N&W in 1910--New connection

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
October 5, 1910

NEW RAILROAD PROPOSED FOR FLOYD COUNTY
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Short Line Will Penetrate Rich Section of the Country
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AN AERIAL TRAMWAY WILL ALSO BE BUILT
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Will Develop Arsenic and Zinc Mines And Will be of Great Advantage to Farmers of the County
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ROANOKE CAPITAL WILL PROBABLY BACK ENTERPRISE
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    Capitalists are investigating the feasibility of constructing a narrow gauge railroad from Shawsville, Va., to the foot of the mountain near the Floyd county line, and the establishment of a power plant at that point for operating an aerial tramway back into the mountains where valuable mineral deposits lie dormant.
    In this section is located what is said to be the only arsenic mines in the world, valuable timber, and it is also a great fruit growing country.  It is therefore the development of these industries which is attracting capital.
    The proposed road will start at Shawsville, a station on the Norfolk and Western railway, and will be about nine miles in length.  It will be necessary to build two miles of aerial tramway from the end of the proposed narrow gauge railway in order to get into the rich resources which will be developed.
    Floyd county has no railroad within her borders although many attempts have been made to locate a line and the people of that county will no doubt generally welcome a road, even though it should be a narrow-gauge, for this would enable them to market their products and give them an outlet to their resources, something which they have for a long time felt the need of.
    Besides this valuable arsenic mine, zinc deposits have also been located in that section of the county, and among the farm products apples are grown very extensively.  One farmer, it is said, sold from his crop 1,500 barrels of apples during the past season.
    The Virginia Arsenic Mines Company, which are located on Copper Hill, in that section, would, it is believed, reopen their plant on a more extensive scale should this connecting line be built.  It is understood that considerable Roanoke capital is back of the project to build the road and aerial tramway.
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[Floyd County is the next county south of Montgomery County, where Shawsville is located, and Floyd County never got a railroad.]

Gordon Hamilton
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