Our Peninsula -- As the Hon. Wm. L. Scott Sees It

William L. Scott, looking cheerful and contented, was at the Continental. His mind seemed to be as calm as a kitchen clock, and he spoke most entertainingly upon the various subjects. On politics was a little coy, but he did say to me that he was pleased with the President's course. "He has," he said, "great self-reliance, good judgement and a good opinion of it, and a bull-dog tenacity that is remarkable. He has made less mistakes so far than most Presidents have done or many men would have done, taking hold new, as he did.

"But let's drop politics," said he; "I feel a great deal more interested in business matters. I am going down to Cape Charles [City] to night, the future city of the Peninsula. I am interested in the new railroad over which the Pennsylvania system is running its trains to Norfolk and Fortress Monroe. This road, my friend, is going to work a great revolution in the truck products that are being brought to this city and New York. Few people in this country know that within 7 hours of Philadelphia and 9 hours of New York they can reach a climate as mild and balmy as that of Marseilles in France. By taking the railroad to Cape Charles a magnificent boat transports the cars by water to Fortress Monroe and Norfolk, where it connects with the different Southern railroad systems. At Cape Charles we are dredging a harbor that will cost us from $250,000 to $300,000, with the intention of making that the greatest oystering, fruit and farm truck shipping point in the United States. The counties of Accomac and Northampton in Virginia are in an almost tropical climate the year round. Land there is worth from $10 to $20 an acre and is just as fertile as any of the garden spots about Philadelphia or on Long Island that cost from $600 to $800 an acre. The advantages of climate gives the planter there six weeks' advantage over the Long Island farmer. Then this line of railroad contracts to put the products of the Virginia planter into Fulton Market just as cheap, if not cheaper, and just as quick as the Long Island trucker can make his haul across the city, paying ferriage, etc. For instance, a man at any of our new points on the Peninsula picks his products in the evening and they will be in Fulton Market the next morning at five o'clock. Take a compass and draw a circle over the lower Chesapeake, within a radius of seventy-five miles of Cape Charles, and you will find that 18,000,000 bushels of oysters are gathered there every year, while there are only about four millions taken from all the other waters of the country. You can readily see what a packing centre not only Philadelphia, but Cape Charles, is likely to become. About 3,000 bushels of oysters can be taken from an acre, while wheat holds on an average about 25 bushels. Taking all these things into consideration this new railroad down the peninsula has a far broader significance to Philadelphia than most people have imagined.