The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-06-11
What the Future Has For Us.

ources of this portion OF the State.
here is no doubt entertained OF its flu
,ure growth and prosperity. 1t is only |
those who belong to the uniformed or /
the cynically inclined-who were born in
the wrong sign and gather their inspir-
alton from perverse views and notions
that do not grasp the situation and
the assurances of the future.
There is nothing which it is reasonable to
that can arrest the progress
of this district.
The immense bodies of iron ore which
hedge in the narrow valley of jackson
river, contain more intrinsic values
than the gold mines of the Pacifi ccoast,
which of themselves are sufficient for
the foundation of IA great industrial CEN
ter. So long as civilization exists and
progresses iron will increase in demand,
and where the quality of the ore is such
as to meet the demand of che market and
can be mined most economically. there
will capital and enterprise locate. There
is scarcely day that some new use for
.
tion and discovery that appropriates the
product of the furnace, adds to the
wealth of this district. For in truth We
may safely say that there is not in the
known world an area of territory, similar
in acreage to that which lies within TWEEN
ty miles around Clifton Forge. that con
tains as much of this essential materia.
as is found here. 1t is not known, it is
true, to the outside world, but it is bere
nevertheless. By degrees it is being
noised abroad that Clifton is the center
of great mineral wealth. Now and then
an inquiring capitalist from the east, in
stitutes que stions as TO rumors he has
heard. And when told what may be
seen, his wonder is excited and his cred
ulity tested because business men of sa
gacity, eager for gain, have not long be
fore this endeavored to gain possession
of these sources of natural wealth and
profit. 1t has bean but a few weeks
ago, that an intelligent and wealthy
gentleman of Washington was called
here on business With few honrs
leisure. he appropriated them for Il ride
to Low Moor When he beheld the
gigantic works at that pOint-the furn-
ace stacks and the coke ovens. the ma
teral yards, the railroad tracks to
astonishment was great. He said he
had not the remotest idea that any in
dustry of such dimensions existed in the
South, much less in Virginia. The
quiet, intelligent way in which Captain
Merry explained and presented the
operations OF the establishment, and
courteously conducted h gentleman
through the various departments of the
plant, was to this stranger a revelation
and had more the color and impress to
him of a romance than veritable fact.
Had he been taken to LOngdale, he
would have gotten equally as impressive
a lesson, and had his wonder intensified
in the presence of the neatness. the
system and the dimensions of the work
that there is the daily routine.
A visit to the mines of each of these
plants and then to Rich Patch where
mountains almost OF solid ore are visible
to the eye. and he might have formed
some adequate conception OF the natural
wealth which surrounds here, for even
this extensive exposure is mere spot in
comparison with the vast undeveloped
and untouched mineral deposits, which
await the application of pick and shovel.
The extent of them is simply incom-
prehensible. For a century to come they
will grow in value and constitute the
basis for one of the richest and busiest
which the sun shines.
1t is not reasonable TO suppose that
capital will much longer remain igno-
rant of these fabulous resources, or fail
to seek investments where they will be
sure to yield abnormal returns.
When the Potts Creek railroad shall
have been constructed which is prom
Used within the next twelve months, it
will expose another portion of the dis
trict equally as promising as those rep
resented by Rich Patch, Low Moor,
Longdale, and Glen Wilton. The de-
velopments which this improvement
will force will be followed by additional
furnace plants located convenient
to the ore, and but short distance from
coal and coke. And these will be sup
plemented by other industries related to
iron, while the whole valley will become
vocal with the whir of machinery and the
stir and progress of business in every
channel.
Ten years from now the citizen of the
present will not know his locality. For
tunes will, in that time, be made and
lost; the waste places will blossom as the
rose and the influence and impress of
invention and an advancing civilization,
will have revolntionized present condi>
tions. The whole state is throbbing and
pulsatlng under new life-an awakened
sense of latent power and a conscious
ness of material strength that have
never before moved her energies. This
particular section, this especial district.
is pre-eminently feeling this impulse. A
decade hence-with development suc>
ceeded by development. Industries sup
plemented by industries, new blood and
new endeavor multiplied as result of
the invitation our material resources ex-
tend,-such a transformation will have
been effected-such assuring conditions
will be present, that not even an apoc>
ryphal vision could have outlined
them. We have millions upon millions of
dead wealth to be converted into active,
healthy, sentient factors in the march
of civilization and the creation of new
values, awaiting the touch of capital and
enterprise to vitalize their forces. We
have nearly every natural condition to
build upon, and all that is wanting is
the application of the essential agencies
of money and muscle to bring them
forth in forms and for uses, which the
wants of the world demand.
We are at the threshold of a wonderful
era of growth and prosperity. We are
stepping upon the confines of an epoch,
when Iron and not Cotton, is to be king,
or rather where these twin factors in
the material power of the nation, are to