100 years ago...

[NW Mailing List]

Ron Davis: Did any of this come to pass. Cal Reynolds.
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Sent: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 12:00 AM
Subject: 100 years ago...



> Roanoke Times, January 31, 1907

>

> ANOTHER ROAD FOR ROANOKE

>

> The Catawba Valley Railway to Connect the Magic City With Newcastle.

>

> WORK BEING PUSHED ON THE PARENT LINE

>

> Nine and Half Miles Being Graded From Salem to Catawba Mountain -

> Will Go To Newcastle - Roanoke End Surveyed - Salem Gets $50,000 Glass 

> Plant

>

>   In all probability Roanoke will have a direct railroad to

> Newcastle, county seat of Craig, before another January 31.

>   That statement is based on a foundation that warrants the

> construction of high hopes without fear of a collapse.

>   The Catawba Valley railroad, now building from Salem to a point

> along Catawba mountain, will be tapped at a point on Mason's creek

> between four and five miles from Roanoke, and this spur will come

> into the city.

>   The road will also be extended from Catawba mountain to Newcastle.

>   When the plans have been carried out there will be a line from

> Salem to Newcastle, a distance of twenty-seven and one-half miles,

> and a line from Roanoke running into the Salem-Newcastle line at the

> point above mentioned on Mason's creek.

>   From time to time during the past several years there has been

> talk of a proposed railroad from Roanoke to Newcastle, and from Salem

> to Newcastle, and there have been a number of items in the papers

> about a railroad from Salem to Catawba mountain.

>   Work is now being pushed on the latter line and indications point

> to its completion within the next three months.

>   Here is the real situation:

>   The Catawba Valley Railway and Mining Company, capitalized at

> $200,000, is building a road from Salem to Catawba mountain, a

> distance of nine and one half miles. The contractors on the grading

> say they will finish their work by the first day of April. When the

> grading has been completed the track-laying will at once be begun.

>   The company building this road owns 14,000 acres along Catawba

> mountain. What is said to be the finest glass sand deposits in the

> world lie in inexhaustible quantities on this land. This sand will be

> hauled over the company road to Salem where it will be manufactured

> into finished bottles of all sizes.

>   The contract for the glass plant was given yesterday to a

> Pittsburg concern and the glass factory will be in operation not

> later than September 1. It will employ at least one hundred men. The

> plant will cost $50,000 and will have a capacity of twenty tons of

> sand per day, turning out a solid car load of finished bottles. The

> glass factory will be located on a twenty-acre site facing the

> Norfolk and Western railway tracks near the Salem passenger depot and

> will also have a track connection with the Tidewater railroad now

> being built from the coal fields to the sea.

>   Not one dollar of bonds has been issued by the company building

> the road from Salem to Catawba mountain and the glass factory, but

> every penny is coming from the pockets of five men, as follows:

> Messrs. T. H. Cooper and E. S. Barnitz, of Salem; and Messrs. Louis

> A. Scholz, Henry Scholz, and C. G. Smith, of Roanoke. The officers of

> the company are:

>   T.H. Cooper, president; E. S. Barnitz, treasurer; and Henry

> Scholz, secretary. The board of directors is made up of the above

> mentioned officers and Mr. C. G. Smith.

>   It was said yesterday by officers of the company that there will

> be a ready market for the output of the glass factory and that the

> bottles will be shipped all over the country. The nearest factory to

> Roanoke at the present is located at Richmond. The Salem plant will

> be even larger than the Richmond plant. The company will, in addition

> to the hundred men employed at the glass plant, give employment to

> half that number at its silica mines and on its railroad.

>   The road from Salem to Catawba Mountain runs along Mason's Creek

> to Mason's Cove and then along Catawba Mountain.

>   So much for the road from Salem to Catawba Mountain and the glass

> factory at Salem.

>   Now, about the road from Catawba mountain to Newcastle:

>   The line has been surveyed along a route that will carry the steel

> threads through Beckner's Gap, thence across Catawba Valley, thence

> into McAfee's Gap, then into Craig's Creek Valley and along Craig's

> Creek into Newcastle town. The distance from the terminus of the

> Catawba Valley road to Newcastle is eighteen miles and work on that

> end will be started just as soon as the Salem-Catawba end in

> completed. The company building the Salem end of the road has been

> assured by men with millions that they are ready to back them in the

> extension project and there seems now to be no room for doubt that in

> one year from today trains will be running from Salem to Newcastle.

>   And if the spur from Roanoke to the Salem-Catawba line on Mason's

> creek is built within that period trains will be running from Roanoke

> to Newcastle on the same date.

>   The Catawba Valley Company paid high prices for its right of way

> from Salem to Catawba mountain, but the right of way from the

> terminus into Newcastle will cost nothing as the Catawba Valley

> company owns ten miles over which the line will run, while property

> owners along the rest of the route are so eager for the road that

> they have expressed their willingness to gladly give it free way.

>   The line from Salem to Newcastle and from Roanoke to Newcastle

> will reduce the distance that has to be traveled now in order to get

> to Newcastle by rail more than one-half. At present, to go from

> Roanoke to Newcastle a person has to go from Roanoke to Buchanan on

> the Norfolk and Western railway, then from Buchanan to Eagle Rock

> over the Chesapeake & Ohio railway and then from Eagle Rock to

> Newcastle over the C. and O. valley branch. And it takes practically

> all day to make the trip.

>   The new line will penetrate and traverse an undeveloped field said

> to than is found at any other place in the United States. Newcastle

> has a population of about 2,000, and it in a fine section.

>   The Catawba Valley company will in addition to mining silica and

> manufacturing glass bottles, carry on an extensive artificial stone

> manufacturing business and mine iron ore on a large scale. The iron

> ore deposits begin at a point a few miles out of Salem and continue

> for more than twenty miles. It is said the ore is found practically

> on top of the ground and it is believed that coal also is to be found

> along the route.

>   The cost of the Newcastle end of the road will be approximately 

> $300,000.

>   "And why didn't Roanoke get the glass factory?" was asked.

>   "Because Roanoke did not offer the inducements that Salem offered

> to the promoters of the enterprise," was the reply.

>   "If Roanoke had offered inducements, would the road have been

> built into this city to begin with, and the glass factory located here?"

>   "Most certainly. The route was surveyed into Roanoke all right and

> the road and factory would have come here had the company met with

> proper encouragement."

>   "But Roanoke will get the road yet?"

>   "Yes, the road will come to Roanoke."

>   And the coming of this new road will mean much to Roanoke. It will

> bring new trade to this city and lots of it. It will put Roanoke in

> close touch with a now faraway, next-door neighbor. Roanoke merchants

> will get money that Lynchburg merchants are now getting.

>   Big oaks from little acorns grow!

>

>

>

>

>

>

> Posted by

> Ron Davis

>

>

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