Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-08-12
THE GREAT SOUTHWEST.
ITS WEALTH AND PROSPECTS.

JIS " EAL8H ds'N
w,,hs,,llc and Its SURROUNDINGS = i'fie
n,,.,a,. and Extensive Cs,sie.Grazi az
Fine Crops.
Isrec,al correspondence OF the Dispsief.l
WyrnEvmLE, August IL, 1885.
Having visited Salem, your corre-
spondent has now reached Wytheyille.
The scenery along the line Of the Nor
folk and Western road from that point
to this is grand and picturesque indeed,
it is as beautiful as nature could well
make it. wytheville, like all towns IN
Southwest Virginia, is situated IN a
pictures que valley, surrounded upon one
Size by country which at this season
of the year is truly lovely to look
upon. From the commanding hils
around the town the eye can
take in many miles Of beautiful!
fields and magnificent forests. Dotted
here and there are attractive farm
houses, and in the fields grazing can be
seen herds of fat cattle. Its people
arc sociable and kind, and ever willing
to lend helping hand to the stranger.
The cirls-well, what shall ] say Of
them? There are many beautiful ones,
and if some of them could name did but
promenade Franklin street they would
likely incur the envy Of some OF Rich
mond's fairest bellies. At this time
there are number from different por-
tons of the South sojourning here, and
the town is as gay as youth and beauty
can make it.
A RICH COUNTRY.
Among the merchants are heard COM
plants Of times being hard" but to
judge from the genial smiles that light
their faces and from the heavy stock Of
goods they carry this must be pros
porous community. Literally speak
ing, this section the Southwest is the
land Of milk and honey. Why, if you
were to go to the summit Of Mount
Airy, which is thirteen miles west Of
Wytheyille, and take with you a strong
pair Of glasses, you could see in n
sweep of sixty miles around rich fields,
with fat herds Of cattle and flOcks Of
sheep; fertile lowlands, rich with album
ance of grain Qhe corn crop is superb,
and surpasses that Of any season for
years past and it will embrace more
mineral wealth than that Of any section
of equal size in America.
MINERALS.
1t is said there are IRON. lead, zinc,
copper, manganese. and coal-mines;
salt in abundance, plaster used as a
fertilizer inexhaustible, and in some
places plumbago, marble, and some
gold, as we'll as magnificent forests of
oak, chestnut, poplar, walnut, hickory,
and the like. All along the line Of the
Norfolk and Western railroad iron ores
in abundance are to be fOund-that
is, in Wythe, Smyth, Washington,
Grayson, Carroll, Floyd, Pulas-
XII, Montgomery, Bland, Tazewell,
Russell, Lee, and Scott; on Cripple
creek, in Wythe, lead and zinc are to
be found coal in the northern portion
of the county, in Brush mountain;
also in the counties of Bland, TaZe-
well, Wise, and Scott, with some on the
edge of Russell copper in the counties
of Grayson and Carroll, and on the
North Carolina line; gold in the Blue
Ridge mountains, near Auburn, on the
south side Of Montgomery county, and
from there on to North Carolina. AT
Auburn the mining Of gold is being
pursued with success; salt and plaster
in Smyth and Washington.
At Saltville, on the line of Smyth
and Washington counties, are located
the great salt-works, the property Of
Stuart, Palmer & Co. There are seve-
raj wells, and the supply is said to be
In these, before you
reach the water, there is an immense
salt rock, and beneath it a vein Of
water. In getting to the water in the
wells, which is done by machinery, you
pass through this bed Of salt rock,
which is from forty to one hundred
feet thick. The drippings from this rock
fall into the water and keeps up its
strength. The water is so thoroughly
mpregnated with salt that you may
take handful of salt, throw it into
bucket of water taken from the well,
and it will remain at the bottom Of the
bucket without dissolying. This pro-
perty was first discovered by man
named King, eighty years ago. During
The late war the main supply of salt
was furnished the Confederate Govern
nent from these works.
Plaster, which is used for fertilizing
purposes, is also found in abundance in
this locality, and the supply is looked
upon as inexhaustible. Some years ago
n Locust Cove, fifteen miles from Salt
gille, a shaft 10 feet square and 500
eet deep was sunk for the purpose of
striking salt water, but when in about
our feet Of its bottom it passed through
/ solid bed of plaster.
CATTLE.