The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-09-01
Good Times for the South

The Baltimore Sun of the 23d, presents the
following encouraging resume of the pros
poets of the South 1t will be read with in
terest:
One of the most striking circumstances of
the present time is the vast amount of money
that is flowing inte the South, and is being
expended in building new railroads, extending
old ones and in organizing new Industrial en-
terprises Wherever there are mineral treas
ures to develop, capital in superabundance
appears to be ready to embark in utilizing
| them, and to construct through or branch
railroads to facilitate the bringing of the pro-
ducts to market. The activity manifested IN
the Valley of Virginia during the past year
has been most remarkable. New buildings
are going up in all directions, new railroads
are forming perfect network OF iron lines
! through the gaps of the mountains, and new
furnaces are either projected or are under con-
struction. One of the most noteworthy of
these industrial ventures is that of an English
company which has bought a large body of
! iron ore lands at some distance from Millboro'
where they propose to build the largest fur
naces vet projected at the South, bringing the
ore to the furnaces by a railroad already par
tally graded along the Valley of Mill Creek,
and which, when completed, will pass within
two miles of Rockbridge Alum Springs, now
| only accessible by stages. All along the lines
of the Ches & Ohio and the Richmond and
Allegheny Roads and their branches are
stretched great trains of coal cars, immense
masses of iron ore waiting shipment, and of
lime stored from the quarries near by. The
LowmoOr furnaces and the Clifton FORCES are
said to be worked to their utmost capacity
and everywhere one meets with signs of un-
precedented prosperity. Nor is it in the valley
alone these manifestations Of Industrial pro-
gress are found They may be witnessed in
other parts of old Virginia stretching from
tidewater to the Tennessee line. Quitea num-
Der of the Southern States are sharing in this
happy change; some in the increase of cotton
manufactures others in the mining and smelt-
ing Of iron and copper, and in getting out kao
lin to be used in the making OF porcelain and
other wares, and in various arts and manlltac
lures. 1t has been estimated that not less than
one hundred millions of dollars have been
subscribed at the North within the past eight
teen months for investments in the States of
the South east of the Mississippi river and
west and south of Richmond. Within year
two millions of dollars of Eastern and other
capital have been invested in cotton manufac
tories in Georgia alone. Theee millions have
been subscribed in New York for the develop
ment of coal and iron in Tennessee. Eighteen
hundred thousand dollars have been put into
cotton mills and steel works in Alabama. All
these and many more investments are outside
of the large sums expended in buying up and
improving old railroads and building new
Besides these investments by capitalists in the
Northern, Eastern and Middle State. European
syndicates have entered the field One syndi-
cate, the Ehrlander, is said to have recently
bought an immense tract of land in Alabama
English capitalists bought, a few days ago.
some forty thousand acres in Georgia, and are
now seeking an opportunity to invest halt
| million of dollars more in other States. What
ever may heretofore be the misfortune of the
Southern States, good fortune has now come
| to them. They are having their railroads built
| chiefly by foreign capital, and wherever the
people in localities interested show disposl-
| ton to put their money into such enterprises,
they are readily met with liberal backing from
other quarters, The risk is, therefore, mainly
| that of others; and an immense gain derived
| from the advantages, commercially and terri
| torially, that railroads gives, accrues to the
| Southern people locally, substantially, and
| without peradventure. Sagacous and enter
prising men are developing their mineral re-
sources, and bringing into profitable use their
| fine water powers to run cotton manufactures
adjacent to and surrounded by cotton fields.
| They thus find market for their products at
| their own DOORS and work for their people in
| region of cheapness. 1t is process OF trans
| formation that is now going on. The signs of
it are everywhere visible throughout the
South. The significance of it is too clear to
! be mistaken. 1t is the revival of an entire
section of the Union, and its increase in the
| future in population and wealth will be com
mensurate with the activities now making
themselves felt on every side