The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-25

YIle u hendoono brick n4ttoin9 o. Gun
Aievable ggahyiit apd ter}ieg > hoeel ~
~ present proprietor, Colensi BOYD. THIS
g(nflsman,on batmdny - opened, ~
pbfimentslly. 3 vein. of=i0el, which had
been found upon hia land seven miles
from the village on the Naxeyell Court
house pike. The seam was found 20 be
three feet In thickness and to lie very near
the surface, and the coal u richly bttumL
nous and will coke well. There 10 no donbe
that this seam can be worked q 40 instg-
nifcant expense, but the probabilities are
thatten years hence no more vii! nave
been done than ID already accomplished
On the other hand, some months $50 M.
Noble, OF New Jersey, an experienced nj.
.neralogist, purchased tract or mineral
land about thirteen miles. from Glade
Springs, fop the purpose Of raising ore and
converting IL into oxide Of zinc, TO be used
il his works IN the North. Ground was
broken about August 18th, and he com.
menced to raise ore on or about the 10Th OF
September. From that time to the present
he has brought to the surface over 600 tons
of ore with working force Of twenty
miners, and this ore will give fifty per cent.
of pure metal, or seventy per cent. OF oxide:
This shows what systematic and infeiiigene
labor can do, and when it Is known that
the entire outlay for plant, &C., at these
miues-exclusiye of the cost Of the land
has not exceeded % 500, lis hard to see why
our own people cannot go and accomPis99
similar results. The old Union Leso
Mines, near Glade Springs, are also at wosA,
and operations will soon be resumed ~ sne
Carroll Copper Mines. sel az !. -
The success which has attended Mr:
Mobiles operations has naturally caused
some feeling of excitement, and many OF
the old farmers are wandering about their
tracts with pick, or spade, or pointed STICK,
prospecting for mineral ores. If they md
them, as they must and will, they viii
know that they have them on their land,
will congratulate themselves and be con-
graduated by their neighbors, and there
the matter will rest. !,
Still. &c must be distinctly understood
that the people Of this section, however
willing. can do but little unless they re-
ceiye the cooperation and assistance OF the
Virginia and Tennessee Railroad Com
pany. At this time the freight rates are 30
high that few articles of produce will bear
transportation to market, and only . few
months ago q farmer whosent about eighty
bags of potatoes from this place to Lynch
burg realized just nine dollars above the
freight, and lost the whole of his empty
bags. For minerals and heavy freight the
present rates are almost prohibitory, and if
Mr.. Noble can now raise ore at his mines
in Wythe, convert it into oxide, and carry
it by rail and boat to New Jersey at cost
not greater than the cost in New Jersey Of
the oxide raised in that State, this fact
only proves how profitable trade might
be done in the minerals themselves if the
railroad charges were but less burdensome.
The Virginia and Tennessee Railroad
Company are doing large business. They
run two freight trains nearly every day;
and there is some talk of putting on day
mail train but this is no reason why the
company should not do more to accommo-
date the country through which their road
passes. A short branch road from Glade
Springs-about sixteen miles-to the Union
Lead, the Carol Copper, and the Noble
Zinc mines, would, if economically built
and laid with light miners rail, pay bet
ter than any sixteen miles Of the present
road but whether any additional or branch
lines are undertaken or not, it Is time that
the policy should be adopted of encou-
raging the development of the mineral re-
sources of Virginia. Freight rates must
be reduced, the public convenience must
be more closely studied, and there is no
reason to doubt that when Colonel Owens
attention is called to the subject he will
show by his celebrity of action that all this
excitement about consolidation has
opened the eyes and quickencd the per-
ceptions of the manager Of at least one
Virginia railroad.
At Salem and Liberty, as we'll as at this
place, fair trade is being done. Compe-
tition is keen and sharp, but it is all car
ried out in perfect good humor, and the
tobacco has turned out so well, and the
wheat is fourishing so finely, that every
one is confident Of the speedy arrival Of
better and more prosperous times.
A. BoUILLON.