The Big Stone post. (Big Stone Gap, Va.) 1890-1892, 1891-04-17
Friday, April II, 1891.
Reasons For Our Faith.

There is reason to believe that the bust
ness situation at Big Stone Gap will soon
be greatly improved. There has been and
still is, a scarcity Of money. Indeed no
business community but one having inn
plict confidence in the resources and
outcome of city, could have withstood
have been passing for the last six months.
But no one has lost faith or has abated
zone iot or title Of heart or hope"
That this confidence is we'll founded has
been shown and can easily be shown again.
1t has been demonstrated by all the tests
known to science that we have the best
coking coal which has yet been discovered
on any part of the earth's surface. They
may have better in Mars; they may even
beat US in Jupiter but those planets are
afar off, and there will be some years, even
should our air ships prove successful,
before we can get cheap transportation to
them. For years to come frcights to them
must be high. Certainly this essential
element in iron and steel manufacture is
superior both in quantity and quality, i'm
mediatey around Big Stone Gap, to any
vet made elsewhere on this planet. Our
iron ores, though not surprising others,
is of excellent quality, as has been dem
onstrated by numerous tests, and lies in
close proximity to the coal. Magnetic
ores are not over seventy-tivc miles dis
tant, and their infusion with those we
have will result in superior product of
steel. We have in addition, Immediately
about US, the finest body of virgin timber
north of the tropics. We have 4 situa-
ton which all admit to he unsurpassed.
We have two railroads completed, connect
ing us with the great Richmond Terminal
and the Louisville and Nashville systems;
and the easiest grade through the mount
aims from east to west, to be found within
several hundred miles, north and south.
Two bold rivers rush by us; and we are COM
pleting system Of water works that will
not only supply our population with the
clearest and purest drinking water, but
suffi Gent to set ten thousand wheels in
motion The climate is as healthy rs that
of Saratoga or Ashevile, equally removed
from the region where people are frozen
vhnr no
What more can we ask? These are
physical facts. They are not denied by
any one who has investigated them; and
they are becoming more generally known
and accepted by the world every day.
They cannot be changed by any CONFUSION
short of an overwhelming earthquake.
They have been true for ages past; they
will remain true for ages to come. Finan-
cial crises, bankruptcies, personal mis-
fortunes and the SCATTERING of individual
hopes, can not alter, or, in anyway, affect
them. They are as eternal as the rocky
peaks about us. They must remain until
the wreck of matter and the crush Of
worlds.
Sagacious men study out these facts and
build their fortunes upon them. Tempo
rary discouragements DO not affect their
calm, clear confidence. They know vic
tory must come. Only timid and shallow
minds are shaken in their faith.
The only question is when shall we reap
the fruits of our Investigations and have
our confidence coined into dollars and
cents. Human foresight cannot fix date
for this; but present conditions give assur-
ance Of an early realization of all our
hopes, and more. The vast mines are be-
ing opened; the enormous forests are
being cut This requires outlay and the
consumption of capital. But speedy re-
turns must come as sure as the laws of
commerce exist. There is no reason for
dependency; there is every reason for
buoyant hope. The rainy season seems
10 have ended. The clouds have rolled
away, and the splendid, matchless sun
shine Of the present week seems typical
of our bright and glorious future.