Bristol news. [volume] (Bristol, Va. & Tenn.) 1867-189?, 1881-02-22

to work to build and put in operation
during the present year from GO to 50
miles of railway to reach their immense
estates. And in another year they will
erect hundreds of coke-ovens, one or
more large furnaces, and, as rapidly as
possible, rolling mills and other works.
The centre of all their operations will
be mt the only open gatepdy existing any
where through the Cumberland Noun
tains and contiguous ranges for rail-
way uniting Kentucky and Virgin, with
out tunnel, at "Big Stone Cap" in
Wise County. Here, on the banks Of
Powell's River, where it has cut down Il
channel between one thousand and two
thousand feet from the summit Of Stone
Mountain-the father mountain Of the
Cumberlands--to its very base, is found
one of the most beautiful spots for Il fu-
ture Jonhstown or Allentown to rise up
and flourish anywhere between the Lakes
and the Gulf of Mexico. Towering
Mountains encircle and embrace Il level
plain of several hundred acres, possess
ing every requisite for the foundation
and growth of city of twenty thous-
and or thirty thousand inhabitants.-
Here will be the great iron works Of the
company; here the mills to cut up the
hundreds of thousands of feet of lum-
bcr standing, as yet untouched, in the
primeyal forests will be located; here
the ear manufacturer, the wagon car
riage maker, the furniture and agricul-
tural implement manufacturers will
come for their varied materials, or, more
likely still, put up their works, with all
they need within radius of few miles !;
here will come the lover Of wild, pictur-
esque, grand and beautiful secnciy, TO
spend the hot weeks of summer, far
away from the heated walls OF dusty
streets Of cities lying nearer the sea lev
cl; for even mineral wlters Of rare eX-
cellcnce are found in this favored spot,
and the blasting heats of summer arc
tempered by the cloud-capped SUBMITS
Of the great conglomerated "upthrow"
or Stone Mountain, so that the cncrvat-
ed people of the low-lands of distant
States may come here with the assIlr-
ance of renewed strength and rc-cstab
lished health.
The topography Of the country in all
directions will force several projected
and organized railways TO meet and cross
here. 1t is not only likely to become,
but almost certainly will be, in the next
decade, as important a railway centre as
Atlanta, "the Gate City of the South"
Building stones, equalling the finest
you have on Chestnut, Walnut, or
Broad streets, are here so accessible that,
probably, from the very beginning they
will take the place Of brick In all i'm
portant structures. The new railway
now building to Big Stone Gap will, for
five miles Of Its route, run upon n bed
of the beautiful, soft, fesh-colorcd, and
dappled marbles known to the trade as
"rCnncsscc Marbles" and the company
will build many of its culvcrts and bal
last its track with this material, in all
respects equal to that employed in the
decoration of the United States Senate
CHAMBER and Presidents room in the
Capitol at Washington. This road, too,
will possess an attraction to tourists
found nowhere else, so far as | know, IN
the world---a natural tNHRel 933 feet long,
over one hundred feet TO its roof aud
one hundred feet wide, in the bed Of q
mll-creek that here flows under Il noun
tain from one side to the other. This
tunnel is one of the most stupcndous and
awe-inspring natural curiosities IN the
Union. Its portals are perpendicular
walls, from four hundred TO five hum
drcd feet high, Of magnetism limestone,
bare of foliage from base TO summit, and
offering no loothold to living creature,
except here and there Crevice where
the eagles and the ravens have for un-
told ages reared their young, safe and
free from all mOlCstAtiOn. stood be-
meath the southern portal one day last
summer, with n scientific gentlemen Of
his life in the region of the cauons of
Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona,
and he declared that he never had look
cd upon more drfH cliff than this,
though he had seen many three or four
times ns high. Through this fearful
looking, but safe, rent In the side of the
mountain the engineers transit and lev
cl forced him to 30 with his line; and
now, ere another year rolls round, the
shrek of the locomotive will drown the
cry of the eagle. and It's smoke dislodgc
the bats from their hitherto undisputcd
possession of the clclts Of the lofty
dome.
My friend when next Octobcr's frosts
begin TO tlugc the forests with the fam
ing hucs Of carly autumn, when the
wise game laws Of protective humanl-
~ are relaxed for u few weeks, equip
yourself with gun and bag, invite as
many NJ YOU viii Of good fellows to Join
you, take the early morning train In
West Philadelphia, bvcaklast In WASH
lngton, dine In Lynchburg, sup aud
sleep in Bristol, Tennessee, and next
morning come ont on our new rond and
breakfast with me, and that day we will
do the tunnel and for as many other days
M you please we will "do' the quail IN
the lovely valley of Powcll's River and
the phcasants In the Cumberland Noun
tains, and I will send YOU home hdcn
with the spoil Of the field and the woods,
TO feast your "stay-at-homc" friends on
thn prn1upI of VOur own gllll In tlp nrtg