The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1893-01-26
THE SOUrH,S FUTURE.
Il Region Unsurpassed In Its Possibilities
by ANY Other In the World.

THE SOUTH'S FUTURE.
Region Unsurpassed In Its Possibilities
by Any Other in the World.
Rishard H. Edmonds, i'll the fourth of
his series of articles in the Engineering
Muoazine OH the industrial Development
of the South" writes as follows OF tue
| future:
Looking at the great results accomplish
ed by the Louisville and Nashville rail-
road, and the coal and iron traffic which
it handles, it is difficult to realize that i'll
1850 Alabama only made 1900 tons of
iron and mined less than 3o0,O00 tons OF
coal. We forget that ten years ago
Birmingham had scarcely 1000 people;
that for FIVE years later. Bessemer was un-
thought Of and its site n fpuest;sthat
Admission was simply furnace of probar
bly, ! 900 inhabitants; that Roanoke was
an almost unknown way-station OF G00
people; that sifddlesboroash came-zinto
being less than four years ago; that New
port News gave no promise OF its"present
Importance; that Chattanooga and Knox
Vile, Atlanta, Norfolk, Dallas, Fort
Worth, and dozens Of other places OF
present national prominence were, with a
few exceptions, simply fairly prosperous
trading centers. And yet how great can
the growth of the future be without
OVERRIDING Southern industrial develop
ment.
Here is region of unequaled natural
resources. of coal and iron in nexhausti-
bic quantities, in close proximity and at
low cost of production, of great timber
wealth, of soil adapted to every brunch OF
agriculture; in fact u combination for the
creation of wealth greater than any other
eunal area the world possesses. Its
population is still sparse, its mrnrfactur-
ing and mining interests still. i'll their in
fancy. its towns and cities less numerous
than in any other part of the country
With all the industrial advance of>the last
fen years, the whole South does not yet
equal the one State Of PENNSYLVANIA in
the value of its manufactured products.
West Virginia alone has far more coal
than Pennsylvania, its coal area exceed
| ing even Great Brtan''s; it has many
times as much standing timber rs Penn
sylvania; and it can develop its indus
trial interests until they exceed III value
the present aggregate of the fourteen
Southern States and still not be more
crowded than is Pennsylvania. What is
true of West Virginia is true Of other
Southern States. Some years aso Col.
A. X. Mcclure. Of Philadelphia, said of
Alabama: "1'hcre is not Il source OF
mineral wealth in Pennsylvania, excepting
ONLY our oil product, that is not found in
Alabama in equal Or greater abuAuance,
with the matchless advantages of climate,
of easier and cheaper productions, and OF
vastly cheaper transportation. Natures
great gifts to Pennsylvania have bcen'not
only literally supplemented in Alabama,
but to them have been added every possi-
BILE advantage for their cheap development
and deliveryto the markets of tlie1world."
Alabama is $500 square miles larger than
pennsylvania. Every manufacturing en-
terprise now i'm existence from Mason and
Dixon's line to the Rio Grande might he
located in Alabama, and still that State,
with far greater resources than Pennsi!-
yania, would not equal it in its present
industrial product.
There is no danger, therefore, of Soath-
ern Development reaching the limit o.
/ profitable advancement. Many thousands
Of miles of new railroads can be wisely
:Ibuilt into virgin mineral and timber re-
gions, which, will afford paying traffic
lfrohi the day the first train rolls over them
4 and also int0 settled parts OF the Soat.
now without transportation facilities. Th,
i growth OF coal production from q, l00, 00l
Ito 5000, GOO tons in one decade can b
4 duplicated for many decades, and = mar
Iket lie found for it. Producing neatl
itwo-tlliyds Of tlle world cotton supply
i q, oOO,DO0 out u a total OF Is. 0OD, 0G0 bale
but having only ], 900, 900 out Of II sota
a foyer So, 900, 600 spindies hi tbs world
/ the South has room for multiplying in
s definitely The increase already made 4
cotten inanufac1 stirring.