Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1890-10-01
From the Rockbridge News, Sept. 18th,
The Town of Cornwall.

From the Rockbridge News, Sept 25th.l
The Town of Cornwall.
RoCKBRIDGE TO HAVE A NEW INDUSTRIAL
TOWN ALONG THE BLUE RIDGE.
Our county is to have a fourth new in.
dustrial town. 1t is to bear the name of
Cornwall, and its location is to be next to
the Blue Ridge, at the mouth of Irish
Creek and on the waters of South River.
On Saturday last Judge Mclaughlin, of
the Circuit Cours, granted a charter to the
Irish Greek Mineral and DEVELOPMENT
Company, which proposes to undertake
this development. It's maximum capitsl
stock is sS00,O00. The prospectus of the
company hiss been issued; $780, 600 worth
OF stock has been placed on the market and
more than one third of it. has already been
taken. 1t is issued in shares of $50 each
The officers of the company are r. E.
Lee, of King William county, President;
K. e. Lee, G. A. Holt. of Stanton, S. H.
Letcher, and E. B. Moon, Of Lexington,
Baker z. Lee, of Hampton, G. A. Pau,
and L Fl. Woddrop, of Philadelphia, J. G.
Shields, of Rockbridge, ard E M. Mooo, of
Richmond, Directors; G. D. Letcher,
Secretary and Treasurer.
The President, Capt. r. E. Lee. is the
youngest son Of Gen. Robert E. Lee;
Messrs. Pau and Woddrop are large shoe
manufacturers of Philadelphia; Mr.. E. M.
Moon is a prosper Gus tobacco manufacturer
of Richmond; Mr.. Holt is leading BUSH
ness man of Stanton; Maj Baker P.
Lee, is a prominent lawyer Of the Eastern
Shore, at one time editor of the Industrial
South; the other three, of Rockbridge,
Messrs. Shields, Moon, and Letcher are
too we'll known to need introduction.
There is that about the location of the
property and about its history which in its
inception gives promise of success to the
promoters of the enterprise. At the
mouth Of Irish Creek, and at the angle it
makes with South River, there lies a
beautiful expanse of bottom and table
land. 1t is upon 1000 acres selected at
this point that the town is to be laid OUT
This land is what, from the earliest history
of Rockbridge. has been known ss 1.-THE
Irish Creek Farm g farm noted for its
fertility and beauty of location. Owing to
the water-power the locality affords and
the rich mineral deposits near by, there has
hardly been time in the history of the
| county until recent years, when some in
duserlal enterprise has not been conducted
upon Or close by this farm. a short dis
lance above it upon the creek, and upon
the company's property, there stands the
old stack of the first iron furnace ever Oper-
| ated in Virginia west of the Blue Ridge
| 1t was at this point during the war of the
Revolution, that one Dougherty manu-
| featured pig metal which was boated down
| the James and its tributaries to short
distance above Richmond, and there manu-
featured into bombs, which were used
| against the Notifications of CORVALLIS at
Yorktown. A few miles further down the
creek, on the site chosen for Cornwall,
William Caruthers, in his day one of the
enterprising citizens of Rockbridge, ope.
rated forge and workshop, at which he
manufactured and ironed carriages for the
artillery used by the United States in the
war against Greas Britain in 1912. Here
in 1858 E. J. and William Leyburn con-
Quoted an extensive foundry and machine
shop, which later passed into the hands of
DR.. J. Med. Taylor, who manufactured
there bombshells for the United States
government. Such is some of the local
history which attaches to the Irish Creek
Company's property; history, however,
striking in its similarity to that of the
South River region in Rockbridge, North
and South of it.
The Shenandoah railroad passes through
the site of Cornwall, aud it is here that the
mountain road through the Irish Creek val
ley and from the adjoining sections of Am
herst and Nelson, find access to this rail-
| road, the only outlet for that section. Over
looking the farm and the narrow valley of
Irish Creek fourteen miles and more above
lie the Blue Ridge mountains. They have
always in the past been regarded by prac-
tical iron men as Astounding in mineral
wealth, and this testimony is corroborated
by the experts Of this day, many of whom
have been engaged in examining them.
Iron, it ia known, exists there in practical
ly inexhaustible quantities; traces of man
ganese are abundant, and it is in this valley
that the ROckbridge tin mines lie, part of
which are now being extensively opened up
by Moses Joy and others, of Boston, with
satisfactory results.
The company owns 600 and mcre acres
of mineral lands Immediately adjacent to its
town site from which it will draw ores for
its works. The tract was long owned by
DR.. Archibald Graham, and is what is
known as the Graham" tract. It is uni
versally admitted by those conversans with
such matters, TO be one Of the finest iron
properties in Rock bridge, and indeed in
| Virginia. The ores are not only very abun-
dsnt but of a superior quality, az the testi-
mony furnished by she company in les pros
pectus clearly demonstrates.
| The basis of its wealth will be its iron.
and upon that it can safely rest. Buena
| Vista is scarcely eight miles distant. Its
iron lands adjoin those Of the Buena Vista
property. The same outcrop is found upon
both. The ores in the first were long work
ed and always with profit, and constitute
the basis Of Buena Vista's development to.
day. What is being accomplished as an
iron town by Buena Vista, may be safely
predicted for Cornwall.
Its name, however, is significant of de-
velopment Of different character. Corn
wall in England is noted for its tin mines,
and this Cornwall will be the town III clos
est proximity to the tin mines in Rock
bridge. We believe the day is not far dis
tant when tin mining will be an important
industry in Rockbridge.
The location is inviting, and in every way
suitable for manufacturing purposes; the
mineral deposits are large and valuable in
their character, and the company has men
| of character, energy and means conducting
it. There is everything to promise that
| Cornwall will move toward and meet with
substantial success, as have the other indus
trial towns started in Rockbridge in the
two years past.
The seating of Langston by the Repub-
| lican mob in the House has had the very
natural effect of turning his head. In
speech to crowd of Washington negroes
he gave vent to his exultation by saying:
SIT is high honor to confer on any Ameri-
can seat in the House where Reed is
speaker and where Cannon is on the floor"
| Further on he said: "This is onr govern
| ment and our fellows to save. lift is cour.
! rage that is wanted we will give it BY hogs