The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1877-11-01
Elizabeth Iron Property.

Elizabeth Iron Property.
The purchase of the Elizabeth Furnace
property by the Eureka Iron and Manu-
acturing Company Of Virginia." has an
Importance attached to it greater than the
simple announcement of the transaction
would seem TO imply. 1t introduces into
this part of Virginia gentlemen OF capital,
experince as iron men, and great public
whose past history has been
crowned with success in the practical opera
lions of such industries. 1t is the tangible
evidence that there is a field for such men,
for they have the sagacity not to plant their
money where it will not grow, and not TO
expend their time and energy where they
will not pay. This company has closed for
the Elizabeth property at sl35, 0O0-$l0, 900
of which has been paid in hand, and all the
conditions of the sale complied with. 1t
will be well enough to give our readers, who
are not familiar with the property, some
idea Of it, and the very important.bearine
it will probably have upon the general PROS
perity of this section.
The Elizabeth Furnace property is located
on the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad, about
sixteen miles west of Staunton, OH the head
waters of Little Calf Pasture River, and
contains G,500 acres. What is called the
s.Iron Tract" embraces mountain range OF
about five miles of solid iron ore OF the
brown hematite species principally, with
some cred hematite. Along the seam that
runs near the outcropping there have been
three tunnels opened, penetrating about
200 feet through a mass of solid ore. on
the top of the mountain there is a huge
boulder, rising about twenty-five feet from
base, and estimated to contain seventy per
cent. of iron. 1t was at one time mach
larger, but was broken off and taken TO the
furnace. The present furnace was erected
during the war by D. & H. Forrcr, and
large quantities of pig iron were furnished
from it to the Confederate States. Its ca
pacity is twelve tons per day. There is a
lime- stone quarry openened near the fur
mace for fiuxing purposes.
Scientific men. as we'll as practical iron
men, WHO have examined the iron tract,
through its entire surface length and
breadth, regard it as the most wonderful
mineral deposit on this continent and the
supply of red hemati.e as simply inexhaus-
tible.
It Is estimated by competent operators,
and demonstrated by actual test, that ton
of pig iron can be manufactured, with the
present limited facilities, at Elizabeth al
$40 per ton. The proximity to coal, lime,
and all the constituents which 20 into iron
manufactures, with the facilities for trans.
portation, combine to make the property
one of the most desirable in the country,
and properly handled by experience and
capital, will constitute the most prolific
source of profit of any similar investment in
the United States.
It is the purpose of the Eureka Iron Min
ing and Manufacturing Company to com
mence operations at once, and to that end
mining implements have been purchased
and already shipped to the Furnace, ant
operatives employed. The present furnace
wilt be worked to its fullest capacity, and a!
soon as the management have located them
selves, and made their preparations, it il
their purpose to erect large Furnace will
capacity for 80 or GO tons of pig per day. i
is estimated that such Furnace will cos
about 1925, 900, and that it will take som'
twelve months to complete it. The gentle
men who compose the company have expe'
rlence, capacity and energy, and it is thei
intention to combine them in the develop
ment of the property.
We regard this purchase and the intro.
1uction to our county Of the gentlemen whit
compose the company, as very important te
Stanton. We have tangible reasons fol
the conclusion thai the operations at Eliza
beth, on the scale that is intended, with
other causes, must necessarily benefit thl:
immediate community, and contribute large
ly to our growth and prosperity. Stauntor
is the point Of intersection OF the Valley
road with the Chesapeake and Ohio road,
and consequently the point Of competition
for freights. The development OF the Eliz
abeth property will stimulate enterprise il
other iron properties south and east OF us
We have in South Mountain, not far from
waynesboro, rich deposit Of ore of peculiar
quality, from which the stencil plate is man
ufactured-an ore that is rarely found III
this country. There is south of us, alons
the line of the Valley road, as surveyed ant
partially worked, immense beds of ores
which will invite capital and enterprise 81
SOON as business reyives and work is re-
sumed on the Valley road.
These constitute one essential element o.
the future growth Of Staunton. Another is
the anthracite coal mines ia North Noun
tain, near North River Gap, known as thu
"Dora Mines" Concurrent opinions by
men Of scientific and practical knowledge
give the most fattering assurance of the
quantity and quality of the coal found at the
point named.
s'Dora'' is about eighteen miles northwest
of Stanton. end can be easily reached by .
narrow-guage railroad. The operations al
these mines, which have necessarily beer
confined to experiments to test the extent
of the deposits, as there are as yet no facili-
ties for transportation, show that along
surface outcropplng of from five to twelvse
miles, there are seams of superior coal
ranging from two to nine feet in thickness
and that all the indications point to still
richer developments as the shafts are deeper
sunk. A number OF gentlemen, who have
had large experience IN coal mines, have
given it as their opinion that the Dora
mines contain All inexhaustible supply Of
good anthracite coal, and that the further
the tie SITS are made the better will become
che quality of the coal. There is no diver
sity as to this. either with men who have
based their opinions upon scientific theo'
ries, or those who have arrived at their con-
illusions from practical knowledge. There
alaye been five or six shafts sunk. and each
has resulted in the most satisfactory evil
xlences OF the existence of coal of merchant
sble quality and inexhaustible quantity.
With these mines developed and the iron
ores, not only OF Elizabeth, but of the va
Il ft,so