From the Richmond Times-Dispatch, 3/10/1914, p. 12, c. 6

PROTECTS CITY’S RIGHT IN CANAL
Senate Passes Amended Bill Authorizing Chesapeake and Ohio to Sell.

The Senate last night passed the bill authorizing the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company to sell to the James River and Kanawha Power Company the canal between Bosher’s Dam and the eastern face of the masonry of the first lock above the ship lock. An amendment was incorporated which provides that no deed of conveyance shall be deemed valid unless all users of water or power under contracts at present in force shall first have agreed to the transfer.

Under the amendment, Richmond’s water supply, which, under the original bill, according to City Attorney Pollard, was placed in grave peril, is amply safeguarded. The amendment was added in committee after attorneys representing the city of Richmond, the Tredegar Iron Works and other industries now dependent upon the canal for water and power, had protested against the passage of the bill in its original form.

In addition to the approval of the city and the corporations affected, the sale of the canal, the bill provides, must be approved by the State Corporation Commission. The railroad company may include in the sale Bosher’s Dam and pond and so much of its real estate and riparian rights as may be appurtenant to the use of the property transferred.

The city’s objection to the original bill arose from the fear that the purchasing company might not afford Richmond’s water interests the same security that is now provided by the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company, which is under contract to maintain in perpetuity the rights in the canal that the city now enjoys. Under the amended bill the city may hold up the sale of the canal until it is satisfied that its interests will be protected.

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