1907 - Along The Tidewater

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Roanoke Times - December 17, 1907

ALONG THE TIDEWATER

What Is Meant By the Present Lull in Active Operations

   A resident of Roanoke, who has been for some months in the employ 
of the Tidewater railroad, states the he does not know when the men 
who have been laid off will be taken back. In the past, he says, at 
the expiration of each month engineers were supposed to furnish 
estimates of the work done by contractors, and these estimates were 
usually made in a rough sort of a way, and this was also done when 
there was any temporary cessation of work. The last time that forces 
were cut off on a large part of the system, he says, the engineers 
were required to make careful and accurate estimates of what 
contractors had done, in order that they might be paid in full, and 
this fact, he declares, was to him an indication that the promoters 
of the enterprise did not expect to resume active operations for 
quite a while, at least this was what he feared, and, therefore, he 
was looking out for a new position. Of course, he said, there is no 
one outside of those who are immediately connected with the promotion 
of the undertaking, who can tell anything of the real situation. He 
had heard it said that the promoters had come to the conclusion that 
the high rate of interest prevailing in New York made it more 
profitable for them to use their money there, and that for this 
reason, they had decided not to spend any more money than possible 
for the present on the extension of the Tidewater work.
   In this connection, it is interesting to note the following 
account of the wonderful growth of a little town situated on the 
Tidewater in the county of Lunenburg:
   Among the numerous towns which have come into existence on account 
of the unparalleled developments in the South during the recent 
years, perhaps there is not another one which has been so blessed in 
a great many respects as the little town of Tinkling, situated in the 
famous county of Lunenburg, widely known as the "Free State," on 
account of the fact that she had a regiment of soldiers in the 
Confederate army before the state of Virginia had seceded from the Union.
   Tinkling is a small town, located on the Virginian railway, 118 
miles from Norfolk. This town came into existence on account of the 
building of the great Tidewater railway, afterwards changed to the Virginian.
   Sixteen months ago there stood one lone grocery store to mark the 
place where today there is a thriving town of fourteen stores, 
actually doing business, and four more being erected. There is also a 
bank, with a capital of $30,000, which does a large business; also a 
large granite quarry, which furnishes ballast for the Virginian 
railway. There is also here the Lunenburg Brick and Tile Company, 
which makes a very good brick. They have installed the damp-mud 
process, and have a plant capable of manufacturing 35,000 bricks per day.
   Beginning with December 23d there will be daily mail service 
established over the Virginian railway from Richmond, Petersburg, 
Suffolk and Norfolk.


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- Ron Davis, Roger Link