The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1905-11-04
SOUTHERN PROGRESS


Baltimore, Nov. Especial. 1.-The
Manufacturers Record In announcing
this week the closing UP Of lease OF
50, 900 acres Of Potts Creek Valley, Va,
iron ore property, says:
THE deal means more to the devel-
opment OF the iron making industry OF
the upper South than any move that has
been made in recent years. THAT 1t will
attract the attention Of the entire iron
mining and iron making world goes
without saying, for the terms of the
lease contemplate the immediate and
extensive development of these vast ore
properties, which have been known Tor
many years to contain brown hematite
of conspicuous richness ana remarkable
development.
"As q result OF the lease the chesa-
peake and Ohio Railroad will at once
begin the construction OF line about
thirty miles long. extending from Cow
ington, Va, into Potts Creek Valley, to
Junction with the Norfolk and Vest
ern Railway. which VIII have forty
Ave mile line running into the valley
from a point on It's New River branch.
near the mouth OF Stony Creek. the
Norfolk and western having recently
purchased the Stony Creek line which
IL will rebuild and extend.
"By the terms OF the lease the $4,000
acres are DIVIDED in practically equal
UAFl6 QGlWGQH NA0 AUWAtAoVk AAVaA (QtAAr
pany and the Virginia Coal and Coke
Company. The Lowmoor Company gets
the northern portion which is contig-
uous to the Chesapeake and Ohio, while
the Norfolk and Western touches the
southern part. While the details or the
lease have not been authoritatively am
nounced. II Is reported that its length
Is to be forty years and it is UNDER
stood that there Is to be a minimum
production of 100000 tons a year. How
vast are the deposits of iron ores that
are now to be opened up and developed
il Is impossible to say. That the ores
on the properties under lease may
amount to hundreds of millions OF tons
no one who las examined them has
ever doubted.
aFxhaustive reports on these proper
ties have been made by biologists and
iron-ore experts, all agreeing on the
richness and extent of the ores, and
only lack of transportation facilities
has prevented their development up to
this time. Potts Creek follows in
synclinal trough. the anticlinai arches
of which are found in Potts Mountain.
on the one side and Peters's Mountain
ON the other. and the ore seams dip to-
ward the valleys from both sides. For
forty miles in Potts Valley one can
travel on practically what Is contin-
uous outcrop of ores.
'AtTnOUKn running LOO ul8A III puoS~
phorus for use in making Bessemer
steel they are peculiarly adapted to the
basic process as well as to the highest
grades of foundry and mill iron, and 1t
is among the important possibilities of
development that steel mills, as well as
iron plants may be established in the
vicinity of the mines. There is an
abundance of magnetism limestone
available in the immediate vicinity; the
superior coke of the New River-Poco-
hontas fields is close at hand and the
whole tract is permeated with streams
of water SUFFICIENT for washing pur-
poses"
Correspondence OF The Manufactur-
ers' Record from Charleston. w. Va,
contains the definite announcement by
Major w. N. Page, President OF the
Tidewater Railroad, and chief engineer
of the Deepwater, that he has received
orders to GO to the lakes with the
Deepwater at the earliest possible mo-
ment This means the completion at
the earliest practicable moment OF the
first through line from the lakes to the
ocean, traversing the great coal fields
of West Virginia. one Of the most ex-
railroad undertakings the
world has ever known.
II is the only trunk line that ever
has been projected to run from starting
point to destination without the slight
est reference to towns and cities in the
and 1t is the only road of any
where near equal importance to be built
without asking the public to subscribe
to stock or buy bond.
Furthermore, throughout its entire |
length, from lakes to ocean, there will |
be no grades of more than seven and a |
half feet to the mile, excepting eight |
miles crossing the Aileghenies, where |
there Is a maximum grade of twenty
Ave feet, which will make 1t pre-emi-
nently the greatest coaI-carrying road |