Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1889-05-29
Our Southern Rival.
PENNSYLVANIA IRON INDUSTRIES AND
THEIR COMPETITORS.


THEIR COMPETITORS.
For Manufacturers Record1
From information / have gained OF that
section of country, embracing virginia,
Alabama and Tennessee, | am led to be-
lieye that supremacv in manufacture will
soon be wrested from the Middle ana new
England States.
The Southern people, as a whole, are
eenerous. kind-hearted and hospitable, and
the majority of them fairly progressive
There are those among them who think
this life a dismal failure, and few who
still mourn the downfall of the lost cause
These people refuse to be comforted even
by the music of progress, which has en-
chanted all others but themselves. But IL
is not necessary to go South to find that
class of people, they flourish to certain
extent in every cline, and no section OF
country is entirely free from their presence
and influence at the same time, belieVe
that the events of the last eight or Ten
wears hayo convinced the majority OF the
Southern people that they are better OH
without slavery, believe, also, that they
are perfectly satisfied to let the matter rest
| on that basis, leaving out altogetner the
higher motives which actuated the aoo
| litionists. In their intercourse Win eacn
other, and with strangers, they are SO mucn
| like people Of other sections OF the country
that there does not appear to be any longer
auy good reason for referring to them as
.stIe Southern People" Their manners,
habits and customs are just about the same
az you meet in any other part of the coun-
| trv. and with them sectionalsm is dead.
The States named have much natural
wealth, most of which is yet unaeveiopen;
their rivers are large and provide cheap
and convenient means of transportation,
and the9 railway facilities arc being in
creased and extended on every hand. A
study of the climate of regions SO rich In
all the elements of wealth must be inter
estinp. Heretofore, from some cause or
other most people when casting about for
home, thoughtlessly dropped all conslde-
| ration of the South, being led to believe
that it is a hot, dry, unhealthy region, and
Immediately struck out for the West or
Northwest, and endured extreme cold in
| winter and extreme heat in summer; hurri-
canes and blizsardE at any time and gener-
ally at a time when least prepared for
them, and soil and climate which arc not
nearly 80 attractive as those OF which they
so thoughtlessly abandoned. The climate
| of the valley and Southwest Virginia, Ken
lucky, Eastern Tennessee, Western Georgia
and Northern Alabama, within which is
| embraced the Southern iron and coal belt,
which has experienced sucn wonderful
boom since 1884, ia milder than Pennsyi.
yania, The summers are longer, and while
| ii lasts the heat is more steady and uniform.
They have, however, no such thing as hot
waves, which occasionally pass over the
North from Dakota to the Atlantic coast;
| and sunstroke in that region is unknown
The winters are considerably milder than
we are accustomed TO, and the snow falls IN
smaller quantity than in the Northern
region. consider this section OF the South
more healthy than most parts OF Pennsyl-
vana, as it is not subjected to such sudden
and violent changes in the atmosphere,
and while the summers are long, the rights
are always cool enough to get proper rest:
! This wonderful region, the progress of
which was retarded if not entirely hindered
by slavery. must nov take giant strides
towards industrial wealth and greatness,
since it is entirely rid of slavery and its
consequent train of evils; aud l look for a
shifting of the iron manufacturing center
| from the New England States, and even
| from New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio,
| to the more favored States mentioned
above. This may be taken as an extreme
view. For such thing as the South COM
peting with Pennsylvania, for instance, the
| favorite abode of the iron and coal kings in
the manufacture of iron, seems preposter-
GUS, but the whole tale is told 10 very few
| words in the Manufacturers Record in the
first week OF April, when it stated that
s'Southern iron was sold in New York
market this week at from so cents to 81
per ton less than the corresponding grades
of Northern iron." This brief sentence
sent cold chill down the back of many
Northern iron manufacturers, and the
spirits of the Southern men have risen ac-
cordiDgly.
Just think Of it. Ten years ago there
was scarcely an iron mill of any conse-
quence south of Maryland, and to-day the
manufacturers of Birmingham, Ala, can
ship their iron to New York, pay freight
and still sell at one dollar ton less THAI
the iron made within one hundred miles Of
the market. The reasons for this are not
hard to fud. In the first place, the mills
and furnaces of the South, all being now,
are well fitted up with the latest improved
machinery, while many Of those in this
section of country are old and are constant
ly being repaired. These repairs cost both
time and money. Then again in Pennsyi-
vania, and especially in Eastern Pennsyl-
| vania, (wbere they have not the advantage
of natural gas:) the three principal msteri-
ais for the manufacture of iron, which are
| iron ore, coal and limestone, D part of the
iron ore has to be hauled hundreds of miles,
while in many parts of the South the three
are found within a radius of comparative
| ly few miles. These desirable locations
for extensive works and the cheap manu-
| facture of iron are not confined to one or
two of the Southern States, but embrace
Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia
and Alabama. Among the most favorable
locations for extensive works is on the
James river, Va. at or rear the crossing Of
Richmond 81 Allegheny and Shenandoah
Valley railroad, in the neighborhood Of
Balcony Falls aud the Natural Bridge.
The Richmond & Allegheny railroad,
which follows the James river from tide
water at Richmond to Clifton Forge, where
it reaches the main line of the Chesapeake
& Ohio railroad at the eastern base of the
Allegheny Mountain, making available the
great belt of limonite, magnetic, specular
and brown hematite iron ore and manganese
ore east of Lynchburg, the different large
veins of iron aud manganese ores in the
Blue Ridge and South Mountains, the cele-
brated ores of Richpatch and Warm
Springs Mountain ranges III short, this
| roadway cuts at right angles tho principal
GRE seams that are stratitied through the
State. The ore in the immediate neigh
borhood of the site of where works should
be located is in vast quantity, and can be
mined as cheaply as anywhere in the State,
| The Shenandoah Valley railroad runs
parallel with the South Mountain and Blue
Ridge range from Roanoke to Hagerstowp,
thus making the large seams Of ore in these
range easy of access. First-class limestone
is in great abundance Immediately around
the furnace sites. The best of coking coal
can be reached as Pocahontas, Taz9~oll
county, Va, or near Quinnemont, W. Va,
either Of which can be delivered at a mode
rate cost; or when the line of railroad is
made from Lexington through West Vir-
ginia to Pittsburgh, Pa, it will develop the
best btuminou5 coal territory in the United
States.
A part of Randolph, Upshur, Tucker and
Preston counties, West Virginia, are
underlaid with coal seams aoprepatino 70