Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1902-07-31
A Thrifty Village.
Yours truly,
J. n. Harman.

We spent a day last week at the village
of Tiptop In this county; and were greatly
impressed with its thriftiness. We doubt
if there is a village of its size any where in
Southwest Virginia where as much busi'
ness is now being done.
The leading industry at the place is the
Radford Brick Company's works. For
about ten years they have been under the
management of Mr.. Geo. Shafer, who is
one of the most skilled and successful
brick manufacturers in the United States.
He has made the brick of the Radford
Brick Company so celebrated, on account
of their excellence, that it is found diff
fcult to supply the demand FOR them.
Orders are now on hand for as many as
can be made during the running year and
the capacity of the works is about six
millions. Between thirty and forty men
are given employment on the yards
and good wages are received by them.
With the unlimited abundance of excellent
clay which it possesses the future ofthe
Radford Brick Company is very bright,
especially 50 as long as Mr.. Shater
manages its affairs.
Another important industry recently
opened up is the mining of iron ore. The
mines are located near the village and are
now in active operation. One washer is
in place and two more are being put in.
Between fifty and seventyfive men are now
employed at the mines. The ore, which is
of good quality, is all being used by the
Graham Iron Company at its furnace at
Graham.
Ti2top is also becoming important as a
point for shipping lumber. The Tug River
Lumber Company ships daily from that
point about forty thousand feet of yellow
poplar. This is sawed on the head of
Tug River and brought across to Tiptop
on a tramway. Other lumber companies
are constantly hauling with wagons and
! shipping from Tiptop.
There are three general merchandise
stores at the village. The largest one is
owned and run by The Smoot Company.
They do a large business and are now
about completing a large addition to their
etoreroom. When the addition is COM
pleted the store will have a frontange Of
40 feet. the depth Of 90 feet, and two sto-
ries high. The ground.hoor will have two
rooms. One will be devoted to dry goods,
clothing, notions and gents and ladies fur
nishings, theother to groceries, hardware
and heavy goods. MIR. T. R. Smoot, who
owns and runs the store, is one of the most
enterprising and successful merchants in
tie country.
Just east of the station Harman Bros.
until recently were conducting mer
camille business. They sold out to MIR.
JIG. Gillespie, who is now conducting a
successful general merchandise business at
the same stand. He is running the busi-
ness on cash basis and is building up
fine trade. Graft has formerly been en-
gagged in the mercantile business at TIP
top and is familiar with the trade at that
point.
On the north side of the railroad, a
short distance west of the depot, Brown
q Boyd are conducting general merchan-
disc business. They are enterprising
young men and are doing fine business
on cash basis.
The colored people of the community
are just finishing up two nice little
churches. One belongs to the Methodists,
the other to the colored Christians. The
latter church was dedicated last Sunday