, (an allotropic form of oxygen) one of the most valuable conditions for consumptives. 6th. Our proximity to the Gulf Stream, which contributes to our charming winter, not only by the breezes which, after being warmed by its surface bears its delightful temperature to us, but also by its eddies which actually lave our shores. 7th. Our winter climate, though not severe, is sufficiently cold to destroy disease producing germs, for in no instance has yellow fever been known to live through the winter so as to revive on the reappearance of warm weather. In addition to what I have written here I beg leave to refer you to a com- munication contributed by me at the request of a committee of the American Climotalogical Association, which is included in the report of Dr. A. Y. P. Garnett, of Washington, to that national society. These papers discuss the points contained in this communication more fully than I have been able to do at this time, and in addition furnish most in- teresting and valuable comparisons of the climate of Norfolk with that of other points on the Atlantic coast. Hoping that this may serve your purpose, and will direct attention to this, the finest climate east of the Rocky Mountains, I am Yours truly, S. K. Jackson,. M. D. P. S. Since writing the above I happened to glance at the weather map issued by the signal bureau for this day, December 18th, which so fully confirms the assertions made by me that I cannot forbear extending my communication for the purpose of copying from it some of its figures. I wish I could reproduce the whole map. The .isothermal line passing through Norfolk is marked 40°; after leaving this city it passes through the following places, at all of which the temperature is just the same, viz., 40°: First Lynchburg, then it dips south and passes off the coast above "Wilmington, N. C, (which is 38°) then sweeps to S. W., crosses Florida south of Jacksonville, (which is 38°) then west across the northern edge of the Gulf of Mexico, strikes the land between New Orleans (44°) and Mobile, (32°) rises toward the northwest through Shreve- port, dips rapidly south into Texas considerably to the east of Pio Grande City, whose temperature is as low as 34°, 6° below Norfolk's. This map en- ables us to compare Norfolk's temperature with other cities to the south of us and the statement may astonish those who have not paid attention to this sub- ject. The temperature of Norfolk and all the places mentioned as being on ^9 , the same isothermal line is 40°, Wilmington, N. C, 38°; Charleston, S. C, 38°; Augusta, 38°; Atlanta, 32°; Savannah, 38°; Jacksonville, 38°; Montgomery, 32°; Meridian, 32°; Vicksburg, 30°; Memphis, 34°; Cairo, in the same latitude as Norfolk, 28°; Nashville, 36°; Knoxville, 32°; Charlotte, 38°; Mobile, 32°. The only localities recorded as higher than Norfolk are Hatteras, 42 °; Titus- ville, Fla., 42°; Jupiter, in southern part of Florida, 48°; New Orleans, 44°; San Antonia, 48°; Corpus Christi, 42°; Brownsville, 46°; Palestine, La., 46°. This is a most remarkable showing, but the same may be seen to be the case often during the winter. On this day, December 18th, 1890, whose record is given above, occurred the clearing up of a N. E. storm, which was hardly recognized as such at Norfolk. But little rain and no snow fell during its passage over us, while some 100 or 150 miles to the west of us the severest snow storm occurred since that of 1857. While we have not seen a flake of snow we see accounts of the crushing in of houses, of the blocking up of roads, and of numerous houses snowed in, from the Shenandoah Valley and west to the Ohio river. On the coast to the north of us immense damage is reported, as on the New Jersey coast, at Long Branch, Asbury Park and Atlantic City. Houses are reported to be either surrounded by water or washed out to sea, and large portions of the several health resorts are reported submerged. Truly we have cause to be thankful, for no such disaster on our coast has been reported. Equally interesting and important is another report which has just been brought to my attention. It contains some statistics furnished by Rev, Dr. Barten, on the occurrence of the twenty-fifth anniversary of his rectorship of Christ Church. Though it is the report of but one parish, it may be taken as an index of all others in the city, and is well worth reproducing : In the twenty-five years there were 1,152 funerals, as follows: Under 1 year, 214 ; 1 to 10, 155 ; 10 to 20, 39 ; 20 to 30, 110 ; 30 to 40, 128 ; 40 to 50, 130 ; 50 to 60, 115 ; 60 to 70, 96 ; 70 to 80, 103 ; 81 to 90, 52 ; 90 to 92, 2 ; 94 to 95, 1 ; 96, 1 ; 98, 1 ; 99, 1. By this showing of the 1,152 deaths, 165 of them were persons over 70 years of age, or 14.3 per cent. This is a most favorable exhibit, and needs no comment. S. K. Jackson, M. D. COASX DE:FHI!^SKS — CHESAFKAKB BAY. BY HON. MARSHALL PARKS Since the introduction of modern war ships and heavy ordnance our old- fashioned stone forts are no longer able to defend the seaport cities, and they are at the mercy of any second rate power. The defense of the Chesapeake is the only protection to our national cap- ital and the numerous cities and towns that are on the rivers that flow into the Bay, It would seem, therefore, that the proper place for defence should 30 be at the "gates of the ocean." Cape Henry and Cape Charles are only ten miles apart, but there are many shoals on the Cape Charles side, and heavy jaden ships must enter near Cape Henry. It is proposed to remove tlie Rip Raps, Fort (Calhoun- Wool,) as it is no longer necessary for an adjunct to Fortress Monroe, and transplant it on the middle ground between Cape Henry and Cape Charles, about six miles distant from the former, and erect upon it a modej'n steel clad structure, mounted with the heaviest guns, and so arranged to furnish shelter for a few small torpedo boats; to build at Cape Henry earth works fortifications and unite them with submarine cables hav- ing all the latest appliances for submarine batteries. Lynn Haven river, close under Cape Henry, may be made a central station for torpedo boats to assist in the defence. Should the enemy attempt to land any where south along the coast, by the construction of a few short canals and removal of a few shoals in the natural waterways, these torpedoes and mortar boats may proceed as far south as Florida without going one mile in the ocean. If the mortar and torpedo boats should be required north they may pro- ceed up Chesapeake Bay and through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal ^o Philadelphia and thence by Delaware and Raritan Canal to New York and, if required on the Lakes, go to Oswego or Buffalo by the Erie Canal. The old tower formerly used as a light-house at Cape Henry could have an electric search light placed upon it. XHH HARBOR OF I^ORFOI^K, VIRGINIA. BY HENRY H. BARROLL, LIEU'T. U. S. NAVY. Norfolk, owing to its fortanate geographical position, is necessarily one of the most important shipping points on the Atlantic coast. As regards safety and facility of access, it has no superior among the Northern ports ; while those farther southward do not in any degree compare with it in either of the above advantages. The Gulf Stream, transporting immense volumes of tropically heated water, flowing north, is breasted off to the eastward by Cape Hatteras, Experience shows that the cyclonic storms, occurring during the months of July, August and September, have a tendency to re-curve to the eastward in latitudes varying from 28° to 32° north — Cape Hatteras being in about 35°. and Cape Henry in about 87°, north latitude. ' The warm atmosphere resting above the surface of the Gulf Stream is met by the cold air- walls, borne in waves from .the northwest, producing gales, squalls or stormy weather ; and causing the 'passage of Cape Hatteras to be generally attended with more or less difficulty and danger. Norfolk furnishes the first secure harbor to the northward of this cape, and 31 also a safe outlet through which all of the vast inland commerce, arriving from below this point, may seek the ocean. Water carriage will ever hold the supremacy over transportation by any other means. As regards her advantages in this respect, Norfolk can claim to be one of the most favored cities in the United States. The broad entrance to Chesapeake Bay, a body of water which, for com- mercial purposes has no equal, allows vessels under either steam or sail to readily enter Hampton Roads, where is found the largest and safest harbor south of New York. The James and Elizabeth rivers, here meeting, form a triangular estuary in which large fleets of merchant shipping may, through- out the most violent gales, safely ride at anchor. There is a 36 -foot channel, well marked with buoys and lighthouses, and varying in width from 100 to 1,000 yards, which leads from the entrance of Chesapeake Bay to the wharves of Norfolk, and also beyond, to the United States Navy Yard. It is well to particularly notice this, since, notwithstand- ing the dredging of this channel at great expense, by the national govern- ment, still foreign shippers are not generally aware of its existence. There are thirty-two pilots allowed by the state law, and the authorized pilotage is smaller than that of any other port in the United States, being from $2.50 to |4.50 per foot, according to the vessel's draught. Two important water-ways — the Dismal Swamp Canal and the Albermarle and Chesapeake Canal — connect the North Carolina Sounds with Chesapeake Bay, making a part of that system of inland navigation which extends from Beaufort and Newberne, North Carolina, to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York, and if so desired, to the great Northern Lakes. These water-ways are arteries, through which flow from the Albermarle and Pamplico Sounds, and their tributary streams, the varied commercial products of Eastern North Carolina, and territory even farther south and west. Until our attention is directed to this fact, we fail to realize the extent to which these inland passages are used; but a glance at the statistics of Nor- folk's lumber and stave trade will give an idea of their importance, when we reflect that, substantially, the entire supply of timber introduced into the Norfolk market, may be said to arrive through these canals. Huge rafts, like immense serpents, wind along, each in tow of a diminitive tug, the total expense of which, though slight, is yet sufficient to allow a fair profit to the raftsmen as well as to the lumber dealer; while the tugs re- turn, having in tow, long lines of schooners loaded with farming machinery and other manufactured articles from the workshops of Norfolk and citiei further north: The James Eiver and Chesapeake Bay naturally deliver their produce at Norfolk. These, with their tributary streams, represent a total length of 1,500 miles of tidal coast. That of the North Carolina Sounds further aug- ments this to about 2,500 miles of coast line which, although inland water, ie yet daily washed and purified by the salt waves. 32 Tbe climate is such an equable one that the three neighboring seaside resorts, Old Point Comfort, Virginia Beach and Ocean View, may well declare them- selves to be either winter or summer resorts. Tbe thermometer in summer ranges between 70° and 90° Fahr., and in winter Birely falls below 20°. The mean annual rainfall is about 52 inches, fairly distributed throughout the year, about 35 inches being precipitated during that period extending from the 1st of March to the 1st of October, the time when the crops are grow- ing. Possibly it is due to this tempering of the climate by the Gulf Stream, and also to the certainty of an abundance of rain when most needed, that Norfolk has become a great trucking centre on the Atlantic coast. Be the cause what it may, those persons who have visited all parts of the globe con- cur in asserting that here is found a market which is equal to, if not supe- rior, to any other market in the world. The market for vegetables, game, poultry and fish is always excellent. The oyster interest of Chesapeake Bay, though much deteriorated in later years, owing to injudicious dredging and insufficient protection, is now being better guarded through stringent laws enacted by those states whose int^- ests have been so jeopardized, and oyster planting is now being largely re- sorted to in order to replace the devastation of the natural beds. Oyster cul- ture is more profitable, acre for acre, than the raising of any other article of food. Norfolk is the natural centre for this trade, so far as the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are concerned, and has for her only rival the city of Baltimore, a place more difficult of access to the oysterman. Already Lambert's Point and Newport News have become the greatest coaling stations on the Atlantic coast, while the grade of coal here handled, "Pocahontas" produces the finest steaming results, and is preferred by the ocean greyhounds in making their great transatlantic races. The United States Navy Yard, with its two dry docks and modern steel- working machinery, and the recently established ship building plant at New- port's News, with a dry dock of greater capacity than any other in America, give an assurance of having at all times, in this vicinity plenty of skilled workmen and the proper facilities for docking and repairing the largest ocean steamships. Norfolk stands where each of the several lines of railroad, leading from the south and west, finds its earliest and most reliable seaboard terminus. Although large cities are sometimes found located inland, as London, Paris, etc., yet history shows it to be the invariable rule that at those points where there are good harbors, or where large water courses meet the ocean, great and populous cities will be established. Norfolk possesses both of these advantages, and her fine harbor, with its tributary water communication, as- sures to her the fact that she will in the future become the largest city of the South. 33 VIRGINIA'S HISTORIC CITY. BY A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE NEW YORK EVENING POST, JUNE 25th, 1890. Southern "booms" are suggestive of artificiality in many cases. But the good old town of Norfolk, Virginia, which is renewing its youth nowadays in a particularly lusty and aggressive manner, cannot be suspected of em- ploying the tricks of the professional boomer's trade. Its age protects its reputation, and furthermore, the evidences of the solidity of its boom are too many and obvious to be gainsaid or belittled. There is no reason why Norfolk should not become speedily one of the largest, richest and most important cities ot the United States. In fact, in the writer's opinion — which is the opinion of a disinterested New Yorker who has had occasion to visit Norfolk several times within the last few years, and to observe its growth during that period — Virginia's historic "City by the Sea" is under full headway towards the realization of that possibility. THE NATURAL ADVANTAGES in its favor are known to the nation, but not so well known or appreciated as they might be ; and what has been done in the recent past in the line of com- mercial and social advance is worthy of attention from the business men and capitalists of the North, Norfolk is the leading seaport of Virginia, and by nature was fitted and in- tended for the chief seaport of the South. Its harbor is the best in all re- spects on the Atlantic coast, south of New York, and in one important re- spect is superior to that of New York— it has no bar. Within twenty-five miles of the open ocean, and with a perfectly straight and clear course out into deep water, the port is nevertheless so situated as to be completely landlocked and protected from storms at all seasons. The Elizabeth river, a tidal estuary setting in from the Chesapeake, affords a wide, calm, deep road- stead alohg the water front of Norfolk and of its sister city, Portsmouth with twenty-five feet of water at the docks, and ample opportunity for load- ing and unloading the largest vessels with the utmost ease and dispatch. THE TERMINAL FACILITIES ARE EXCELLENT. The railways run directly to the water's edge, and freight is transferred to vessels with the least possible labor and delay, without the assistance of dray- men, lighters, or any other expensive means. Another advantage is the cli- mate, which is so mild that outdoor as well as indoor work can be carried on without a day's interruption, all' the year round ; and still another is the abundance of cheap labor here available. THE GEOGRAPHICAL POSITION of Norfolk is extremely favorable to its commercial prosperity. A glance at the map will show that Norfolk is the natural outlet of the vast region com- prising the greater portion of what is generally known as the New South^ 34 Louisiana, Texas, southeastern Georgia, Florida and South Carolina may'lind it more convenient to export by way of New Orleans, Galveston, Savannah and Charleston, but the great coal, iron, tobacco, cotton, lumber, tar and food producing regions of Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ala- bama and upper Georgia naturally seek Norfolk as the nearest good seaport on the route from the southwest to the markets in New York, New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Europe. Given adequate means of transpor- tation, the route by way of Norfolk would afford the smallest possible rail- way mileage and the cheapest and best methods ot communication between producers and consumers. ITS TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES. Norfolk now has nine railroads, and others are in contemplation. Six of the nine are important trunk lines, conveying here from the North, the West and the South, and most of them have been perfected during the last year or two. The imposing Norfolk and Western road, traversing the entire southern portion of Virginia, and rendering invaluable aid in the work of developing and marketing the rich ores of the Virginia and Tennessee mountains. The Seaboard and Roanoke runs down into North Carolina and makes important connections at Weldon, Raleigh, etc. The Atlantic and Danville is another trunk line running in the same general direction, and is intending to make far western connections in the near future. The Norfolk and Carolina is a new line tapping the Atlantic coast line in North Carolina, and built in the interests of that line and of the West Point Terminal, to se- cure for those corporations the advantage of a Norfolk terminus. The Chesa- peake and Ohio, the rails of which reach tidewater at Newport News, has preferred to establish its official eastern terminus at Norfolk, and makes con- nections between those two points by a line of steamboats. Finally we have the direct and important connection with the metropolis, known as the New York, Philadelphia and Norfolk road, which does an immense business both in passenger traffic and in the transportation of truck, farm produce and sea food. Besides these there is the Norfolk and Southern, running to Edenton, N. C, on Albemarle Sound, a valuable ally of the truck farmers and oystermen of one of the most productive portions of the country. The five great lines leading to Norfolk from the west and southwest bring hither a heavy freight of cotton, coal and mineral ores, and other products of the interior. RAILROADS ARE NOT BUILT FOR FUN, and those who have invested millions of dollars in the construction of five competing lines to Norfolk may be presumed to know what they are about. They know, or at least they evidently believe, that Norfolk is destined to be a commercial centre of the first rank. They perceive the various natural ad- vantages already named, and they look forward to the time when the bulk of the exports of the South will come to Norfolk for trans-shipment to Europe and to the North, and thus avoid the heavy expense of railway carriage tq 35 most Northern ports. In conformity with their views, the commerce of Nor- folk, always noteworthy as to volume and value, is now seen to be advancing with steady and even rapid strides. The city has daily communication by steamer with Richmond, Washington and Baltimore, and almost daily with New York. ITS INDUSTRIES. Norfolk has one grain elevator, two cotton mills, and several machine shops, where locomotives, carriages, agricultural implements, etc., are made. The cheapness with which coal and iron can be now brought hither points to a rapid development of these industries. Another very important factor in the business activity of the city and vicinity is the truck farming industry. The finest truck farms in the United States are in the suburbs of Norfolk, and their savory products find their way regularly to New York, Philadelphia, and other great Northern markets within twenty-four or thirty-six hours after they are harvested. An analogous industry is the fish and oyster industry of Norfolk, which is very extensive, and is connected with the Northern markets in like manner. Now, thanks to the improved transportation facilities, Norfolk is reaching out with her wonderful products to all parts of the country and to the world, and the end is not yet — in fact, it is the belief of the best informed authori- ties that the city is only at the beginning of a mighty prosperity. ITS ATTRACTIONS. The condition of the real estate market is usually a good index to the actual prosperity of a place. Real estate was cheap and slow a few years ago. The change that has taken place within three short years is almost miraculous. New life has entered the veins of the citizens. The population has increased nearly 60 per cent, since 1880, and now numbers about 40,000. The area of the city has been extended lately to more than treble its former size, taking in the suburban villages of Brambleton and Atlantic City. On the other side of the river Portsmouth and Berkley — practically a part of Norfolk — show simi- lar advancement, and new settlements called South Norfolk and West Nor- folk have been started. On the Bay and Ocean the beautiful new Summer Resorts, Ocean View and Virginia Beach, have contributed to the general pleasure and prosperity, and the lands lying alongside the railroads leading to those places are in process of rapid development. A large park on the river front, similar to the Battery Park in New York, has been ordered by the city and will soon be begun. Another park at the East End, involving many pic- turesque landscape features, is among the probabilities ; and still another, be- yond the present city limits, is talked of. In the northern part of the city, between the old and new boundary lines, there will be, ere long, some FINE ORNAMENTAL ADDITIONS in the way of wide avenues and winding drives, bordered, eventually, doubt- less, by handsome residences. In the present fashionable quarter of the city 36 a large number of costly new houses in the most modern styles have been erected recently, and there is much activity in buildmg this season in all parts of the town. The best streets, like Bute, Freemason, etc., are beautiful gardens and bowers, with a wealth of towering magnolias, luxuriant roses and all manner of lovely trees and flowers. The city has been improved radically and incalculably during the last two years by the introduction of a thorough system of sewerage, followed by a re- paving of the principal streets. Previously there were no sewers at all and the pavement was of the poorest kind of cobblestone. Now twenty-two miles of sewers afford perfect drainage, and the cobble is rapidly giving place to the best kind of block pavement, which is to be laid, eveutually, through the main body of the town. THE WATER SUPPLY Is ample and of excellent quality. The service has been recently reorganized in accordance with the most approved modern ideas.- Two years ago the supply was only sufficient for 20,000 persons, at the outside, owing to defective service. The old apparatus caused a loss of more than 75 per cent, of the water power ; but now, since the introduction of new machinery and larger pipes the supply is sufficient tor 100,000 persons and the loss is not more than 10 per cent. For these great improvements Norfolk is, in a large measure, indebted to the enterprise and ability of its accomplished City Engineer, Mr. William T. Brooke, who has labored incessantly during the last eight years in behalf of the city's best interest. Other leading citizens and the city press deserve much credit also for their energetic efforts and public spirit. ACTIVITY IN REAL ESTATE. The effect of all these improvements on the value of real estate has been very striking. Three typical cases may be cited. In Brambleton three lots which were bought four years ago for $30 apiece were sold, the other day, for $900 apiece, and dozens of parallel transactions in that suburb might be men- tioned. On Bute street a lot purchased three years ago for $1,500 has just been sold for $4,000. In the northern extension of the city a tract of fifty-five acres, which was considered almost valueless, and was exchanged for an old panorama, worth, perhaps, |500, a few years ago, was recently sold for $90,000, and is to be converted into building lots. These are fair illustrations of the recent rise in real estate in Norfolk. Outside capital is flowing in to take ad- vantage of this activity. Half a dozen companies for the improvement of real estate and the institution and encouragement of manufacturers have been formed and are busil^^ at work. These companies are composed of cap- italists not only of Norfolk, but also of New York, Philadelphia and Eng- land, who have learned the facts detailed in this letter, and have acted accord- ingly. They know that Norfolk is the greatest lumber, fish and vegetable produce centre in the South ; that it is the third cotton port in the country, and bids fair to become the second, if not the first ; that it is THE TERMINUS OF FIVE GREAT TRUNK LINES From the interior ; that its receipts of lumber last year were over 350,000,000 feet, of meat nearly 20,000,000 pounds, of coal more than l,000,060,and that these figures show an increase of about 100 per cent, over those of 1888 ; that the population is rapidly increasing, the price of real estate advancing by leaps and bounds, and the modernization of the city nearing a complete accom- plishment ; that the climate is so balmy and the soil so fertile that two or three crops are raised annually with scarce any artificial fertilization ; and, finally, that the society of the town is in the highest degree refined and agreeable. No wonder that strangers and outside capital are now attracted to Norfolk, and that her prosperity in these latter days is so much greater than its old citizens ever saw or even dreamed of in the times before the Merrimac steamed out of the Elizabeth river. A NE'W OUXI.ET FOR OHIO. C. O. Hunter, Esq., of the law firm of Earnhart, Hunter & Butler, of Columbus, Ohio, wrote the following- letter to the Evening- Dis- patch, of that city, his observations of this port, as an outlet for central Ohio, during a visit to Norfolk and Fortress Monroe, in June, 1890: Fortress Monroe, JuNe 27. — The absorption of the Scioto Valley Rail- way Company by the Norfolk and Western Railroad System is a fact of suf- ficient interest to the city of Columbus and central Ohio to at least lead to the inquiry of the possible benefits which may follow. That conservative Co- lumbus, with her unexcelled natural advantages, her industrious spirit, her inexorable push and her financial strength may appreciate the opportunities which now lie at her threshold, a few facts by way of education may not here be amiss. THE NORFOLK AND WESTERN RAILROAD system, comprising more than 1,200 miles, is owned and officered by far- seeing, enterprising and active people. The railway is subsidiary, or the vehicle on which they carry to successful ends the numerous investments which they make in undeveloped lands, minerals, timbers, town cites, steam- boats and barge interests, terminal, wharf properties, warehouses, grain ele- vators, traffic facilities, etc. They ^arrange and manage so that each interest feeds, nourishes, supports and strengthens every other. The original main line of 408 miles extends between Norfolk and Bristol, Tenn., and is now being double-tracked to accommodate the vast volume of lumber, coal, iron and cotton freights intended for export, coast and foreign. There are many branch lines, with others in progress of construction, and to 38 be completed within the coming year. It connects by one branch of the road with lines that lead to Wilmington, N. C, and to the southwest; it is completing its Clinch Valley extension to a point in Wise county, Va., near the Kentucky line, and to connect with the Louisville and Nashville system, running from New Orleans to Chicago, and also from the New river south- western coal fields division of the road northwestardly to the Ohio river, there by bridge to connect with the Scioto and Hocking Valleys, which arc arteries into central Ohio, the very heart of the republic. The liberal policy of its management has encouraged immigration and in- vestment all along its line, and that most promising region of southwestern Virginia is now responding everywhere to the touch of capital and enterprise. With the Scioto Valley thus absorbed and the Kanawa and Michigan by the Chesapeake and Ohio, two additional new rival and dire(;t seaboard routes leading to the deepest and most COMMODIOUS HARBOR OP THE WORLD. So large, indeed, that the entire shipping of the globe could here find a haven, having, as she has, a double coast defense through her natural chanHel and byway of the Albemarle and Chesapeake canal, connecting Chesapeake Bay with Currituck, Albemarle, Pamlico, Cove and Bogue Sounds and their tributary streams. Norfolk lies on th€ north bank of the Elizabeth river, at the confluence of the eastern and western branches of that stream, eight nuies from Hampton Roads and twenty- three miles from Capes Charles and Henry, on the Atlantic coast. The channel of the river at the city is between 1,000 and 1,200 feet wide and twenty -two feet deep, low tide; the current is about one mile^Der hour. The county of Norfolk has a population of about 100,000 ; upwards of 60 000 inhabitants residing within the limits of the port of customs, a terri- tory comprising Norfolk proper, Brambleton and Berkley, suburbs and Ports- mouth, which has a city government of its ov/n. For seventeen miles from Craney Island, five miles down from the two cities to a point twelve miles up stream from them, the channel averages one and a quarter miles in breadth, and with three feet of tide, twenty -five deep at low water and twenty-seven at the flood. VESSELS OF TWENTY-SEVEN HUNDRED TONS measurement can easily come up to the wharves of both Norfolk and Ports- mouth, and those of six thousand tons, gross, have entered. As for Hampton Roads, the "Great Eastern," leviathan of ships as she^was, found ample sea room^in it. More than one thousand deep water vessels enter this harbor every year, and perhaps one hundred and fifty carry foreign flags. Besides those of the port proper, a Liverpool and Brazilian mail line run from Newport News, eight miles from Norfolk, and in connection with the Chesapeake and Ohio railway. 39 The World's Fair bill, as passed Congress, provides that a naval review of the ships of this and other nations shall be held in the harbor of New York in April, 1893, and that for this purpose they shall rendezvous at Hampton Roads before proceeding to New York. The cotton export exceeds that of New York. Last year about 500,000 bales were shipped. The products grown are exceedingly varied, the ground easily worked, and modern agriculture unknown. With development this country will become THE BELGIUM OF AMERICA. The feature of the agriculture found about Norfolk is the trucking or grow- ing of vegetables for Northern markets. The soil is warm, the climate favor- able, the rainfall plentiful. There are about 40,000 acres in this section de- voted to trucking. THE COUI^XI^Y AI^OUKO P^JOMFOI^K. (From "Virginia as She Is," issued 18S9, by the State Board of Agriculture.) Norfolk County lies in the southeast corner of the State, bordering on Hampton Roads and Chesapeake Bay, with only one county. Princess Anne, between it and the sea. It is about thirty-two miles long, north and south, and seventeen miles wide, containing nearly 550 square miles. It is bounded on 'the north by Chesapeake Bay and Hampton Roads, on the east by Princess Anne County, on the south by North Caroliija, and on the west by Nanse- mond County, Elizabeth River and Hampton Roads. The county is pene- trated by several arms of the sea, viz . Tanner's Creek, Broad Creek, Ma- son's Creek and Deep Creek which, with the three branches of the Elizabeth River, viz : the "Eastern Branch," "Western Branch" and "Southern Branch," constitute Si Yei J fine wate?' system, and places each farm in Norfolk County within three miles of water transportation. This insures to the Norfolk County farmer the cheapest transportation in the world. Two canals connect the waters of the Chesapeake with those of the North Carolina sj^stem of sounds and rivers, thus making all of eastern North Carolina tributary to Norfolk harbor by water. Nine railroads terminate in Norfolk harbor, cut- ting Norfolk County in all directions. Wine beautiful shell turnpikes also traverse Norfolk County from all points of the compass, centering on our fine harbor. Therefore, we may safely claim that the Norfolk County farmer is better supplied with transportation facilities than the farmers of any other county in the United States. All the streams of water in Norfolk County are effected by the tide, the tide ebbing and flowing to the very heads of all the streams. I'his constant ebbing and flowing of the tide carries the salt pure waters of the ocean twice each twenty-four hours up all these streams, and makes it quite impossible for any water to become stagnant or impure. These arms of the sea also afl'ord the finest natural drainage known. The excess of rainfall running into them without ever doing a dollars worth of damage by flood or freshet, Tli& soil of Norfolk County is of two general kinds, viz : a 40 clay loam and a sandy loam, all underlaid with a good, substantial clay sub- soil. The surface of the county is from eight to twenty feet above the sea level. The mean annual rainfall is about fifty-two inches, well distributed throughout the year, of which amount about thirty-five inches falls during the growing season, sa}'" from the 1st of March to the 1st of October. The thermometer ranges in Rummer from 70° to 90°, seldom going to 95° above zero, while in winter it never goes below 20° above zero more than on three days, all told, during the winter. This cutting off of the two extremes of heat and cold is caused by the fact that the country is practically surrounded on three sides by salt water, and the water never goes to either extreme, as the water temperature is quite uniform throughout the year. '■'The Gulf Stream,'"' that great wonder of the Atlantic, which rolls only a few miles off'onr coast, on its way to Europe, has a very pleasing efi'ect on our climate, especially on our winter climate. Norfolk County annually produces from $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 worth of market garden vegetables. The famous Dismal Stcamp is on a hillside twenty-seven feet above the level of the sea in this harbor. If a wide and deep ditch were dug from tidewater to the lake in the centre of this Swamp the water thereof would run out to the sea like a mill race, andHJie Swamp would be a thing of the past. This Swamp was surveyed by Wash- ington at an early clay, and the famous Dismal Swamp Canal was surveyed and located by him, and he owned large tracts in the Swamp. There are no waters in the United States so pure as those of this Swamp. G-overnment vessels leaving this harbor for long ocean voyages secure this juniper water from the Swamp on account of both its medicinal and keeping qualities. In- valids who, with rod and gun, go into this Swamp and spend a few weeks or months sleeping on juniper boughs, drinking juniper water and inhaling the juniper impregnated air rapidly improve in health, appetite and general robustness. (From Norfolk Landmark, Norember 27, 1890.) There are many Virginians so conservative that they bend over backwards to keep from leaning a little forward. Progress and growth to them mean ex- travagance and inflation. The brilliant prospects which are pictured for their state and for their own localities, as well as others, are to them the figments of a feverish dream. Nevertheless things move on and the doubt of to-day becomes the reality of to-morrow. When the question is asked why should not Virginia do what other States with no greater natural resources and not so favorable a situation have done, there is no answer. No man can say, for there is no reason. On the contrary there is every reason why she should do what other States have done, and more. Every reason'.why her villages should rapidly grow into towns, her towns into cities and her cities into vast metropolitan proportions. 41 A writer in the New York Journal of Commerce^ ^ conservative and unim- aginative newspaper, discussed, the other day, in an article of some length, the comparative advantages of Massachusetts and Virginia in respect to development. *'What men have done," says he, "men can do again. What Massachusetts has done Virginia can do. The Bay State has only one advantage over us. Her cold east winds have carried the croaker to the only place cold enough and dark enough to make him feel at home. He is dead and buried. He croaks no more. So much for a bad climate. In all soberness and truth., Massachusetts is superior to Virginia only in the splendid energy and the dar- ing business courage of her men. If any man knows of one gift with which nature has more richly endowed her than Virginia let him name it. Let us compare the two States. In climate the Old Dominion is to the Bay State as Paradise is to Purgatory. In the variety of her crops and the generosity of her soil, Virginia is unsurpassed ; in harbors and in water power, in timber and in the variety of wealth of her mineral deposits, few, if any. States sur- pass her. Take all in all, the round world holds no fairer realm. Massachu- setts has an area of 8,030 square miles. Virginia has five times as much ter- ritory, capable of supporting two men where Massachusetts supports one." A VOICB FROM CAMBRIDGE. (By Edward Stack, Special Correspondent of the Cambridge, Mass., Tribune, October 13th, 1890). THE CITY OF NORFOLK. The heavy sales of real estate which have taken place in the city of Nor- folk within the last few weeks are having the natural effect, and the move- ments of real estate are watched closely as well by outside parties as by the capitalists within the city. When we consider the amount invested by outside parties in Virginia within the last seven years— that of Philadelphia alone being upwards of $7,000,000— the profitable development of her mineral mountains, the exten- sion of the railroad interests of the state, the appreciation of properties, the enormous amount of cash paid to mechanics, miners and laboring men, and lastly, the great consumption of material for building purposes— considering all these facts, do the rise and progress of about twelve young cities show a result inconsistent with what might reasonably be expected ? My own opinion is that the advance apparent is a conservative result of the MIGHTY INFLUENCES AT WORK, and that the day is not far distant when a greater prosperity will show itself. When we cannot rule or foresee the order of events, then our 'wisest course is to set our sails to the breezes that blow and go on with the tide. There is a great deal of conservatism in Norfolk, but the city must accept the inevitable, and represent^by its progress the destiny that awaits the State. Norfolk was 42 always a lively city when compared with other large cities of Virginia. Its population to- day may be set down at from 35,000 to 40,000, while the imme- diate surroundings of Norfolk enable the city to draw benefits from a popu- lation of about 60,000. Portsmouth, with nearly 14,000 inhabitants, might well be under the same city government, and Berkley is but a suburb of Nor- folk. The prosperity of the city to-day is unmistakable. EVERY INTEREST IS ADVANCING, and shows by figures a cheering ratio in excess of last year's computations. Norfolk is deeply interested in the prosperity of Western Virginia, for all and any movement increasing the wealth of that portion of the State invigor- ates the business life of Norfolk. The coal of Pocahontas is borne to tide water at Norfolk, and hundreds of thousands of tons are shipped at the port. The cotton traffic alone brings to the city 3,000 bales a day, and the foreign cotton fleet keeps the compresses busy even to the working of the machinery day aud night. The cotton men expect the receipts of the port to run up to 700,000 bales this season FREEDOM PROM ICE in the harbor, deep water and a good anchorage constitute the essentials which go to establish a great harbor or shipping port. All these essentials are pos- sessed by Norfolk, and though her place to-day as a city is nothing in pro- portion to the importance she holds in her harbor, she can proudly look upon twenty-five lines of steamers departing each day from her port. In addition to these, her land transportation shows her to possess, with ten lines entering the city more railroads than Richmond. Norfolk has entered upon A GREAT CAREER OP PROSPERITY, and it is not improbable that the city, under its influence, will grow to a population of 100,000 within seven years. All are of the opinion that Nor- folk will be the largest city in the State ; there has been no competitor for that position but Richmond, and a comparison of the progress in both cities leaves little doubt that the opinion pronounced will be fulfilled. Gardening for market is carried on extensively all around Norfolk, and the ^alue of the productions raised forms no small item in the exports. I have never seen a city of 100,000 a market as well supplied as I saw the Saturday I was in Norfolk. The farmers in this part of Virginia are prosperous. I have heard of ane who made 120,000 in one year from 100 acres of land. Of course, this is an exception, but it shows what can be done. With such a port as that of Norfolk, by its nearness to the centers of population, north and eastward, there is no limit to the profitable expansion of such pursuits. Two crops are often taken from the same ground under the influence of the genial climate of Virginia. THE YIELD OP FARM PRODUCTIONS shipped from the port of Norfolk for 1890 will, it is etimated, reach the enor- 43 mcras amount of $4,500,000. These figures are enough to show the- value of farming industries tributary to the city. The surveys have been ordered and the wark of construction will soon begin on a belt line of railroad to encircle Norfolk, Portsmouth and Berkley, connecting all the leading railroad lines, and lurnishing faciliti^ for trans- ferring cars to and from these lines and to the various manufactories and wharves. This railway will bring all lines centering here into one union depot. Norfolk otfers unequalled advantages for the establishment of mechanical industries, both large and small. There are already a number here, including two cotton factories, with another in course of organization, the last with a capital of $300,000 ; shirt factories, basket factories, sash and blind factories, fertilizer factories on a large scale, shoe factories, plow works, iron foundries and agricultural implement factories, brick yards, a large carriage manufac- tory and extensive coffee r< asting and peanut establishments. Negotiations are uow being completed for a large steel plant, which will give employment to 5,C00 hands. MANUFACTURING ENTERPRISES are to-day seeking for Southern locations, and Norfolk, as a site possessing great advantages, cannot be overlooked. The new industries which will be immediately instituted will be a car works, the Chesapeake Knitting Mills, a cotton factory and flouring mills, which are to cost over $1,000,000, and will insure employment to several hundred hands. RAILWAY FACILITIES. The building of two new and important railroads during the year goes to sustain the opinion so Icmg held by many that Norfolk is destined to become the great centre of the Atlantic coast ; but the advent of two new roads by no means embraces all the acquirements in this direction. The Norfolk and Western railroad has contracted ior the extension of its line to the Ohio river, including a bridge across that great water highway, and has acquired 181 miles of additional track by the purchase of the Scioto Valley railroad, which penetrates the richest portion of the great state of Ohio, and at Columbus connects with railroads diverging to every point of the compass. The value of this purchase to Norfolk is equal to the securing of an inde- pendent line, and her interest in the Shenandoah Valley road is of great consequence also. With this may be mentioned the extension of the Sea- board Air Line to Atlanta, and the chartering of several new roads, among them the Virginia, Missouri and Pacific, which is the proposed air line be- tween Norfolk and the Golden Gate. By a special act of Congress Hampton Roads has been designated as THE NAVAL RENDEZVOUS OF THE WORLD on the occasion of the World's Fair at Chicago, which means that all the navies of the world will be represented there. The meeting of those ships will be one of the grand historical events of the world, and preparations are being made commensurate with its dignity. 44 DELIGHTFUL SURROUNDINGS. There is not, perhaps, a city ia America that can boast of more delightful surroundings than Norfolk. The points of interest and of beauty around the harbor have established its fame as a summer and winter resort. The breezes from the open sea provide a refreshing coolness from the summer heat, and the tempei-ate mildness of Virginia offers a retreat from the freezing condi- tion of a Northern climate Norfolk will be a city of 100,000 people in seven years. Ships for the United States}Navy are being built at Norfolk, and it can boast of THE FINEST DRY DOCK, not excepting California, in the United States. The steamers City of Paris and Teutonic, the greyhounds of the Atlantic, use Pocahontas coal, which is shipped from the port of Norfolk. The scenes of the battle between the Mer- rimac and Monitor, which was fought in Hampton Roads, is almost within sight of the city, and is pointed out as you are borne in magnificent steamers to points of interest in the harbor. For a charge of fifty cents a beautiful steamer will convey you from the city to Fortress Monroe, whose bristling cannons protect ihe entrance to the harbor. Close to the Fort is the Hygeia Hotel, the grandest institution of the kind in the world. The harbor of Nor- folk could afford shelter to all the shipping of the world, and place at their disposal twenty-eight feet of water at low tide. In this review of this interesting city many items of interest and of public worth are left unnoticed and undescribed. The city is lighted by electricity and gas ; schools and churches are so situated as.to show that religion and edu- cation go hand in hand for the general good. The street car system is found to be insufficient for the new growth of the city, and more than one company to construct an electric car system has been incorporated. The future will see in this country a great ship building boom, and Norfolk will certainly take a lead as a ship building port. There are being completed here now large steel cruisers for the Navy. A BEI.T I.I1SE AROrXD THE CITY. From the Cornucopia. It is generally well known that the facilities enjoyed by this seaport (Nor- folk) for the quick and cheap transferring and handling of all kinds of freight are simply unrivalled in the United States. There is no other seaport in the Union where the ocean steamers and the many lines of rail are so closely and advantageously connected as here. Notwithstanding this a move is now on foot to add very materially to these advantages. This move is the "Belt Line," so called because it will "belt" or girdle the cities of Portsmouth, Berkley and Norfolk, and closely connect five of the great lines of rail terr minuting on deep ^^^ater in this grand tiarbor, This ^'PeU Line" will closely 45 connect and secure harmonious and pleasant traffic relations between the fol- lowing railroads, viz. : "The Norfolk and Western," "Norfolk and Carolina," "Norfolk and Southern," " Seaboard and Roanoke," and " Atlantic and Dan- ville." As soon as the Virginia Beach Railroad is changed from a narrow to standard guage, it will then include that liae, making six lines of rail to be benefitted by this "Belt Line." The first two named roads are the ones act- ively engaged in pushing this splendid enterprise. As stated above, it is to belt the cities on this harbor with a line of steel, just outside the present limits of these cities. It opens up 'a fine stretch of country and brings into market some fine bodies of land, situated admirably for all kinds of manufac- turing purposes, as well as for additions to the cities above named. The finest sites for factories can be secured on this "Belt Line," as a factory lo- cated on the " Belt Line " is practically on all the above-named lines six lines of road connected by the said " Belt Line." ^^AGBS A^D SAI^ARIHS. For the purpose of answering^ those who desire to know rates of pay to the employed, we give below such figures as may be consid- ered a fair average of prevailing prices at the present date : Class op Labor Brick layers Book binders Bookkeepers Blacksmiths Carpenters Cotton screwmen Cooks and laundriers Day laborers^ white and colored Hod Carriers Hotel Waiters 'Longshoremen Machinists Moulders , Nurses Plasterers Painters . , Printers Pressmen Porters Sailors— on sailing vessels " " steamers " " tugs Ship carpenters ... Street car drivers '* " conductors Tinners Truckmen and drivers . Tailors , Hours Employed 53 per week 58 per week 10 per day 53 per week 54 per week 10 per day 8 per day 9 per day 10 per day 10 per day 8 per day 53 per week 58 per week 58 per week 9 per day 9 per day 10 per day 10 per day 10 per day Wages Paid P 4.00 per day 9.00 to 15.00 per week 50.00 to 150.00 per m'nth 12.00 to 15.00 per week 2.00 to 3.00 per day 4.00 to 5.00 per day 6.00 to 8.00 per month 1.00 to 1.25 per day 1.75 per day 12.00 to 15.00 per month 1.50 to 2.00 per day 15.00 to 23.00 per week 12 00 to 18.00 per week 6.00 to 8.00 per month 2.50 to 3.50 per day 150 to 2.50 per day 15.00 per week 5.00 to 18.00 per week 12.00 to 15.00 per month 15.00 to 25.00 per month 15.00 to 25.00 per month 15.00 to 25 00 per month 2.50 per day 9.00 to 12.00 per week 9.00 to 12.00 per week 1.75 to 2.50 per day 1.25 per day 18.00 per week Von HEIMERT & CO., IMORROLK, VA. ROAIMOKE, VA. Bond and Stock Brokers Virginia Investment Securities Bought and Sold. Orders executed for the purchase and sale of Stocks and Bonds on the New York, Boston and Philadelphia Stock Exchanges; also for purchases on margin. Commercial paper negotiated. Correspondents of: — Messrs. Blake, Boissevain & Co., London. " Adolph Boissevain & Co., Amsterdam. " Von Hemert & Higgins, Paris. J. P. FindPe ]Wottu, H. M- EaPle, Norfolk, Va., — and^ Washington, D.C, Chamber lai7ie Building, | 140^ F Street^ N. W. Cor. Granby & Plume Sis. t^eal Estate Investment and Insat^ance Broker^s. Negotiate loans on first-class security. This combined connection affords special induce- ments to those either seeking or offering good invest- ments in both Norfolk, Va., and Washington, D. C. — AGENTS FOR — The Netherlands- American Steam Navigation Co. — To Holland. Compagnie Generale Transatlantique. — To France. bARTON MYERS. ^- M. KILlAM- MYERS Sd CO., ESTABLISHED 1786. ^iREAL ESTATE,!^ NORFOI.K, VA, corresroimdeimoe: solicited. Information and statistics furnished with regard to investments in Kor- folk Real Estate and Stocks, and investments made on orders from outside parties. Headquarters for North Carolina Pine. The Tunis Lumber Co. NORFOLK, VA., and BALTIMORE, MD. BAND AND GANG SAWED LUMBER. Ten Million Feet Under Cover. T. F. ROGERS, ResI Elst3te Broker, Columbia Building, Granby St., NORFOLK, VA. CORRESPONDENCE SOLICITED AND PROMPTLY ANSWERED. References : — Citizens Bank and Burrusa, Son & Co., Norfolk, Va. fieixx Atlantic Ho^^U r>(ORFOI.K, VA. I^. 5. Dodsop, propr. I^. f\. Dodsoi^, (T\a[)a<^qr. Rates, $2.50, I3.00, $3.50 and $4.00 Per Day. The especial attention of Tourists and Invalids is called to the fine cli- mate of Norfolk, and the accommodations afforded by the New Atlantic. = IiOTS FOH SflLiE IH THE diifiBMi^BiSib^^Sai Town of Lambert's Point Adjoining the City of Norfolk. Ocean Terminus of the N. & W. R. R. System. The large reservation of the Korfolk & "Western Railroad adjoins the north- west boundary of the city of Norfoll?. Immediately north of this grand railroad teraiinns, the Lambert's Point Company and the Lambert's Point Land Company have purchased one hundred and sixty five acres of high and well-drained land, situated on the Elizabeth river, and have laid out in rec- tangular blocks the most beautiful and attractive town site in Eastern Vir- ginia. The streets are to be lighted by electricity. The town is now connected with the business part of Norfolk and Portsmouth by a steam ferry, and a street railway is to be constructed from the terminus of the city railway to the town of Lambert's Point as soon as possible. Pocahontas •avenue, 80 feet wide, extends from the Bowden's Ferry Poad through the town and through a portion of the yard of the Norfolk and Western Rail- road to the Elizabeth river. The lots are 25x125 feet, and afford unrivalled sites for suburban residences. Lambert's Point road, 60 feet wide, divides the town from the railroad reservation. Shenandoah, Rappahannock and Po- tomac streets, 60 feet wide, with lots 25x125 feet and 25x100 feet, afford opportunities for mechanics, clerks and artisans employed by the Railroad Company in its offices, warehouses and shops, and by other large industries to be erected within the limits of the town, to secure pleasant and convenient homes at moderate prices. The ocean terminus of the Norfolk & Western system will make Lambert's Point the busiest commercial centre in the Southern States, and will alone give employment to enough inhabitants to make every lot in the new town of great intrinsic value, independent of the other industries which are contemplated by the two companies in their man- ufacturing reservations. There is now shipped from the Lambert's Point coal piers about 150,000 tons of Pocahontas coal per month, and within the year ending December 81st, 1892, 484 foreign steamships have called at this pier for coals. Large quantities of iron ore are shipped from Lambert's Point. The Norfolk & Western Railroad Company has filled in some thirty acres of its water front, and constructed two of the largest merchandise ware- houses in the South for accommodating its coastwise and foreign business. These wharves, like those of the coal piers, can accommodate the largest steamships afloat, having 26 feet of water at low tide. The machine shops of the Eastern Division of this great railroad system are situated on the street which separates the railroad property from the town of Lambert's Point, and will steadily employ a large number of skilled machinists. The deep water terminus of the Belt line, which will shortly be commenced, to connect all the railroad systems coming to this harbor, will be at Lam- bert's Point ; and manufacturers in the town of Lambert's Point will be enabled to receive through bills of lading from any of the roads, so as to ship to any part of the continent by rail, while enjoying the facilitv oi water carriage to all parts of the globe. Lots are now offered for sale at from $250 to $300, according to size and location, and no safer and more desirable investment in land could be made in Virginia. For particulars, call on or address ROBERT \A/. UAIVIB. 36 Main Street, Norfolk. Virginia. The Hopfolk fJational Sank, (Organized August 1st, 188S.) UIMIXED STATES DEPOSITARY. OARITAIv, S400.000.00. SURPLUS and PROKITS, - $153,8 11.80. C. G. RAMSAY, C, W. GRANDY, CALDWELL HARDY, President. Vice-President. Cashier, With well established connections, this Bank has unsurpassed facilities in every branch of legitimate Banking:. ORGANIZED 1867. THE CITIZENS' BANK OF ISORFOlvK, Vff. WM. H. PETERS, President. WALTER H. DOYLE, Cashier. Qapital, $300,000. 5^rp'^5' $100^,000. THIS BANK OFFERS ITS SERVICES FOR THE TRANSACTION" OF ALL BRANCHES OF LEGITIMATE BANKING. DiRECTOKS :— Wm. H. Peters, W. Chas. Hardy, J. W. Perry, C. A. Wood- ard, Geo. 0. Reid, Jno. N. Vaughan, G-. M. Serpell, J. G-. Womble, Howard N. Johnson, McD. L. Wrenn, Walter H. Doyle. MARINE BANK, IS/laln, Corner Bank: St., IMORROLK, VA. Capital, - - - $110,000. Surplus & Undivided Profits, $110,000. V^. H. TAYLOR, President. DIRECTORS -.—Charles Reid, Thos. Tabb, J. T. Borum, L. Harman- soN, M. L. T. Davis, B. P. Loyall, Washington Taylor AND W. H. Taylor. The EqilitatilB Life BssHrancB SoBietii OF THE UNITED STATES. The Larpsl, Strongest k Best Life flssilrance Gorap'y in the World. A. MYERS. Manager for Eastern Virginia and North Carolina, 61 Commerce St., Norfolk, Va. A. MYERS & CO., Real Estate Agts. & Auctioneers. 61 COMMERCE ST., NORFOLK, VA. WEUCH ^ KEVHOliDS, Real Estate and Investments, i8 GRANBY ST., NORFOLK, VA. Buy and sell city and water front properties of every character. Careful Investments made for out of town parties. Coal and Iron properties of Virginia and West Virginia a specialty. Correspondence solicited. HOMHRD St ODEND'HHL. Manufacturers & Wholesale Dealers In FURNITURE, CROCKERY, GLASSWARE, STOVES & LAMP GOODS 22 & 24 Market Sqr,, NORFOLK, VA. (Successors to LEIGH BROS. & PHELPS,) Real E^state Brokers, City and Country Property for Sale. Correspondence Solicited. 57 MAIN STREET, NORFOLK, VA. Portsinoiltti Transfer Gonipani[, Recognized by the various Railroad and Steamboat Lines. Office, 77 Main Street, . A. B. CAMP, Superintendent. JOHN VERMILLION, IMo. <4 GramkDy Strost, ISIORROL-K, VA. Whiskies, Brandies, Rum and Gin, Champagnes, Madeira, Sherries, Port, Clarets and Sauterne. Fine Stock Imported and Domestic Cigars, and Leading Brands of Cigarettes. Agent for Poland and other Popular Mineral Waters. WASHINGTON TAYLOR & CO. WHOLESALE GROCERS, KOEN-rs Fo« NORFOLK, VA. HAZARD POWDER. KNONA/l Patent Sewer Cleaner. The necessity for good and efficient sewerage as a sanitary measure is now- attracting the attention of sanitarians and city authorities in all parts of the world. To the putrid grease and other offensive matter that adheres to the pipes» may be directly traced the source of terrible epidemics which have scourged the thickly settled districts of otherwise healthy localities. For the speedy and effectual removal of these disease bearing germs, the Knowles' Patent Cleaner will accomplish it in a few minutes, and a little attention given the appliance (easily understood by any one,) the pipes can be thoroughly cleaned, and kept so for an indefinite time. THE CITY COUNCILS OP NOBFOLK authorized the Board of Street, Sewer, and Drain Commissioners, with the City Engineer to examine into, and test the merits of the Knowles Sewer Cleaner for city use, and the following report of the City Engineer, resulted in the purchase of the right, and the following endorsement speaks for itself. liEPORT OF W. T. BROOKE, CITY ENGINEER. October 13th 1891. — "In order to try Mr. Knowles' patent I selected York Street extended line, on which the grades are rather flat; the pipe line a six inch one, and where we had more than ordinary trouble from the accumula- tion of grease, which at this point occasioned frequent stoppages, not only of the sewer itself, but of the houses connected also. To clean out this line required the digging of holes in the street whenever it became stopped, in order to get a rope through the pipes for the purpose of cleaning them, and the frequency of the stoppage, has rendered this the most troublesome lateral in the whole of our sewerage, and the one causing the greatest expense in putting in order. Since Mr, Knowles put in his device about a year since, we have not had occasion to disturb the street once, and the opening of the line from stoppage has never required anything but the re- moval of the man-hole plates and the agitation of the device, permanently in the pipes. The saving in expense on this street has been a marked one, and I would unhesitatingly recommend, wherever we have similar trouble, that the appliance be used. Mr. Knowles also has a modification of his device for house connections, which in my opinion, is a good thing and will enable any householder ha,ving it to free his connections from stoppage easily and unexpensively. I have no doubt but that this will be gradually adopted by our citizens where stoppages in their lines occur." The Knowles' sewer cleaner has not only been adopted for the city's street sewers, but is at this writing (April 1893) in daily use in all the Public Schools* Colleges, and Hospitals, and attached to 502 private dwellings. There is no further necessity for going down into man-holes to clean the sewers, it is done from the surface, and is equally efi*ectual for all sewers large or small. No digging up of streets, alley-ways or yards to clear sewers, or house cob- nections after the Knowles' cleaner, has been once attached. The right to use by any city government, which has sewerage, and to plumb- ers for house connections, is for sale, and full particulars may be had by ad- dressing D. KNOWLES, No. 15 Brewer Street, Norfolk, Va. Hundreds of references to our best known citizins who have it in use will be given to those interested, and explanatory circulars sent by mail. PARKE L. POINDBXTBR, REAL ESTATE, Room 6, Lowenber^j Building, - NORFOLK, VA: Gives Special Attention to the Promotion and Development of all Kinds of Manufacturing Industries. PRICE, REID S CO., Cotton Exchange Building, NORFOLK, VA. COTTON B0.S1P88 IN ILL ITS BRUNCHES. ^iSTEHMSHIP HGENTS.I^ Do general business in ocean freights ; furnish interior railroad agents and all shippers with weekly circular of freight rates, sailings and ports of destination upon request. Reasonable advances made upon logs and lumber consigned to our correspohdents in Europe. Correspondence solicited with ship owners, brokers and ex- porters. Through bills of lading issued. E. B. MERRITT.V HORACE HARDY, Manager Shipping Dept. Gen' I Manager and Attorney^ F. A February 3 March... 1 April 4 May 3 June 3 July 6 August ..10 Sept'mU'rlO October . 8 Nov'mb'r 7 Decemb'r 4 Total.. 73 3,400 44 7,709 43 2,804 39 656 40 2,274 29 8,082 36 11,551 28 9,803 38 6,926 46 7,559 49 4,407 64 59,024 56,760 50,922 53,850 37,99t) 37,073 37,861 46,836 67,473 74,866 90,867 73,316 491 675,986 i ;t re Cc L£ Lc Cc W Mil COAL SHIPMENTS. During the year ended December 31st., 1893, the coal movement at Lambert's Point, as shown by clearances made by Wm. Lamb & Co., amounted to 1,774,040^ tons, as follows, January 98,659>$ February 128,491 March 157,151^ April 178,081 May 186,194;^ June; 139,865>^ July 140,991>^ August .-.. - 139,105>s September 134,930 October 176,056 November...-. 143,878 December - 133,036 J Total 1,774,040X The value of coal at $3 a ton amounts to $5,332,120 ; a handsome sum. During the year 1,945 vessels carried coal from the pier as follows: Steam- ships, 491; ocean tugs and barges, 753; schooners, &c., 701. NORFOLK'S COTTON BUSINESS. The cotton receipts at Norfolk show a handsome increase over those of the pre- ceding calendar year : Bales. Net receipts at Norfolk, 13 months end- ing December 30th, 1893 457,040 Net receipts, 12 months ending Decem- ber 31st, 1892 345.709 111,332 20,851 K'anroaa ufes; ivi HAY, GRAIN, ETC. Hay, tons • i nc? ss^ Corn, bushels ^Sst Oats, bushels oVc^i Rice, bushels -AlrAk V7heat, bushels. .... . .. oi/^ Peanuts, bags. GROCERIES, PROVISIONS, ETC. T crease of receipts in 12 months. Equjaled to a gain of 32J per cent. 1 CLEARING HOUSE RECEIPTS. T^ie receipts of the Clearing House, as f€!pc,Tted by Mr. Caldwell Hardy, super inteipdent, at Norfolk National Bank weri^ as follows: 5®?^ipts $49,091,728 Balance 7,330,058 Durijng the year 1892 the receipts ^^%e 50,620,725 lial^ce 7.156,052 I REAL ESTATE TRANSFERS. The real estate transfers for 1893 were *s Allows : City' of Norfolk $2,099,040 ^,"y of Portsmouth ... 467,070 i>( oriQi^ county , sirvi sok $37,981; showing a gain for 1893 of 171,976.00. 374,516 13,250 60,053 11,443 24,549 24,927 Coffee, bags Sugar, barrels Molasses, barrels ... Cheese, boxes. - Butter, tubs oo^ kir Flour, barrels io^^t^ Flour, bags Vw\\ Pork, barrels ^f^ Fish, barrels and boxes 3c^^ Bulk meat, pounds ' '5^m Meat, tierces *01 Meat barrels ^VT^^^ Meat, boxes ^d,U5i LARD. Tierces . Cases... Tubs.... 6,994 20,823 34,637 2,071 3,060 MISCELLANEOUS. DEEDS RECORDED. No. of deeds recorded in clerk's office, 1892 No. of deeds recorded in clerk's office, 1893 BUILDINGS ERECTED WITH ESTIMATED VALUE. No. of buildings erected in 1892. 465; ■ value $b»7,oUL No.J of buildings erected in 1893, 211; ^yalue 500,000 The above are divided as follows : Norfolk city, four old wards^ 124. > . . . .$300,0:,C Norfolk city, Brambleton Ward, 62 . . . 100,00( Norfolk city, Atlantic City Ward, 25.... i00,0l( Total $500,00( ASSESSED VALUE OF PROPERTY IN NORFOLK Real estate, 1893 $19,441,35( Personal property, 1893. Total. 3,340,93J .. $22,782,27J ASSESSED VALUE IN 1892. Real estate $18,942,60( Personal property 2,369,09( Total $21,311,691 Gain in 1893 1,470,581 FERTILIZERS, ESTIMATED VALUE. Fertilizers manufactured and sold at Norfolk, Va., 189.3, 36,500 tons; value $ 912,50( Manufactured at other ports and distributed through Norfolk, 14,700 tons; value 295,001 Fertilizer materials, imported direct to Norfolk, 4,500 tons; value 90,001 Total value $1,297,50( VESSELS ENTERED AND CLEARED, 1893. Entered. January.. 8 Tonnage. Cleared. Tonnage. . 8,145 43 62.455 onr Coat Trade. Exports of coal from January 1, 1894, t( January 11, 1894, inclusive, as] cleare( by William Lamb & Co., Agents : cles as elsewhere compared is as follows : LUMBER, LOGS, ETC Lumber, feet ??I'SSJ Logs,feet "f'?M^ Staves, M J'§«f'?S Shingles, M ^^'^Sl.lOS w LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 014 442 073 1 %f,^ i -S:-: A^>^i3^-