Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1901-10-25
More About the c. w. Railroad.

More About the G. w. Railroad
In the Stanton Spectator of TIL
18th inst. may be found the follow
ing encouraging article, which re
lates the doihgs of the Z. W. com
pany, past and present, and what
it hopes to do in future:
Last week the q. w. Railway
plac ID on record in Rockingham
and this county :. mortgage upon
its line from Elkton to North
River Gap, for about Sl,4CO.OOO'
This is the usual course in build
ing railroads, and has no in1epen-
dent significance. Tie road will
be bonded at 535, 600 per mile aud
If continued to the coal field of
West Virginia, DIS seems now most
probable, will, when it reaches
there, be worth not less than $75,-
Geo per mile. 1t is estimated that
tie road can be built to the Gauley
river or Elk river fields at an aver
age price per mile OF S35, CG0-or
@3,5OO.C0O--it being about 100
miles from the present terminus to
Tie West Virginia bituniinous coal
fields
"rhe standard of the road built
this summer is very high-every-
thing beng first class, and if work
progresses, we learn this will be
the standard maintained. From
the top 0! Shenandoah to Monterey
two lines haye been surveyed. one
extending down into Pendleton
Co., W. Va, the other past Doe
Hill and down by Mellow ell, thence
up Crab Run across Samples Di-
vide to Monterey. The one through
Pendleton is longer by some twelve
miles. hut the one by Mcdowell is
more difficult Of construction and
more costly.
The grades maintained have
Ieen not III excess OF G6 feet COM
ing east, and about nc feet going
west. Only about five miles OF
west bound grade have reached ITO
feet. 1t is believed that to make
the line truly effective three tun-
nels should be built, none Of
which would exceed one-half mile
in length, and thus will the Ar-
pa!achean chain of mountains be
crossed more cbeaply than by any
other railroad in existence. No
other road will reach coal so quick
" and none will have better coal
on it's line. No other road crossing
these mountains ever penetrated
such forests, and as timber is worth
far more to-day than when any
one of the other trunk lines was
built, this alone is a great item in
favor IF HIS line. The iron and
coal are much closer to each other
than on any other road. In Poca-
hontas county, that great iron
mourtain known as Browns noun
tain, is on this immediate line, then
comes ii mass Of limestone, then
the coal, all are within twenty
miles Of each other. There is every
reason to believe that manganese
will lie found in large aud paying
quantities in Highland, and posi-
bly, much iron. Iron even there
would be very close to coal. There
is pow hope that TIE tunnel work
will all begin this winter. so that
it will be well Oil by spring, then
the other work can be pushed rap
idly. Unless the company should
find difficulty in obtaining rights
of way this work, if begun, could
be completed into Pocahontas
county within eighteen months.
mo road of course will build
until the rights Of way are settled,
and there is vastly more work in
this branch OF railroad luilding
than is usually supposed. Should
the present line be completed it
will in many respects be superior
to any line Eow crossing the 4 lle- |
ghanies, as well as III its POSSIBLE
ties. and none ether will have so
mnch undeveloped country to draw
from. Its terminals at Gloucester
Point, il they be as We have heard,
will develop the finest harbor on
the Atlantic coast, unless It he
New Haven, finer than Hampton t
Roads or Norfolk, and our authori- !
~ lar thiS stntennant &c 10 deem |