Evening star., 1898-06-21
DAWN OF PROSPERITY
Revival Of Important Industry in
Rookbridge County, Va.
MEMORIES OF SlONEWALL JACKSON
Crank as a Professor, but Une-
qualed as General. :.
ESTS AT THE SPRINGS
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
ROCkBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS,

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
ROCkBRIDGE ALUM SPRINGS,
Rockbridge- Co. Va, June u, 1S9S.
| That the era of prosperity has reached
| this section of the country is evidenced by
| the fact that the Victoria furnace,
| of the largest enterprises of the kind in
America, and which, when run to its full
capacity, furnishes support TO $500 people,
will. shortly be put in operation.
The gigantic furnace referred to was for
| merly known as the Victoria. Its capacity
was 300 tons per day, and 300 tons of iron
| will soon again be turned out from it
daily. 1t was constructed about fifteen
| years ago by company of wealthy En-
| giishmen at a cost of between s., ,2o0, 600
| and $l500,0o0, but after operating 1t for
| some time the supply of ore in the neigh
| porhood nearly gave out ard the works
| were closed. Recently the magnificent
| property was purchased by company of
| Ohio men at less than one-sixth of the
| original cost. The new owners assert their
| intention to operate the furnace permanent
ly and have leased for long term of
| years all immense tract of land, in which
| it is known the best quality of ore exists.
| in Alleghany county, about thirty miles
| from this place. and directly on the line
of the Chesapeake and Ohio road, over
| which the ore which is now and in future
| Will be mined VIII be transported direct TO
| the furnace. Experts who have tested this
ore state that it is probably the richest
to be found anywhere south of Pittsburg.
| jackson ns u Professor.
Former State Senator Frazier of this
| county, who was a boy during the late war,
| but was a soldier in the confederate army
and was intimately acquainted with Stone
wall jackson, has received letter from a
publishing house asking to be furnished
| with i story of the eccentricIties pecu
| liarities of Jackson, manifested upon
| his visits to the Rockbridge Alum in the
| summers which interviewed during the close
| of the war with Mexico and the outbreak of
| the civil war. 1t was Jacilson's invariable
| habit willie a professor at the Virginia
| Military Institute in Lexington 10 spend his
| vacation at the Rockbrdge Alum, and the
| cottage that he occupied is still standing
and is pointed out most reverently by any
| of the Older residents who may be asked
| by the visitor to do SO. The cottage is
quaint old frame structure, much resem
| bling an old-tme country church. and
| there is probably no other building like it
in existence outside the Rockbridge Alum
Springs
The writer of the letter to Mr.. Frazier
| states that histories of men who took a
| leading part on the southern side in the
| late unpleasantness are being prepared for
\ study by the children of the schools in
Virginia and other southern states. and
| that it is the wish of those having the mat
ter in charge to inform the rising genera
| ton about Jackson's life at Rockbridge
Alum, his haunts, the paths he walked,
| the cottage he occupied and everything
about the man that might be of interest,
not only to children, but grown people.
| Ask the old resident who was personally
acquainted with the Professor and he
Will tell you that jackson was the most
confirmed old crank he ever met. Ask the
same man how he regarded Stonewall Jack
son as a general, and it will be remarkable
indeed if his eyes do not fill with tears
|
| developed by the war on the side OF the
cCnfederacy.''
In conversation with many persons to
whom Jackson was well known The Star
correspondent was informed that there was
not one Individual in this great valley at
least, which was the scene of the generals
most important movements. who did not
share the opinion of the speaker quoted
and it Also unanimously believed that
on the Union side the transcendent genius
was Sherman.
Wreck of Plant.
a few miles from Rockbridge Alum are
the remains of what for forty years pre-
vious to the close Of the war were known
as the California furnaces, from which i'm
mense quantities of iron We're for long
time shipped to Richmond and elsewhere i'll
boats. before the completion of the Chesa-
peake and Ohio railroad. Here during the
war the confederate government got most
of its supplies for the manufacture of can
non and other munitions of at the
Tredegar iron works, Richmond, Va. Char
lotte, \. c., and in other cities where foun-
dries were located. The ending of the war
wrought disaster upon the proprietors Of
the California furnaces, and the plants
were suffered at first to decay and eyentu-
ally to fall into ruins.
Not far distant, ALSO from here Is the
farm sowned by the McCormiCks of Chi
cago, magnificent estate Of about 400
acres, where the inventor of the world-re-
nowned wheat reaper lived. and on which
is located the blacksmith shop where Mr.
Mccormick made his experiments, which
later resulted in the perfect machine. The
old shop is kept in excellent repair and the
farm in the best condition by a capable
farmer, who is employed by the owners OF
the property for the purpose.
NfmrOd Hall.
One of the greatest attractions to be
found in the entire south is large hunting
estate called Nimrod Hail. a few miles from
| this place. 1t is owned by Mr.. Watson,
an Englshnan, who is himself a great
sportsman and an enthusiast on the sub
ject of fast horses, fine dogs and hunting
1t is said by his friends that Mr.. Watson
has already spent one two fortunes on
his "fads, but in doing SO he has made a
most delightful visiting place for people
who like that kind of recreation, and in the
hunting season sportsmen from every part
| Of the United States and Canada go there.
| 1t is said there more wild deer within
| the preserve than at any other place on the
American continent.
The season at the Rockbridge has not
been formally opened yet but there are
a few families at the hotels, and many 9TH
ers from Washington and elsewhere have
engaged accommodations from the time of
their arrival, which, they state, will be
shortly. Among those who may be named
are Mrs. Lewis wife of Representative Jas
H. Lewis of the state of Washington,
whose husband will join her after the ad
Journment of Congress: former United
States Senator John j. Ingalls, of Kansas
and family: Senator McEnery and family
OF Louisiana, DR.. Ayres, Mrs. Cotterill Mrs
A. B. Williams and family, all of Washing
ton besides many others from nearby
cities.
While the buildings at Rockbrdge are
models Of comfort and elegance, those fea-
lures which perhaps most attract the no.