, 1874-12-14


out Chrla,ondo'n. loro Ia the. prinoipnl cohtro
OF tho American tobacco.trado. Horo alo o
numbor OF Important manufacturing cataIllbt-
tnonts besides tnoso lust namod. lleto IL lilo
into tue INTERIOR Tho ,1atnes Riyor il navigahle
to this place for large etoamurH.. rail"ay now
eon"ects tho city with Tho OlAo lsiyer.
olhnr railways Eiyo convenient connoc|tons
n al directions. There nto in the vcitv Of
lllcl,mona o!sonsivo qunrfieH, yielding great
quantities Of cxcelleut granito. thus III thu
rock with which tho new Btata Department at
Washington is being built. Tho falis OF tho
JhlnoH Niyer at lh!H place gtve cofstnnt and 'n-
n,eicial and manufacturing facillios mako
Kiehnond nn important baaneBs-contre. MoM
ara constantly directing their enorgieH to now
eitorrriueai mud 1t Ia BAfn 10 prodlct TINT nl tho
sGs,s M Of sap se proaeo hy Tho Wr
position IN business fnr htghnr than could poaBi-
b1y have boon achinyed u1itor Slavery.
Il would ho Impossible. lowcvor. TO got n COT
rect vIow Of Richmond without nomo knpwle d,,n
of tito sthto at large. Aud as Virginia lB less or
moro representative Of all tho wants Ut tho
Southern atnteB what Bl.alt here Ray pertains,
iii reality, to question Of naIionnl impnftnnco.
namely. the practical rehabilitation Of tito pros,
porty Of tile South. Lrt III, tllon, tako q rapid
glAnco ut tho situation in old
VIRGINIA.
| havo not referrod to tile former don,csto
elaye-trsdo Of Richmond with any, tho onst, do
stEn of bringing up old unplcnsnntucssos. On
the contrary, my ooioct " to invite tho attention
OF tho country. through The Cn1oAao TRIBUNE,
to tho remarkable fact, TINT, though Virginia is
ono OF tho Oldest statos historically, sho u ono
Of tho nowcat in tho development Of faor matora!
RESOURCES. ln this rospect, Iowa is an older
Sta.e than thu Old Domuion.
slavo-lnbor, which il ever. In tho long run,
most expensive. exhausted tho soil Of Il conhid-
erablo portion OF Virginia. Tho lafsng Of slaves
became tho great ntorest Of tho State. Tho ro-
cupotatl0n o! lta aoit md the development of It's
mineral RESOURCES were almost utterly neglected.
time situation: Tho boyH of tho State were
Skilled labor. Too n,any Of them
may now bo found in tho towns,
tobacco onergotscally, and whiting MI invitation
to tale . drink. But there is u vast dcai oi
manhood in tho old Commonwealth; thoro nso
many mon Of great tnlents. practical sense. and
progressive spirit. Theho arc doing NIL t'sey
can to lirec. capital and cntorprso to the devel-
opmont Of the 1eally great natural zosoulcos Of
tho Stato.
COAL AND IRON.
1t is fact not generally known that tho ro-
SOURCES III iron arc unsurpassed. Tho same III
true az to coal-WeBtern Virginia being fnclnd-
cd: within this imperial donain ot,V!rEinta,'
said Bciontic gentleman before tho Lcgisla-
sura, some three years ago "lie, almost ua~
known to tho outsi'lo world, and not fully appre-
ciatcd by their owners. vaster folds Of coal aud
iron than oil England5-;yoa' than all Europe ;,
nnrind r,i A4 ..+r,nt h,.,,as ,";,,;,ra ~
nan"oy ora a",nr,r;u;n,r +hnn.n,,,a ~
noonis IN NH In tho re.toration or In OJd Do.
NJ t,o 1fn,on This 10 not NJ iii nrar1rnwn
There nro not losa than six djstinot and quite
nxto,lsiyo cnni.ticida II, tin region under dncnH-
u,op, ThoHo ara !: /, Tho RiclI,noud coal-llcld
15O to 18O square milos iii extent, contaning
" Faulte." minos nro not invariably profitable.
2. Tho Piedmont ooa.ileld, on tic Appomattox,
Of considerable locnl value. 0, Tho Dan
Kiver coa!-fleld, similar to tho pioG-
mont, with coal equal to Cumber-
lani. and some of it so1ni-authrncte.
est coal formation OH our Continent; but tho
coal ia not easily mined in largo ouprtitips. s,
The Cumberland coul-Aoid, largo portion of
which lies in Virginia and West Virginia, G.
The Kanaw.a con1-tleltls. hcins part OF tho
grcnt Allegheny coa-held, which il tho n,oat e1-
tousive QUO Oh tho globe, e,-coyerlnR largo por-
tious Of pennsylvasiin, Ohio, Maryland, Tir-
einin, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee,
ueorgia, aud Alabama. About 1c,0o0 aluaro
ale tho richest in the world, lo iu West Virginia
aud Virgiuia. Wo have the authority Of o Gov
ernmont Geological Report for tho statement
that "Tho coal-fioItla OF the Kanawha region aro
superior to those OF Great Britain or Ponusytyn-
finest depusit Of goal in tho world" Tie Goals
aro Of various kinda, aomo Of them bong oxcoI-
lent for smelling ro,,-o1e. Tho cannoI-coul Of
this yeglon IL exceedingly rich In oil; antt in
quantity it is simply Immense. Such III brief
outline account Of tho vast rosourcos Of Vir-
giiia IN coal alone.
But tho RESOURCES Of tho old 6tato in iron are
even grcatcr. I believe that the iron-oro depoy-
itB Of Virginia arc the richest OF nuy III tho
world, in al equal extent OF country. They liz
thick in all the mountaiE.rangea through which
New River, from its SOURCES III North Casolina,
cuts it's way TO it's junction with the Ga,ev, il,
tho coas-rcHion OF the Al,cgheules. Thet,, ali
through Yirgnia, from Harpcr.s Fosry south
wcstwardly along tho Blue Ridgo 1,ango there
arc known to be- vast deposits of IRON
orc, known to biologists rs lilo hylrntctl
poroxides Of iron, and which arc not stratitiod
with tho limeetones or nlntca whcre tl,or oriet,
but occur in irregular massos here in unusual
abundance, Tho wonderful cxtont of these de-
rosits, whether in The Now River region or along
tho Blue R1dgo, in universally acknowledged by
scientific mon who have examined tho country.
II was remarked by ono OF them. ia q panpllot
published aomo three years ugo, TINT