The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-12-21
THE WORK OF w. H. TUNlS
HE SAW TIE REGIONS MAR
EL0US POSSIBILITIES.
REALIZING HOW MS GLORIOUS PROPHECY
Vast Stretches of Magnificent Hardwood Forests
Rich Agricultural, Fruit Growing, Grazing
aid Mineral Region. The pIendors
of tho p;nnacIec &c tho 0an
of The Pinnacles Of the Dan.

of The Pinnacles Of the Dan.
Mount Airy, N. c., Dec. 20.-(Speciall
The possibilities of Mount Airy and
the surrounding country have long been
foreseen and partially appreciated by an
occasional visitor About twelve mol.ths
ago Mr.. Walter III. Tuns, of Baltimore,
who had made study of the situation in
the interest of the hardwood lumber
business, wrote an article for the local
papers in which he graphically portrayed
some Of the marvellous possibilities OF
this mountain town. 1t was hard for
the most sanguine to realize ut that time.
after the exigencies of the bitterest panic
that the country had experienced in al
quarter of a century, that within a short
period eff twelve months thu predictions
which he made should have nlaterialzed
A few months later the vast timber
boundaries lying along the head waters
of Dan river, twenty miles north OF
here. were purchased by him. He at
once succeeded in interesting the Atlan- |
tic Coast Line in assisting to build the
Mount Airy and Eastern Railroad Inl
the early fall past a new era In the fu-
ture development of the town was mark
ed, when the first spike was driven by
Mrs. Walter II. Tunis. The work has
been vigorously carried ON; the track
layers are pushing forward towards the
Pinnacles of the Dan. which overlook
these great timber forests; trains are POW
running past the White Sulphur Springs
the popular summer resort; and by the
opening of the new year and century
the last spike will have Jeen driven and
traffic VIII be opened to points along
the Dan
Among these hills and i'm the rich
coyes OF these mountains are to be round
hardwood timber in the virgin forest at
tanning the highest state Of perfection
vast quantities Of it which it will take
years to exhaust covering an area OF
twenty-three Thousand acres. For dis
tance of forty miles east of the Pimnacles
following the meanderings of the river
extends another stretch OF magnificent
forest. For nearly year past mills
have been cutting the timber al0ng the
river. and millions Of feet are now piled
awaiting the completion of the railroad
for transportation.
The industrial development along the
Mount Airy and Eastern, in connection
with the vast water-power that is avail.
able. auguTs that in the near future this
section will become one of the most pros
porous in the Old North State Not on
~ SO, but the road opens mp an agricul
tural, fruit growing and grazing section,
as we'll as mineral property that hereto
fore has been practically inaccessible,
the products of which will be brought to
Mount Airy and add to the material
weaith of this section.
The gentlemen actively engaged in the
development of this railroad enterprise
are Mr.. L. e. Houston, of Chester, Pa.
president: Mr.. Walter II. Tunis, of Bal
timore yice-president; and Mr.. w. W.
Whvte, prominent coal operator of
Mcdowell county, w. Va, secretary and
treasurer and Mr.. s. A. White, Of Roam
oke, Va, chief engineer.
The timber lands in the section above
referred to are owned by the Mount Airy
Lumber and Manufacturing Company Of
which Mr.. w. Fl. Tunis is president;
Mr. J. ID. Minnick. secretary and treas
urer, and Mr.. w. r. Poole manager.
Among other enterprises that are on
foot are pulp mills, a tannery and cot
ton mills, utilizing the water-power at
the fails of the Dan river
Upon completion of the Mount Airy
and Eastern Railroad ONE would rare
iy select mountain "trip which would
equal in pleasure and interest, visit
over this road, to the mountains lying
along and overlooking the Dam: the
scenery and environments now charm
ing and delighting him. and alternate
~ overwhelming him with granduer and
sublimity. Leaving Mount Airy yon go
up the valley of the Ararat for six
miles-passing in their order the vast
quarries of the Mount Airy Granite Com
pany, with its little army of stone-cutters
and quarrymen: and the White Sulphur
Springs, a delightful watering place and
summer resort four miles up the road
from Mount Airy. Here also within half
a mile of the road is the old home of
Gen. J. T.. b. Stuart; the visitor will
find much to interest and inspire him
in the scenery along the Ararat-leav-
ing the river and travelling for several
miles across the beautiful plateau be-
tween the Ararat and the Dan, and slop-
ING off from the foothills Of the Blue
Ridge, he finds himself ON the banks
of the Dan. at the Southern extremity
of the mountain: then for miles he will
follow the windings of the river. as it
threads its way through ailuyial fields,
and beneath projecting precipices, and
along mountain passes, and through deep
gorges, and hurrying and falling, ever
and anon, over rocky lodges and be-
tween adamantine abutments, and dash
ing and splashing in wild and uncon-
fined torrents. over and among shivered
and unshapely mountain boulders, thrown
and pitched and piled, as if by volcanic
forces, in prehistoric times, in indisclim-
mate heaps. in wild disorder in the defiles
of the mountains; from a point beyond
the Pinnacles the river has cut its way
around the base Of the mountain for
MANY miles, returning in an irregular
semi-circle to near the same spot, and
forming a kind of horseshoe; from the
waters edge the mountain rises ON both
sides in weird and awful graudenr with