Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1915-04-02
MAJOR WALTON
DIED ON SUNDAY
Was Prominent Railroad Con-
tractor and Public Spirited
Citizen-Helped Many Who
Needed Help.

his home at Falls Mills, Va, Sunday
morning at o'clock, says the Tele-
graph of Sunday.
Major Walton was 60 years old,
and the immediate cause of his death
was heart failure. During the month
of December his condition became so
grave that he went to Johns Hopkins
hospital in Baltimore, for treatment.
He spent two months in that institu-
ton, returning to his home in Febru-
ary but little improved. The trip it
is said was to his disadvantage, and
he did not recover from its effects.
He leaves widow, the only family
survivor. A brother, however, John
Walton, lives at Wycomb, Pa.
His wife before marriage was Miss
w. Va.
Major Walton had amassed a con-
siderable fortune in railroad contract
ing work in many sections of the
south, and was identified with some
large projects. The firm of Walton
G. Company built the Radford cutoff
of the Norfolk & Western, the tun-
mel at Coopers, and had had numerous
other contracts for that road, among
them being at Williamson and great
deal of the work on the Clinch Valley
extension. The firm received the con-
tract for the work on the Bluefield.
Princeton electric line and the road
work along the same route, both of
which contracts are now being rushed
to completion. The company also had
contracts in Nashville, Tenn, for the
Louisville and Nashville railroad, and
did the grading in 1893 of the Taze-
we'll Fair grounds and is now engaged
in the grading Of Bluefield- Graham
fair grounds, of which latter organi-
cation Major Walton was President.
The firm did considerable work also
on the Shenandoah Valley extension
and a great deal of the heavy tunnel
work of the Chesapeake and Ohio rail-
way.
Major Walton came to this section
in the year 1886. He helped to build
the Norfolk and Western railroad in
TO Pocahontas and has been engaged
actively in railroad and other con-
struction contract work since that
time. There are men who have been
associated with him during the past
twenty-five years and it is said that
not as much as cross word occurr-
ed between them during the entire
time. Major Walton loved clean and
healthy sport, his main hobby being
horse flesh. He engaged in the breed
ing of standard bred horses a number
of years ago and the Walton stables
at Falls Mills have produced some of
the fastest trotters in the country.
Mr.. Walton was a familiar figure
about the race tracks on the fair cir
cults in this section, and his judg-
ments of the fine points of horse was
accepted as authority by the racing
people, professionals and others. His
or Of EnlI
among the best appointed in the en-
tire country, and have been referred
to by horsemen as a model. He main
tanned track on his premises where
the young trotters were trained.
The Walton estate at Falls Mills is
situated on the West Virginia side, in
Mercer county. His home is man.
sion, but the doors have always
swung wide open to all classes, be
they rich or poor. His office is locat-
ed at Falls Mills, which has always
been his postoffice and shipping point.
He knew personally every man, wom-
an and child in the reighborhood,
and always had pleasant word Tor
them. The extent of Major Wal
toms wealth is unknown but evident
ly he leaves quite fortune, probably
going to the half million mark. The
"hAtS3 ASNaito biidO oOElC years ago lie
heard a man make the remark that
MIR. Walton could write his check for
million dollars, but it may be since
that time that his fortune did not
grow, in view of his liberality in as
sisting others, together with the I'M
certainty Of railroad construction
work during dull periods.
Mr.. Walton's memory will not soon
die in this section. His monument
consist of the boys whom he educat-
ed and they will not fail to perpetuate
his name.
Childless himself, Major Walton
was extremely fond of children and
of young people generally, and the
children of less prosperous persons in
this immediate section profited by this.
Many young men and young women
within a radius of fifty miles owe
many young men, after being put
through college by his generosity have
been launched in business by him,
their success in nearly every instance
attesting the soundness and their
gratitude being his only reward. 1t
is said of him that he has also been
the means of saving several lives by
enabling young people in the incipient
stages of tuberculosis, and without
sufficient means to secure the proper
treatment, to become inmates of mod
ern tuberculosis sanitariums.
1t was learned that Major Walton
made his will sometime ago, but the
contents will not be known for several
days yet, the instrument not having
been opened.
The funeral was preached at the
Walton home Sunday night about 10
o'clock by Rev. j. Tyler Frazier, an
old friend and acquaintance Of the
deceased. The remains were taken to
Charles Town for burial, which took
place Tuesday. The funeral party
consisted Of Mrs. Walton, l.. j. Bar
bee, Mr., and Mrs. Walton Sudduth,
Miss Mamie Sudduth, Taylor Rodg-
ers and Van Rawn. All day Sunday
and Sunday evening visitors from far
and near went to viwef the remains
and pay their respects and manv mes
sages of coincidence were received by
the widow from men prominent in the
h,tainacc xuNr1d x1ybo boJ lynn,y,, hax