The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1890-11-27

cost to the capacious furnaces OF &
Lowmoor iron Company, which will be
a ready purchaser. If the latter does
not buy all eff tie ore, the same gravity
railroad viii place it in cars of the Ches-
apeaIle s. Ohio railway, upon which it
can be transported to any of the nulner-
Gus furnaces along its line within forty
miles OF Lowmoor. The great coal and
coke fields OF the New River district in
West Virginia are less than 10omiles dis
tant, on the Chesapeake s. Ohio railway.
This finely equipped and well managed
road gives also & direct outlet to the sea-
board at Newport News, and to the
iron and steel furnaces of Ohio and
Pennsylvania over a distance less than
half that now traversed in the transpor-
tation of their ore from Michigan
Though Michigan produces more iron ore
than any other State, from over
fifty active mines, many of them bonan
zas, perhaps ninety per cent. OF her ore
is transported on an average forty miles
by rail and $50 miles by wate., to Chica-
go and Cleveland, and that sent to the
latter place, perhaps seventy per cent.
OF the whole, is then transported by rail
about 100 miles farther to the furnaces
OF Pennsylvania and Ohio. If with this
costly obstacle of distance. with expen-
sive and troublesome labor. and with
little Or no advantage in coal,
IRON is KING
in Pennsylvania and Ohio. and among
ali the manufacturing and mining indus
tries Of the United States, what position
viii iron occRpy at Lowmoor and at 9th
er places along the Chesapeake & Ohio
railway? 1t is not surprising that Sir
Lowthian Bell told the British iron and
steel makers to give particular attention
to the South, whose mineral resources
are so enormous
SURROUNDED By INDUSTRY.
The town OF Lowmoor has therefore
a solid foundation of iron, which in this
iron age makes the best bottom town
can have. Its inhabitants can depend
upon the aiming of the Allegheny Min
ing and Development Company, which
I 5 establishing the town, upon the min
iag and Jhe furnaces Of the Iowmoor
iron Company, upon operations on the
celebrated Rich Patch iron tract lying a
..,- ,,4,iao ~ II "a ,,ac4.,,orJ oDJ -,,,>, +J,a
mining that must soon be commenced
on the adjoining G0,G00 acres of iron land
purchased last spring with 100000 by
Peter McIaren, q millionaire capitalist
Of Canada. The iron tracts just named,
excepting the Rich Patch, bound Low
moor town, in the order given, on the
south, west and north. Lying on the
east, across Il strip about a half-mie
wide, is the Chesapeake & Ohio Devel-
opment Company land, on which the
new town OF West Clifton Forge is being
built, AT u distance of about three miles
from Iowmoor Al West Clifton Forge
the principal repair shops of the Chesa-
pealze & Ohio railway are now being
eseete1 These shops will soon employ
severs4! l.undred men, and in time, with
locomotive and car building, will prob
ably
EMPLOY ONE THOUSAND MEN.
In both directions from Lowmoor the
valley traversed by the G. & 0. railway
/ and ,yae1sons river is almost continu-
Gus stretch Of prosperous industries like
the valleys Of Pennsylvania. Seven
miles to lac westward is Covington, and
within ten miles to the east and south
east are Clifton Forge and Iron Gate.
Ill these places and others not much
/ farther away, are now being developed
and additional furnaces will doubtless
/ be established. Moreover, the Allie
ehany Mining and Development Com
pany, besides its own mining operations,
and the surrounding industries upon
/ which the town OF Lowmoor can depend,
! viii secure various manufacturing plants
/ for Lowmoor in the same way by which
such establishments are secured for
/ towns having no mineral wealth. No
I place in the South has better resources
than Lowlnoor for becoming Il rich
manufacturing city of the Pennsylvania
kind.
UNEQUALED SITE FOR A CITY.
In travelling over the Chesapeake and
4 Ohio railway through the mountains Of
Virginia and West Virginia, an observ-
! ing person would naturally choose Low
moor as the most suitable place along
! the way for q moderate sized vet firmly
established city. 1t already has a popu-
lation OF nearly 1900, Of whom about
500 men are employed at the mines,
limestone Quarries, $50 coke ovens and
two 1A9-t0n furnace stacks of the Low
moor Iron Company The land availa-
IDLE for building purposes comprises
about go acres OF Jackson river mead
ow, cultivated level land, we'll drained
and above high water-mark about 300
acres of smooth sloping land at the
mountain base and perhaps 200 acres of
hills or first mountains. BY building
along tlie railroad and river in both direc-
lions, and up small valleys leading be-
tween the mountains, the city could be
extended as far as might be desired.
The total Of about 7G0 acres mentioned
above lies in the
HEART OF THE ALLEGHANIEs,
about 9,003 feet above the level of the
sea, and bounded Oh every side by noun
tain walls varying in height from 1000
10 s,G00 feet above the river. The beau
ty of the location can easily be imagined.
The level land has been cultivated for
many years, and is as smooth and at
tractive as any farm in the Valley of
Virginia. Most Of the slightly elevated
land at the mountain base was cleared
long ago for grazing.
The town site of the Allegheny Min
ing and Development Company com
prises q little more than half of the
1 beautiful cleared tract surrounded by
the mountains. All the remainder. ex-
cept a comparatively small meadow at
! the eastern extremity belonging to the
G. & 0. Railway Company, is owned by
the Lowmoor Iron Company, including
the settled town around its furnaces.
Tho Aiiaohanv Mining and Dovolo,