The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-09-04

d
in for a while. / can recommend the
Shirley Hotel. which is situated on a
high hill, and is next to the post office.
IT is a grand old town. Another in
teresting little pamphlet may be had
bv sending rs cents to Mrs. Griffith,
who is in charge of the old Crater pre-
misses, entitled, THE Talks of Confed-
crate Veterans"
Roanoke and Mountain Lake.
| next visited the city of Roanoke,
which is much younger than Peters
burg, but a good deal larger, and still
gets it's water supply from a spring at
the foot of mountain near the city
limits. There is enough of this from a
single spring to furnish power to take
it to the top of the mountain from
which it is distributed to the whole
city by gravity. l had pleasant short
chats with a few friends in Roanoke;
then in the evening went west to the
station called Pembroke, the nearest
place from which to visit Mountain
Lake. which is eight miles from the
depot. and requires four hours for a
good team to make the trip from
the depot to the hotel at the Lake.
The night / made the trip was rainy,
and was dark as Egypt. | found
fires in large open fireplaceS that
night, and also the next morning, and
slept under two blankets This is a
good place to be in hot weather. Inc
hotel and cottages will probably ac-
commodate five hundred guests. Less
than 100 were there at that time, a
great many of these usually there hav-
ing gone to the Worlds Fair
This lake is wonder in this
country 1t is a lake 4,500 feet high
on the side of the mountain, and is
kept supplied by water from springs
from the mountain. 1t is three-quar-
ters of a mile long, and one-haf OF q
mile, wide. 1t is stocked with fish.
Has on it a great many pleasure boats
for the hotel guests. l took a walk
around the lake, which occupied near
iy one hour. The road was not the
most level upon which I walked, one
part of it being through cultivated
field This was the only place l Wis
tied during my trip at which l had
no business except to crafty my Curl
osity, and for what pleasure it would
give me.
One of the guests introduced him
self and his very charming wife. he
said that he was a relative, | think
it was nephew, of our Major Stedman
from Austin, Texas. He inquired
about Major Steadman, and his fami-
ly, and other "Tar Heels" in whom
he seemed to take a good deal of in
tereSt, as a matter of course. He
He stated that he was an attorney for
a railroad, | think he said the Austin
& Santa Fe Railway Company. He
said that it had been raining so much
since he had been there, that he was
thinking of returning to Texas. Many
people had been kept away because
of the rainy weather, as well as the
great number who were taking then
vacation at the Worlds Fair, instead
of at the mountains as heretofore.
BluefieId Busy Place.
In the evening / returned to the
depot, to take an early train for Blue
field. l made the trip down the
mountain in two hours, instead OF
four, as we spent going up. The seen
cry is sublime. In many places on
the road we could look down on one
side hundreds of feet, and on the 9th
er side hundreds of feet up. 1t looks
like it might be a dangerous place to
drive some wild horses. / found the
coming city of Bluefield the busiest
place I'd found since leaving Phila-
delphia. 1t is very mountainous, in a
good many places, the foundation OF
one of the residences being as elevated
as the roof the one next to it, the
to their houses in a great many cases.
| could see nothing that would pro-
badly interfere with the good health
of the people, except the probability
of an occasional fall down the stairs
OF off the sidewalk.
| met several very pleasant ac-
quaintances in Bluefield including my
old friend, G. b. Bell, formerly of
Roanoke, and his charming little fami-
ly. / would have liked to have spent
a much longer time there, but had to
hurry back because of having had to
devote so much time to my diseased
eye.
In Philadelphia and in Virginia and
West Virginia | saw several of my old
friends engaged in the mining of coal,
both anthracite and bituminous, and
arranged with them to ship coal to
any railroad depot at which it might
be wanted, at their wholesale prices
by the car load, and paying me a
commission or brokerage, so any one
wanting coal, who will let me know, I
will be pleased to quote them prices
delivered at their depot. Over thirty
years experience I have learned a good
aeal ABOUT the coal business, and what
klhd OF coal will best suit and have
learned a good deal also about the
men who handle it, and who have the
best qualities of each yariat,, If coal
j. A. JONES.
The Kelley Institute at Greensboro.
~ G., was established nearly thirteen
l 20 - on