Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1900-02-09
A SPECTATOR MAN
Visits AllGglaly County and Is
FaVOrably Impressed.
A BOOM At RICH PATCH.
Tells of What He Heard and Saw
In the Iron Belt of Virainia--Our
Opportunity for Business--Au-
glsta Boys to the Front.

SFfOs wi ~
gnsta Boys to the Front.
have just returned from g. triI
through the great iron belt of tt
State, the Allegheny mountains, alon
the line of the G. & o., and have see
much that will both interest and SUI
prise our readers. 1 was prepared t
witness great business activity, bu
what saw was wonderful. The iron
coal and other Industrial development
is being rushed as never before in th
history of this State. Beginning wit
the big cement works at Craigsvill
and extending to the mammoth Pull
and Paper Mills at Covington, ther
is a series of towering smoke stack
and glaring furnaces. Wherever
landed or whenever enquired fount
that Stanton and Augusta men wer,
furnishing much of the brain an(
Drawn for every one of these great en-
terprises, and in many instances were
occupying the most lucrative positions
There is therefore much to interest
our home readers, and / purpose tt
give them few more observations
wherein our home people are more OF
less engaged. Last week l wrote OF
Covington's bright prospects, this
time it shall be of the Rich Patch
mines, where are engaged more of
Staunton and Augusta county people
than at any other place 1 have yet
visited.
Here I had the good fortune to be
the guest of our former townsman,
Mr.. James T. Lightner, who is the
general manager in charge. The mines
are situated back in g beautiful noun
tain valley, 4 miles from Low Moor,
and are reached by a well kept and
picturesque road that winds in and
out along the great bends in the noun
tain. Paralleling the road is a well
kept railroad which ascends the grade
at rate of more than $50 feet to the
mile and is used for hauling out the
big daily out put of the mines. Here
truly is found striking instance of
what the well directed and persistent
energies of one man can accomplish,
and that too in less than IS months.
Within that time, under Mr.. Light
ners supervision, town has been
built that shelters 700 souls, comissa.
ry established, the equal of which 1
have never seen, an electric plant. an
excellent water supply, d handsome
church. q good public school, and the
opening of an industry that gives en-
ployment to 800 workmen, whose
monthly wages run away up into the
thousands of dollars. To the unini-
tiated the operations of a mining set
Element are all full of interest, and 1
might add wonder, for when one con-
templates mountain of almost solid
iron and calculates the scores of years
it will take to mine and melt it, there's
no other word to express his feelings.
The ore lies here most abundant, not
only in one mountain, but in several.
In many places the tunnels run away
back into the solid mineral and in
others the earth is dug away from the
ore on the open surface of a bill side,
leaving it exposed in towering masses.
This mass must be shattered with
dynamite before it can be loaded upon
the cars and is 30 clean of earth that it
does not pass through the washer.
Here the rumble of the blast is heard
and the shower Of falling earth is seen
throughout the day, and tits all inter
estinq enough too if you are far enough
away or are behind a big tree. This
scene is far up the mountain gorge.
Down In the settlement another and
larger force of men are at work. The
big steam washer with It's noisy clang,
the shifting engines as they chase the
ore cars back and forth, the yard men
and the busy force of carpenters, all
make a panorama well worth seeing.
The daily out put, I understand,
is 400 tons which is sold largely to the
Covington and Low Moor furnaces.
So much for the business side of life
there. The social side Is equally pleas
ing, and right here 1 wish to say that
the preconceived idea of loneliness and
social stagnation in a mining settle
ment, Is all wrong; at least SO far as
Rich Patch is concerned. The society
there is good and I never spent a more
pleasant visit than among them. There
is the General Manager and his house
hold, the resident physician and bis
family, the school teacher, the preach
er, the Office force and many of the
men, all are off duty in the evenings
and they give themselves over to social
relaxation. There is no formality,
but a warm and cordial cOngeniality
that is seldom found in larger commu-
mites. The visiting among each others,
homes is general and seldom an even
ing comes but they are gathered into
one or two homes, where conversation,
games and music are INDUCED in. Of
the latter there is quite enough talent
for concert and they have them too,
under the supervision of Mrs. Light
ner. herself an accomplished musician.
AS said before there are many of
our Staunton and Augusta people
there engaged in various employments
Among them are Miss Katharine D.
Yost. teacher in the family of DR.. Nor
ris, D. A. Karr, a graduate of Duns-
more's, and head bookkeeper; II. M.
Harman, accountant, and A. B. Kin
pon etopoorophor oil in h q ooro no n 20