The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-06-05

OF all corners. OuC EfSui@1 $500
dollar per inch for each insertion but 10
induce merchants to test the value OF IT'S
Influence we will make contracts tor three
months or more at fifty cents per men.
This offer can not be accepted too quickly.
Movements Among Railroads.
There are many new and interesting
rumors of railroad construction and COM
binstion in the air; and while they are
not sufficiently definite to be made the
basis of accurate calculation, they show
that the larger railroad systems OF the
South are realizing the fact that the MIN
eral district, Of which Big Stone Gap is
the natural center, is henceforth 70 sup
ply the bulk of their tonnage and form
the basis of their prosperity. Sagacious
projectors more fully than ever understand
now the. great forces which ere being di-
rected toward this section and the vast
results which must follow their agrees
sive action.
The L. g. N. and the Norfolk & Western
were the first companies in the South to
appreciate the revolution in railroad econ
omy, effected Ivy the war. Previous to
that CONFUSION builders Of such lines
stunned the mountain and sought the
plain. They looked to...agricultural pro-
ducts alone for traffic. But as soon as
the coal and mineral resources of the
Southern portion of the Appalachian
range were ascertained through the in
vestigations Of biologists and the practi-
cal tests of mineral experts, it dawned
upon them.that we had the same elements
of wealth that had made profitable the
Northern systems; and that instead OF
deyising temporary shifts to avoid bank
ruptcy they could, by extending their
lines through mineral districts, render
them profitable and secure additional
means, not only for the construction of
new branches, but for improving main
stems and rescuing them from decay. The
Success which has attended this change Of
policy has not only vindicated the judg-
ment Of those robust and progressive
leaders of the movement, to whom the
South is indebted for. its conception and
unparalleled progress, but it has formed
a surprising and interesting feature i'll
the railroad history Of the United States.
AS an Illustration of the rapidity of
this development and the profit attending
il, the Norfolk s. Western railroad may
be cited. According to the report of the
company for 1890 it appears that within
ten years their lines have increased 400
per cent in mileage, 200 per cent in gross
earnings, 500 per cent in. tonnage and
almost 700 per centin che number Of pas
sengers. Ten gears ago not car load Of
coal orcoke was conveyed from the Poca-
hontas coal field, while last year $780, 900
tons were hauled, 80 per cent of which
were carried over this road.
We have not received the report of the
L. &. N. for the same year, but the pro-
gress it has made is not less surprising;
and the figures one OF two years hence,
will be even more significant Of our adj
vance in coal and iron development.
The E. T. Va. & Ga. system has not
hitherto been SO aggressive iii this direc-
tion: but it is now about entering the field
against it's two great rivals, and the entire
thought and enterprise Of its officers and
owners are now concentrated upon the
subject. The coal fields about Big Stone
Gap will soon be penetrated by abraneh
Of this road from Rogersville; and, it is
understood, an effort is being made by the
same company to secure the control Of
the Kentucky Union, in order to complete
its construction and connect it with the
Ragersyille branch at Big Stone Gap.
1t is believed that the L. &. N. also has
desire to secure the Kentucky Union
and complete its construction to this
,,oiait. This with branch from Pineville
through Harlan, would give that line
access to the entire Coz! and timber dis
sricts Of Kentucky and Southwestern vir-
GINA, and to the rich iron deposits of
Walieus' ridge.
40 complete its system and enable it to
eccupystke most strategic position in the
South, it would be necessary to construct
an. air line from Cumberland Gap or some
point near it to.a point ON the Nashville
& Chattanooga, avoiding the circuitous
route from Big Stone Gap via lebanon
Junction to the furnaces of Alabama,
and in addition the acquisition of tbs S.
a. so, and the Atlantic d Danville, which
would give it an independents line 10 Nor-
folk and access TO the Eastern markets
and by q route come forty miles shorter.
than the one via Norton over the Norfolk
Il Western.
The fact that the Norfolk 4 Western
hes iss sxneeal fields and 10 already taxed
beyond its capacity to carry its own ton.
nsge, renders such an acquisition by the
ia N. the more Imperative, as the Nor-
folk & Weasera will giss the product 81