Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-05-15
Stanton Speftator.
WEDNESDAY,, MAY Is, 1889.
Glasgow on the James.


additional development ia She valleys of
the James and North rivers in Rockbridge
county. The ninety five thousand acres of
mineral, agricultural, and forest lands con-
trolled by that organization are not en-
braced in any other scheme. They stand
out in bold relief, furnishing the basis for
great ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS perhaps than
any project in contemplation. If COM
mencement is made, it opens the way for a
gradual progress concentrating designs at a
central point in the Valley of Virginia,
which will eliminate in the most valuable
development of unlimited wealth in natural
resources. 1t will aid also the opening of
a new and shorter route for the commerce
of a large portion of the Northwest, des-
tined for an outlet by the mouth of the
Chesapeake bay.
Transportation lines adjacent and others
are scheming for an opening into the county
of Craig, which is represented as very rich
in mineral, lumber material, &c. Since
the prospectus of the Rockbridge Company
was issued, there have been placed in that
organization thirty-five thousand acres of
Craig lands of the description named
They are located not far from the line of
the Richmond & Allegheny railroad. If,
therefore, the commencement is made as
contemplated at Glasgow, it will only be a
question of time as to when the whole
scheme of development will be equipped
for its perfect consummation.
The present time develops new and
shorter routes to obtain what was lost to
Virginia, through circumstances she could
not control, of what was her own North
west territory, and the commerce of Pitts
burg and that section of the country. The
inducements of to-day to open direct chan
nels of traffic between that section and the
sea are greater than ever, and are con-
stantly increasing. New lines of railroad
running across West Virginia from the
Northwest portion Of that State are Co
operating in the designs referred to. These
new channels of transportation creating a
new commerce and controlling much of
that now in existence, will concentrate, as
they point Eastward, at Glasgow, the pro-
posed town, located in the Valley where
the passage through the Blue Ridge
mountains takes place. Whilst referring
in a general way to the new and increasing
commerce to be carried on by these new
lines of transportation, We should not over
look the specific development along the
route and at Pittsburg of which the de-
signs at Glasgow will be such an important
part. Through large portion of the in
terror of the State of West Virginia, and
along many of its richest valleys and over
It's Northern watersheds, these new lines
will open a new country, as it were, almost
boundless in it's riches in coal and iron
deposits, the valuable hard wood, lumber
material, and the very best country for
rearing live stock.
The proposed manufacturing industries
to be located at Glasgow, must, therefore,
play an important part, as a new country
is to receive benefits from them and con-
tribute to their growth.
In speaking of the new lines of tIanspor-
tation from the East, crossing the Valley,
uia Glasgow, we have not lost sight of
those in existence and the relation they
will bear to the progress there. In the
article two weeks ago. we referred par
ticularly 10 the Richmond and Allegheny
railroad, and the unity of interest that ex.
listed between the two. Sweeping along
from North to South, seventy-five thou
sand acres of land in the Glasgow city
interests on its line which runs through a
good portion of it, as well as the proposed
city itself, is the great longitudinal con-
Meeting link-the Shenandoah Valley
railroad. 1t is not out of place to refer
here, as we have often before had occasion
to do, to the early and most important
progress this line of railroad and its influ-
ence have accomplished for Virginia. The
ores Of the 'Glenwood" property, and the
vast lumber resources of its 50, 900 acres,
are Immediately upon tbs liae-Gbe ores in
great quantities less than a mile distant
from it.
Of the advantages of Glasgow for the es-
tablishment of such industries as coke or
charcoal-furnaces, hydraulic cement, wood
pulp. paper, Terra-cotta pipes, iron foun
dries, machine shops, rolling mills, &C.,
much can be said, both as to the possession
there of the raw material and the facilities
and convenience in transportation of those
to be procured elsewhere. Some of them
axe as follows A.: Accessibility to trunk liues
of railroads in all directions, unlimited
water power, in the heart Of rich and
productive agricultural regioo, with
Glasgow upon the direct inc of railroad
connections to the sea-eoast and from
four to six hundred miles nearer to Pitts
burgh, Baltimore, Harrisburg, Johnstown,
Richmond, Philadelphia and New York
than either Chattanooga or Birmingham.
The location of Glasgow is on beautiful
plane between the junction of the rivers
with rising table lands receding to the base
of Sallipg's mountain. A large, bold
stream of clear mountain freestone water
is there That would supply city Of fifty
thousand or more inhabitants with an
abundance by gravity. For healthfulness
and every advantage, the location is ad-
mirable.
We repeat again the view we have often
before expressed of the efforts that are now
in progress TO develop SO much Of the
latent wealth and advantages of Virginia.
All the schemes possess merit, and no small
amount Of it. They are worthy of en-
listing all the home and foreign capital
that can be secured to advance them, and
SO believing, we will continue to contribute
all the support we are capable OF to pro-
mote their objects.
The public is we'll aware of the relations
the Hon. William A. Anderson, of Rock