The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1890-06-19
A Sound View.


n the iron industry, has the following
,ound views of the Southern situation.
The remarks are general, and are as
Just as they are general, so far as the
editors information extends. While
heartily endorsing what is said by the
Age, there is much more that might be
presented to give Importance to the
opinions expressed on the stirring ques-
ton OF Southern development, and es
pecially of Virginia mineral resources.
The VIRGINIAN has contended ever
since active movements looking to ma
terial developments commenced, that
there was nothing strange or abnormal
in the conditions, where a knowledge OF
the resources of the South was present.
What are called blooms" are not such |
in the common acceptance Of the term. |
There are solid and enduring facts and
conditions to justify nearly every or
ganization that has for it's object ma
terial development. In Virginia this is
especially the case. Take, as an illus
tration, the mineral district reaching
from Buffalo Gap, in this county, to
Covington, in Allegheny county, and
we doubt whether there can be found
in the known world more mineral wealth
in iron ore. The improvements contem-
templated at Goshen, Iron Gate, West
Iron Gate, at Clifton Forge, Low Moor,
and Covington, and the development of
the Rich Patch district, are all solidly
based. There is nothing in view Of the
facts to justify the application of the
term boom" to them. They are all
feasible, with natural advantages pos
sessed in very few other districts or
sections. There is no just reason why
every scheme inaugurated should not
be abundantly successful. If the man
tunity they will be. Not only furnaces
for the making of pig iron but indus
s les for converting it into the higher
forms of manufacture will eventually
cover the whole range of country to
which we refer. 1t ought to be SO, and
capital and skilled knowledge become
acquainted with the marvellous wealth
within the limits we have named. Buff
falo Gap, Ferrol, Estaline, Victoria,
Longdale, Clifton Forge, Iron Gate,
Low Moor. Covington, the Rich Patch
and Potts Creek district and Douthat
Survey contain a volume of mineral
affluence unsurpassed in the civilized
world. And yet, there are very few,
comparatively, who know anything
about it. -tl
The South River district, running
through the Valley at the base of the
Blue Ridge and its foot hills, is another
rich mineral district, and In other pOr-
tions OF the Valley can be found almost
every species of minerals and clays,
which only want capital and labor to
| convert them into rich stores of wealth.
If the editor of the Age would &C
quaint himself with the actual facts
and conditions of the situation and
learn from personal examination the
resources found in this portion of Vir
ginia, the revelation would stimulate
him to a further appreciation of the
marvellous wealth which abounds in the
South, and especially in Virginia, and
confirm his opinion that there is moth
ing wrong In the industrial activity that
is now going on.
The Age says:
The traveller through the South can
not fail to be impressed by the evidence
of prosperity on every hand. He may
have been inclined to discredit the laud
atory articles on Southern progress
which he had previously read, but the
! evidence of his own eyes is too cOnvinc-
ing to be lightly dismissed. The resi-
dents of other sections have heard SO
much of the Southern boom in real es-
is not TAT all strange that they have
been looking forward apprehensively to
the time when the boom would collapse
with disastrous results. This has been
the case in other localities, and 1t Is,
therefore, to be expected in the South.
But the predicted collapse does not
come. Waves of prosperity and de-
preston pass over the country with
the effect of increasing the Southern
pace during the former and Stacking
it little during the latter. The
prophets of disaster have not en-
tirely ceased to predict evil times ahead
for Southern investments, but they have
SO often failed that greater confidence
than ever seems to be reposed in South
ern land and manufacturing schemes.
Sufficient time has now passed since
the south entered earnestly into the
manufacture of iron to demonstrate the
reliability of the basis upon which it
rests. This explains the situation and
furnishes the reason why the expected
collapse in Southern specnlations has
been SO long deferred. Raw materials
cheaply mined and lying close together,
with but reasonable wages paid to labor,
and ready access to the best market in
the world for their product-these are
the keys to the situation. The success
of early enterprises have stimulated the
establishment of others, and the stream
4 of gold pouring into the South seems to
grow larger in volume rather than
smaller. Fortunes are being made SO
rapidly in the South that capital is be-
coming domesticated there, and auxil-
iary enterprises which are being under
taken will serve to assist, If not support
those which were first established.
1t is a most promising sign of the
times, and is as well all indication OF the
widespread prosperity OF the South, that
the manufacture of finished products is
rapidly being introduced. Many of the
new towns now springing up 80 rapidly
in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, North
Carolina and Alabama will have blast
| furnaces, it is true, for their coal and
iron ore deposits make this industry
natural and desirable. but at the same
time steps are being taken to manufac-
ture some more advanced product than
pig iron for sale to other localities. This
policy has been preached to the South
ever since the beginning of an iron in
dustry there. But the preaching would
never have been effective without the
great movement now in progress OF ac-
I tive business men toward the South.
They are seeking locations near the
cheapest raw materials in the country,
| so as to get every advantage possible in
competing with other manufacturers.
The most important question to
most manufacturers to-day is how to
cheaper the cost of the product SO as to
preserve a foothold In the trade. And
that question is being solved to some OK
tent at least. by the movement OF facto-
ries toward the South. or by the estab
lishment of factories in the South by en-
prising men who see better chance
there than in the over-supplied North.
An Important Movement.
This section of Virginia is indebted
to Reeves Gait and 0. K. Lapham, prin
cipally, for one of the most important
movements ever inaugurated in this por-
tion of VIRGINIA TT ia nothing more nor