The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-05-15

manager of the coal mines, we assembled an
incline Of 2,200 feet to the coal opening,and
penetrated the tunnel about 800 feet. The
average thickness of the vein here is three
and half to four feet. 1t is located on tie
east side of the railroad, and continues in
unbroken connection, with a gradual dip, for
about thirty miles, until it makes its
appearance near the water level at
Hawks Nest. The coal at Quinnemont is
used entirely for coking purposes. There
are eighty coking ovens, which turn out about
eighty-five tons Of coke every twenty-four
hours. The Quinnemont Furnace, which is
furnished with ores from Elizabeth and Low
Moor principally, makes yield Of thirty-five
tons of pig iron per day, on an average,
CHASING Nos. l, 2 and 8, but mostly No. l
Aspecimen was shown from the ores of Low
Moor on a months run, which ranked No.
l, and was pronounced equal to any ever
made in this country. There are about two
hundred handsemployed atQuinnemont. Mr..
J. Fl. Bramhall, a highly accomplished gem
tleman and business manager, is the lessee,
with Mr.. Deegan as chief clerk, and Mr..
Morris, mining engineer and superinten-
dent Of. the coke ovens. About 100000 have
been invested by northern capitalists in this
property, and the furnace has been in blast
for about five years.
The Fire Greek Coal and Coke Company
has forty ovens, and employs about seventy
five hands. 1t is the purpose of the compa-
ny to add thirty more ovens as soon as they
can be put up. The coke from this estab-
lishment meets with ready sale, and orders are
constantly coming i'll in advance of produc-
ton. NJ. Erskine Miller, of this place, is
largely interested in this establishment, and
is pushing, with his accustomed energy, both
the coking operations and coal mining.
-Four miles west of Fire Creek are the coal
mines and coke ovens of the Longdale Com
pany, under the management Of Mr. John
A. McGuffin. The coal opening is reached
by an incline of LOO feet. and the coal is
used extensively for coking purposes, which
is shipped to Longdale Furnace in Allegha-
ny, and there appropriated to the manufac-
ture of iron.
The Nmtalburg Coal Mines and Coke
Ovens, of which Capt. w. A. Burke, OF this
place, is agent, are actively and necessarily
operated. The proprietor, Mr.. John Nut.
talburg, of Pa, has recently vi sited CHS
property, and will at once commence the
erection of additional coke ovens.
At Hawks Nest, Maj. Echols, brother of
Gen. Echols, Of this place, and Mr.. Pate
are mining about fifty tons VI coal day,
and another colliery has been opened on the
opposite side of the river, on the property of
Messrs. Ecnols, Bell &c Catlett, of this place,
by Wilmot Bros, intelligent practical mi
ners, who will soon, from present indca-
tons, turn out one hundred tons day
Several other collieries are being opened in
the New River section, one on property
owned in part by Messrs. J. F. Effinger
and P. II. Trout, of this place.
The coal of New River is a fine red ash
steam coal, forming no cinders, and max
ing a coke of the first grade for % etallurg-
ical uses, Analysing 81 to 1881 per cent.
0.3 to 0.4 sulphur. and recognized as supe-
rior even to the celebrated Connellsville
coke. The increasing demand for thesNew
River coal, both for coking purposes and
steam appliances,a as well as domestic use, Is at
tracing much attention to thatsection where
the coal veins run in the mountain ranges on
both sides Of the river, the deposit on either
side corresponding with that on the other,a las
though abruptly broken off by the convulsive
throes of nature which threw into such wild
disorder this country. Here for thirty miles
on one side Of the stream ard an almost
equal stretch on the other,a and reaching back
to an unknown distance, is presented con-
tinuous beds Of the finest Goals in the world,
which joined with the ores of the Iron Dis
trict, must make this mountain region one
Of the busiest, wealthiest and most progress
sive portions Of the continent. Indeed, from
Staunton to the Ohio River, there must be
one busy hum of active industry, at some
time in the future, for all the essential ele-
ments of industrial enterprise and activity
are to be found in that stretch of country
traversed by the Chesapeake & Ohio Rail-
way, in exhaustless abundance. The tim
Der, the iron ores and the coal, supplemented
by the rich pasture and agricultural districts,
which lie off from the mountains, must unite
in building up a great country, populating
mountains and valleys, and sending out the
agencies from section where the hand of
Id fn hoy do itc
press, which enter into the achievements and
discoveries of science and civilization, and
drive the modern enterprises and industries
of the civilized world.
We have merely sketehed in a hurried
manner, the developments and prospects of
this wonderful country. Computation would
fail in an attempt to estimate its hidden
wealth, or its affluent future. Boundless in
its resources of the essential elements which
create the progressive enterprises of the
country, the time must come when the
economic considerations which direct the
channels OF business and command the uses OF
capital. will exert their influence here, and
convert these rugged, frowning mountains in
W puoy oCtbLo VI luuuottJ odd LiohS thSo0 NSo-
ert wilds to blossom as the rose, under the
magic contact of persistent labor ard ample
capital.
In much more forward development are the
coal fields of the Kanawha District, which
follow the New River section, where BIZ
luminous and camel Goals are found in ex-
haustless quantities. To these we may re-
fer hereafter, when time shall allow us to
pass over that section, which forms an i'm
portant part in the vast stretch Of mineral
country that is to freight the Chesapeake &
Ohio Railway to its utmost capacity, and
determine the seat of the Iron Industries
of America.
The Presidents Veto.
The reader will find in another column
the second veto by the President of the
Army bill, with the clauses in reference to
oft bo 40 rirht of bo