1907 - Another Road for the Valley

[NW Mailing List]

Roanoke Times - July 6, 1907

ANOTHER ROAD FOR THE VALLEY

Line to Be Built From Lincolnton, N.C., To Salem, Va., Thence North

B. & O. CONNECTION AT LEXINGTON, VA.

Bed of the Old Valley Company Will Be Used From Salem to Lexington -- 
Roanoke May Be Tapped by the New Trunk Line --- The Officers of the 
Company Have Been Chosen.

   About one year ago there was published in The Times the story of a 
projected railroad from Lincolnton, N.C., by way of Radford and 
Salem, to a Baltimore and Ohio connection up the valley. When this 
story appeared in The Times it was very largely discredited by 
wiseacres and know-alls, but it seems that subsequent developments 
would convince them that the Time Times most probably knew what it 
was talking about. News has reached the city to the effect that a 
company has been organized and chartered for the construction of the 
above mentioned road and that actual construction will soon begin on 
the Carolina end of the proposed line.
   The new road will be known as the Statesville Air Line, and 
probably the best information that can be given as to the 
organization and the proposed route of the new road is contained in 
the following article taken from the Manufactures' Record of this week:
   "Mr. W. D. Turner writes from Statesville, N. C., to the 
Manufacturers' Record about the Statesville Air Line Railroad 
Company, chartered by the legislature of that state. He says it is 
proposed to build from Lincolnton, N. C., on the the Seaboard Air 
Line, to Mt. Airy, N.C., and thence to Radford and Salem, Va., and 
from the latter point to a connection with the Baltimore & Ohio 
railroad, a total distance of 213 miles. Construction is to begin at 
Statesville and continue to Mt. Airy, 65 miles, and this will be the 
first section completed. The line will pass through Lincoln, Catawba, 
Iredell, Yadkin and Surry counties, in North Carolina. 'Along this 
route,' says Mr. Turner, 'are timber lands of great value, numerous 
undeveloped waterpowers and one of the finest sections of country in 
the South. When the road is completed it will give us connections 
with the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania railroad north and the 
Seaboard and other connections south, and will be invaluable to the 
commerce of the country.'
   "Continuing, Mr. Turner writes: 'Preferred stock is now being 
subscribed, and a sufficient amount will soon be in hand to begin the 
preliminary survey. After this is finished rights of way will be 
secured. We have not selected an engineer, but this will be done in 
the near future. The stock already subscribed by the townships and 
counties from Statesville to Mt. Airy will aggregate $450,000, and by 
the time we have completed our preliminary survey and secured a right 
of way we will have available assets aggregating probably $1,000,000. 
With this backing we feel sure that the road will be built, as it is 
the determined purpose of the directors and the people who are 
interested in the proposed line to push it to a completion."
   "The directors are William Wallace, president of the Wallace Bros. 
Company, wholesale merchants of Statesville, N.C.; M.K. Steele of the 
firm of Stimson & Steele, manufacturers of cotton, Turnersburg, N.C.; 
Dr. J.J. Mott, a large land owner and business man of Statesville, 
N.C.; J.H. McElwee, owner and proprietor of the brand 'Ante-Bellum' 
tobacco, Statesville, N.C; T.J. Jennings, merchant and businessman of 
Jennings, N.C.; D.M. Reece, prominent lawyer and business man of 
Yadkinville, N.C.; N.B. Milles, president of the Bloomfield 
Manufacturing Co. and treasurer of the Paloa Manufacturing Co. and 
real estate dealer of Statesville, N.C.; P.?. Kennedy, large planter 
and business man of Daltonia, N.C., and W.D. Turner.
   "The officers are : W.D. Turner, president; William Wallace, 
vice-president; P.C Carlton, businessman of Statesville, secretary; 
D. M. Ausley, cashier of the Statesville Loan & Trust Co., treasurer; 
N.B. Mills, chairman of the executive committee."
   It will be remembered that a number of years ago a magnificent 
roadbed was built from Lexington to Salem by what is now knows as the 
Old Valley Railroad Company. Due to reverses, the company were never 
able to finish the line which was intended to connect this end of the 
Valley of Virginia with the Shenandoah Valley and thence by means of 
the B. & O. to points north. It is presumed that the Statesville road 
will extend up the valley over this old roadbed, and connect with the 
B. & O. at Lexington.
   It will be seen that nothing is said by Mr. Turner in regard to 
the road's coming through Roanoke. It would seem that this new new 
road will pass Roanoke by, though only several miles from the city 
limits. However, the Magic City will, of course get a spur, and, 
judging from past work of the wide-awake Roanoke Chamber of Commerce, 
the city may probably land the main line. Under any circumstances, 
the proposed road will be for a great advantage to Roanoke and will 
be a wonderful advantage to Salem and all the country through which 
it will pass. When the road is constructed, the Roanoke River Valley, 
from Radford to this portion of the country, will present a fine 
picture of the South's industrial development. Along the one-time 
placid banks of the noble Roanoke there will fly the trains of three 
railroads, two of them among the largest systems in the South. The 
valleys branching off from the Roanoke and the New River will be 
pierced by the branches of the three systems and there will be such 
industry as has never before been seen in the Old Dominion.
   Though in the main, the Statesville railroad will open up no new 
territory down the beautiful Valley of Virginia, still great 
advantage will accrue to this section and the sections through which 
the road will pass. It will bring the stimulus of competition. It 
will open up this and southern sections of the state to the great B. 
& O. system and will give another outlet through the north to the 
cities of Washington and the great ports, Baltimore and Philadelphia.

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- Ron Davis, Roger Link