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Transportation Development (1.4.2)

The Dismal Swamp Canal, although physically undamaged in the war, was allowed to fall into disuse during and after the Civil War. In 1866 the president of the Dismal Swamp Company petitioned Congress seeking relief for repairs. The canal company's earliest and strongest supporter, the State of Virginia, was itself in dire financial straits, and sold its shares of stock in the canal in 1867 at a loss of $142,200. No relief came to the canal until 187I, when the Federal government floated outside bonds in a successful, if stop-gap, means to do minor repairs (Brown 1967, 87).

As Elizabeth City's antebellum prosperity had been directly related to activity on the Dismal Swamp Canal, the difficulties of the canal resulted in a general economic depression in the city. Perhaps nothing illustrates the post-war downturn more than the meager amount of traffic on the canal. While tolls from 1857 to 1860 totaled over a half-million dollars, the tolls in 1870 amounted to just $7,000. Even after the minor repairs financed by Federal bonds made the canal passable to timber lighters (a small, shallow draft vessel), the tolls in 1871, which was considered a "good year," amounted to only $12,700. Canal traffic continued to decrease, from 2,479 passages in I871 to 1,362 in 1876, less than four per day (Brown 1967, 87-93).

Despite the severe financial trouble of the canal company, the postwar period saw the canal's first significant amount of passenger traffic when the George Washington began service in 1866, increasing to daily service in 1867. The Dismal Swamp Steam Transportation Company was incorporated in 1866-1867 - and in 1868 built the Elizabeth City, a "fleet little packet" expressly for the Elizabeth City-Norfolk route. By 1880, passenger traffic was sufficient to support three steamship lines: the Dismal Swamp Transportation Company, the Enterprise Steamboat Company, and the North Carolina Steam Transportation Company (Brown 1967, 95-97). The increasing traffic on the canal was indicative of rising economic activity in the city.

However, the canal's mounting costs of operation exceeded its meager income, and the canal company sank deeper into debt. By 1877 commercial trade had been almost entirely diverted to the Albemarle-Chesapeake Canal, and the nearly bankrupt company advertised the canal for sale. That sale was postponed until 1878, when it was held to redeem the Federal bonds issued in 1871. While a reorganization in 1880 provided minor improvements in the canal's physical condition, it was only a temporary respite and the canal company essentially led a hand-to-mouth existence until the turn of the century when outside capital was secured and the canal was completely rebuilt (Brown 1967, 93-95).

With the decline of the Dismal Swamp Canal as a dependable transportation route, the citizens of Elizabeth City found themselves in need of another transportation system to sustain its slowly improving economy. Hope lay in the railroad, which was then expanding throughout the state. Despite the chartering of the Elizabeth City and Norfolk Railroad in 1870, actual construction did not begin for ten years (Prince 1972, 6). Chief among the local supporters was Richard Benbury Creecy (1814-1908), the editor and publisher of The Economist, one of Elizabeth City's major newspapers from 1870 to 1903. Creecy continually editorialized for the railroad, declaring on December 10, 1878, that "We hear suggestions of railroad again. This time it takes to our ear a more practical shape. It is practicable, it can be done." One month later he lamented that "Something must be done, or we are done. Is there no man among us with energy and influence enough to start this thing and put it through?" (The Economist, January 7, 1879). Finally a group of northern investors came forth to finance the railroad, with construction starting late in 1880 from Norfolk (Butchko 1989, 334 n. 72). With the prospects of a railroad providing dependable transportation to Norfolk, Elizabeth City's chief trading partner for more than fifty years, the future of Elizabeth City seemed bright indeed.