Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1869-09-28

gers are numbered in Texas. Following tn
example Of the Old Dominion, the people hay
settled on moderate republican, Gov. J. Ham
ilton in opposition to Davis, the radical nomi
nee, and will elect him by an overwhelming
majority. +s.l~5aa aJ4.e.. ,te :
Our city is still rapidly increasing-ouite {
number, of large business houses are being
erected in the lower part of the city, while fine
4 residences and neat little cottages are snrngns @
up in every direction as if by magic. Our pop-
ulation is now estimated at IL 700, with fair
prospect Of doubling in the next Is months.-
Every house is occupied as soon as finished. and
most Of them are rented before they are half
completed III
This is the starting point for the great ri
! Paso and Pacific r. R., which will be built 100
miles northwest of Jefferson in the next II
months, thus furnishing easy transportation
for the vast cotton crop of the western and
northern counties and furnishing transportation
to the goods and lumber for the great vest
The company with j. G. Fremont at its head
| have already raised $4,000 900 on their bonds,
and have started the work with 500 hands, and
will put on 1000 during the next 60 days =,
| The lands along the line of the road, espe-
| cially in the counties of Lamar, Fannin, Collin
| and Grayson, have gone up in value 100 per
cent during the last months and are still ad-
vancng and will continue to do SO for years to
come. as heavy tide of emigration is pouring
into that part of the State. Now is the time
for those who want lands in the richest part of
the United States to procure them, it they
have not already done SO, for every day adds
to their value.
This is now one of the finest fields for spec
ulation and enterprise perhaps on the CONT
nent, but man to make money here must be
up and doing this is no place for laggards. =
Many persons who come out here miss some of
the snug conveniences and petty comforts which
belong to an old, and highly finished state of
society. They are perhaps disappointed in
some unreasonable expectations they may per-
haps have pictured to themselves some Ell Do
RADIO, where gold and silver were abundant an
where they were to become suddenly rich in
some unforeseen and easy manner. The same
weakness Of mind that INDUCES absurd expec-
tations, produces petulence in disappointment.
Such persons become embittered against the
country on finding that here as everywhere else,
man must SOW before he can reap; must win
wealth by industry and talent, and must con-
tend with the common difficulties of nature
and the shrewdness of an intelligent and enter
prising people. These persons often return to
the States and grossly misrepresent the country.
This is no place for drones and those who
come out here must bear in mind. if they wish
to succeed, 'thdt there as no eccellence ao,thout
labor. MAGNOLIA"
Oak Bark-New Source of Wealth in Vir-
ginia and the Carolinas.
For the Journal of Commerce. !
The material interests of the people of Vir-
ginia and North Carolina, which the Journal
has so providentially enhanced, may be greatly
extended by encouraging the further develop
ment OF such other elements of productive
wealth &c cO,nrrica tho most pron;oont of +bo
many ready resources SO abundant and SO pro-
life in the soil Of those States.
have just returned from somewhat ex-
tended tour through the counties of Eastern,
Middle, Southern and Southwestern Virginia,
and through the border counties along the
northern boundaries of North Carolina, and |
will assure you was much surprised at the i'm
mense quantity of oak forest | everywhere saw,
including the chestnut, oak, red oak, yellow |
spotted willow. water, post and white oak, all
invaluable for the superior tanning properties |
of the bark. Black oak is found, too, in great
abundance all through this region of country. |
The bark of the black oak, as you are aware, |
constitutes one of the most valuable dyening |
materials in use. Ground into quercitron it is |
worth $50 per ton. In London it is quoted as
selling at $40, gold, per ton, and at Antwerp
Hambug, Berlin and Leghorn at considerable |
advances on the English prices for American
querctron. Made into farine it sells at S per
pound. The color of the black oak is used for
giving the ground cools to the finest and most
costly fabrics made in prints.
Interested to some extent In the manufacture
of leather, curiosity prompted me to ascertain
as far as possible at what price per cord oak
bark in its crude condition could be delivered at
the stations along the railways and the landing
places on the James river and Kanawha canal.
| found the price to vary from four to eight
dollars per cord, averaging as near as l could
Judge, about six dollars per cord. learned also
that the average cost Of transportation from the
same localities to this city Or Boston would be
about eight dollars per ton.
Now, Mr.. Editor, the manufacture of leather
In Eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island and
Connecticut calls for an annual consumption of
three or four hundred thousand cords of bark
or its equivalent in the concentrated extract of
bark, which is supplied mainly from the hem
lock forests along the northern frontier OF New
York, and from beyond the Canadian border.
Delivered in the slab unrossed at the tanneries
it costs the tanner from fifteen to twenty three
dollars per cord Now every tanner knows that
a cord of hemlock bark with the ross taken of
is worth one third more than if unrossed. Every
tanner knows that oak bark rossed is worth
one-third more per ton than ton of hemlock
bark rossed Every intelligent manufacturer of
leather understands that leather tanned with an
equal mixture of oak and hemlock bark gives
more weight, and greater value is impaired to
the stock, rendering it more desirable and more
profitable
The reason why the tanners of this and the
New England States use hemlock bark exclu-
sively in the manufacture of their leather is
simply because these States produce only the
hemlock The oak they have rejected in con
sequence of the distance ofsupply. Had Virgin
la and North and South Carolina been peopled
by race as inquisitive and ambitious as are
those on our northern frontier, they would long
siuce have found that an unlimited market ex-
listed along the New England coast for the oak
bark, which they have hitherto suffered to go
to waste.
No effort as I can learn has been made even
since the construction of the numerous railways
from the Atlantic ports back into the oak forests
of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia
and Florida, to transport bark to the very heart
of the leather trade of New England cheaper
than it can be transported from beyond the
Gapadiap hord oyor ha lon ~ lrox,o loo dino