The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-06-05

out about three thousand bushels, for which
they get 12S cents at the mine, or TWEEN
ty three cents delivered at Dublin, eight O.
nine miles distant by a road which is yer.
good in summer, but which found execra
BILE in January, my horse sinking nearly te
his knees in the mud at levery step. Bed E
appeared here to be about twenty inches il
thickness, dipping about 40 degrees, ant
furnishing good, solid, lustrous anthracite
on bed of tough, fine-grained sandstone
Near the top of the gangway were Two vein
of softer and more lustrous coal, slipped ant
frangible, about five inches each in thick
ness and separated by three to five inches o
slate. Another vein OF three or five inche
Of hard coal was little lower down and be
tween it and bed B sone three feet of hard
tough slate. The more frangible coal is a
very pure, soft anthracite and a superior shop
coal, selling readily at the mines for ter
cents bushel. The outcrop of bed A, lying
some twenty feet below, shows thickness o.
at least three feet, but has mover been opened
on account Of its broken character, crumbling
into fine dust. I am of the opinion, howev-
er. that it would prove, on working, to be
nearly or quite as solid as bed B in the int.
rior.
A few miles west of Cloyd's we cross the
divide at the cad of Black Creek and enter
at its base, q triangular limestone valley,
known as the Robinson Tract, between Lit.
tie Walkers mountain on the northwest and
Tract mountain, an outlying spur OF the
same formation, along the south. OF this
section Lesley says, in the report from
which have already quoted "a mile or
two east of this Stony Fork Cap, the Little
Walker Mountain bends more toward the
moth, and no coal is heard of through the
Cove lin Wythe county,, nor in the Robin
son tract plantation, until we reach the
Weiser opening, at Cloyd's, and six or seven
miles from New River. Along this whole
line a single-perhaps double-dislocatio
cuts it off, or the beds continue to ba thin,
crushed and slaty.
1t would be unjust to subject this report
to the rigorous criticism that one would give
a carefully prepared geological survey. Prof
Lesley's examination was rather recon-
noissance made for the purpose Of ascer-
talning what the minerals of the country
would be likely to furnish in the way oil
freight, directly and indirectly, to the Vir-
ginia and Tennessee railroad, then in pro.
cess reconstruction. The railroad was then
completed only to Christiansburg, and all
the travelling had to be done on horseback
or in a vehicle. Ii, as was informed, he
was able to give but two or three weeks to
the examination of the comparatively un-
known and undeveloped mineral resources
not coal only, but iron, lead, zinc, salt,
plaster, marble, etc.-in some six thousand
square miles of mountain and valley, it is
remarkable, not that some grieyous errors
should have crept into his report, but that
their number should be so small. Under
these circumstances, it may be considered
fortunate that his report should have been
so full and complete, and that twenty-five
years of subsequent research and develop
lnent have pointed out so few errors Of con-
sequence. Whether or not he visited the
Robinson tract and examined the mountains
on either side, do not know, but he GER
tainly missed the richest field on the whole
line and was led into very noticeable mis-
take.
The Jews.
The seventh and closing lecture Of the
course before the students and friends Of the
Byrant, Stratton & Sadler Business College
took place on Friday evening, February 10,
and was delivered by the Hon. q. B, Vance,
Of North Carolina, who added fresh laurels
to his name as scholar and orator. This
lecture has been pronounced by competent
critics to have been one OF the ablest and
most interesting OF the entire course. The
following synopsis is taken from the Balti>
18th inst:
ssTHE SCATTERED NATION
Hon. 2. B. Fance, Ex-Governor of North
Carolina, lectured at the Masonic Temple
last night, under the auspices of the Byrant
Stratton & Sadler Business College. Upon
being introduced by Professor w. II. Sadler,
President OF the College, Mr.. Vance was en-
Enthusiastically received. About eleven hun
dred persons were present. Among Tire
gentlemen on the stage were the following,
who came from Washington expressly to be
present at the lecture: DR.. George r. Den.
mis-, Senator from Maryland General NJ. W.
Ransom and Col. VIM. johnson, Senators
from North Carolina; Hon. r. B. Vance
and Hon. Fl. NJ. Robbins, also Of North Car.
DINA, and Col. Il. E. Peyton, Of Virginia.
and Co. Woolford, OF Maryland.
Mr. Vance started out by saying that in
giving lecture under the auspices Of bus.
mess college, he thought a fitting subject
would be the greatest commercial people
in the world. There is river in the ocear
(the gulf stream) of large expanse, whose wa
tiers ebb and flow all unaffected by the tur-
bulant pillows and furious waves surround
ing it !; and so there is river among man.
kind which refuses to mingle with surround
Ing Wa.6rS, anu WHOSE OWL cudTdcteTlStiC'
can be distinguished with the naked eye
This river is the Jewish people.
The history OF the Jews is the history o
our progress. They were the faithful Of God
and their ideas still continue to fill the wor Id
Just as the sun. which sets behind the hill
reflects its glorious rays, the thoughts Of Is
rael, no more nation, still remain.
We admire the an. lent Greek and Roman
nations. but we reject their God as an idola
try we despise the Jews, but reverence thu
religion which they founded. For thousand
of years they have preserved the same Gus
toms, the same forms, and cherished tn
ideas and institutions. Their exile has mad
them a commercial people and although per
secuted by the popes, emperors and nations
they remain the same Aye, what persecu
ton They submitted to cruelty in the name
of their own God within hearing OF the hymn
their Psalmists had sung. With all thei
persecution, the Jewish people and Churcl
are still standing. though the stones of thei
temple have fallen. What is the line of th