Abingdon, Virginia: a sketch of its history and attractions ..
2- ^) i^-' H^yf>-y^- <^r.^J \2>t><L. (h ^ ABINGDQKVTroiniA: 1^ ^\{e[e\2 \k" OF ;w Its History , r f'X AND ^J^TTRACtriPNS. Beautifully Situated amongst the Mountains of Southwest Virginia, in the Heart of a Country Unsurpassed for Combined Mineral and Agricultural Wealth, blessed with a Most Healthy, invigorating and Even Climate. EDITED BY ARTHUR P. WILMER. J. P. Bell Company, Prs., Lynchburg, Va. in^iDE^c PAGE Abingdon, The Town of. 1 Its Future 3 Railroads 5 Coal, Coke, Iron ..;.... .'......■..... (> Abingdon, A Brief Summary of its Advantages 18 Industries of the Town 19 Abingdon Academy 12 Method of Training and Treatment 13 Academy of the Visitation 11 Coal, Iron Ore and Pig Iron 20 Iron Ore 21 Pig Iron 22 Cost of Making Iron in Virginia 23 " " " Pennsylvania 23 During the Summer Months , 20 Emory and Henry College 14 Jackson Female Institute 10 Martha Washington College 8 A Bit of M. W. C. History 9 Southwest Virginia 16 Virginia's Future ,. 15 Washington County 19 TheTown of Abingdon, THE flourishing seat of justice for Washington County, Virginia, was incorporated by the General Assembly in the year 1778. The county was established by an act passed in October, 1776, and was the first county in any State named for " The Father of his Country," who had then been for several months in the field at the head of the Continental army, which was just fairly entering upon the great seven years' struggle for national independence, and the founding of a republican form of government based upon the sov- ereignty of the people, and deriving all its just powers from the consent of the governed — the grandest conception of human gov- ernment ever evolved from the mind of man, and so in conflict with the history of the past as to be justly styled " the War of the Revo- lution." Although established by law in October, 1776, Washington county did not perfect its civil and military organization until January 28th, 1777. The county included within its original boundary lines parts of the present counties of Grayson, Wythe and Tazewell, and all of Smyth, Scott, Russell, Lee, Wise, Dickenson and Buchanan — almost enough territory to form a good-sized State, and containing within its limits more natural and diversified elements of wealth than exist in any other equally compact and no larger area on the face of the habitable globe, consisting of coals, iron ores, manganese, zinc, lead, gypsum, copper, salt, marbles, limestones, and springs of healing waters in the mineral kingdom ; of vast forests of all the known valuable commercial woods of the temperate zone; of pure springs and water courses everywhere ; of a soil unsurpassed in natu- ral fertility and adaptation to the production of all " the kindly fruits of the earth" that flourish in this latitude; and above all, blessed with a temperate climate and a salubrity of atmosphere promotive of the soundest health and greatest longevity of the human race, and of the highest perfection and vigor of all lower animal life. The subsequent and successive establishment of the several other counties named above, at different times within the last one hun- dred years, consequent on an increase of population and the grad- 2 ABINGDON, VIRGINIA, ual subjugation of the wilderness, has curtailed the area of Wash- ington county within limits of about twenty miles wide from north to south, and nearly fifty miles long, next to the Tennessee line on its southern border. Between the east and west boundaries of the old original county the present county occupies a very central posi- tion, being surrounded on three sides, east, west and north, by sev- eral of its younger sister counties — Grayson, Smyth, Russell and Scott. For more than a century Washington has been regarded as, in every respect, one of the finest counties, not only in Southwestern Virginia, but in the entire State. It has been especially noted for the intelligence, sound common sense, virtue, integrity and patriot- ism of its inhabitants, a large majority of whom have been, at all times, engaged in pastoral and agricultural pursuits. In every war of the country since the French and Indian, coming down through the Revolution ; the war with England, 1812-15 ; the Mexican war, and the recent war between the States, the martial spirit of the people has been conspicuously manifested by their alacrity to volun- teer as soldiers. And in all the grades of military service, from officers of the highest rank down to the rank and file, they have been the equals of the best troops drawn from any portion of the country, and often far in excess of numbers beyond the average quota or proportion to population supplied by the country at large. In the civil and political growth of several States besides Vir- ginia, and in national affairs in both branches of the Congress of the United States, many natives of Washington county, especially of Abingdon, its ancient and present seat of justice, for more than a hundred years of our common history, have illustrated the genius and character of the sterling Scotch-Irish ancestry from which they sprung. Many of these men have left the impress of their minds and character, for all time, upon the free institutions under which we so happily live — institutions that have not been the work of a day, or of a generation ; but their germ was conceived by, and their living form has been gradually evolved from the strong minds of great thinkers — then tested experimentally by patient patriotism — perfected by laborious steps, then established and maintained at all hazards and, it is to be hoped, will be perpetuated at any cost, in the marvelous progress of Christian civilization on this continent. The population of Abingdon and the surrounding country is dis- tinguished, and always has been, for the high intellectuality, virtue. 1 TS HIS TO H Y AND A TTRA CTIONS. 3 beauty, refinement and grace of an unusual proportion of its wo- men. As wives and mothers since the days of the log cabin of the pioneers who first settled the beauteous land on the head waters of the Holston, to the present day, these women have not been sur- passed in any other land. They have always been more than equal to discharge, with marked ability, the duties of every station in life to which they have been called, as " helpmeets " of their husbands from generation to generation, whether in the " piping times of peace " and prosperity, or when war, with its alarms, perils, priva- tions, vicissitudes and sacrifices overspread the land. ITS FUTURE. But it is rather of the present and future than of the past of Abingdon we would write. These allusions to the past are a safe guide in forecasting the future, and are therefore appropriate — per- haps even necessary. That the town has a great future no one can doubt who has studied its relations to the surrounding country and to the natural resources within a radius of not over fifty miles from it as a centre. As stated above, Washington count)' lies along the Tennessee State line some fifty miles, and Abingdon is only about eight miles north of. that line, and nearly in the centre of the county, which is drained by the three prongs, the North, Middle and South Forks of the Holston river, which are separated from each other, the whole way through the county, by parallel ranges of hills and secondary knobby mountains, generally consisting of excellent Silurian lime- stone lands, not too steep for cultivation, and of great natural fer- tility. All this part of Southwestern Virginia is pre-eminently a grass region, abounding in ever green fields and luxuriant meadows, sustaining the largest and finest " blooded " herds and flocks of domes- tic animals to be iound in the Southern States east of the Mississippi river, and produci"^ more than grain enough for the consumption of its prosperous people and their live stock. There are thousands of perennial springs of the finest and purest water in all parts of the county, forming rills, rivulets and creeks, bordered by meadows and surrounded by picturesque and fertile uplands in every neigh- borhood. In short, the county is an ideal home for the industrious farmer and enterprising stockman. On its east and west sides it is bordered by high mountains. That on the eastern side, " Iron Mountain," is a prolongation into Virginia of the " Unaka," or 4 ABINGDON, VIRGINIA, " Great Smoky " range, which forms the boundary between East Tennessee and Western North Carolina, rising to an elevation of 5,678 feet above the sea at " White Top," in sight of, and a little over twenty miles from Abingdon. The western boundary, sepa- rating it from Kussell county, is the rugged " Clinch Mountain," with its rock-ribbed sides and serrated summit, a conspicuous feature in Southwestern Virginia scenery, for more than a hundred miles, and only ten or twelve miles distant from Abingdon, and in full view from any high point in the town. It is an interesting but established fact that long before the ad- vent of the white man on this continent, the Indian and the buffalo, guided by an instinct bordering closely upon reason, aided by the science of civilization, had discovered, adopted and used in their migratory movements great lines of least resistance in ti^aversing the country, that the modern engineer has found the best on which to locate the track of the great railway trunk lines, east and west, north and south, that now bind all parts of this vast country together by the strongest of all communal ties, the bonds of inter-dependent commercial and national social intercourse. The first white man, so far as we can ascertain, who ever beheld, or ever trod the hills around Abingdon, was Daniel Boone, the scout of advancing civilization, who, in 1759, came across the mountains from Yadkin Valley, in North Carolina, with a single companion, and selected as a hunting camp, amongst the springs of a tributary of the South Fork of Holston, a spot he called " Wolf Hills," and the stream " Wolf Creek." The town of Abingdon crowns those hills, and its inhabitants quench their thirst from the springs that, in part, form Wolf Creek. Boone found two Indian and buffalo paths met here, the one from the northwest through Little Moccasin Gap in Clinch Mountain, the other from the west at the junction of the Forks of the Holston river at Kingsport. These paths from Abingdon led northeastwardly along the great chain of valleys in Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, that, for more than a century after the white man occupied the Atlantic Coast lands, were pro- tected from his intrusion by a great Blue Mountain range he did not dare to cross into a howling wilderness. Along these valleys was then the highway of the buffalo and the Indian from northeast to southwest. The Wolf Hills were on this highway, and at a point of bifurcation where one prong led off to Kentucky and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, and the other following the waters toward ITS HIS TOR Y AND A TTRA CTI0N8. 5 the Gulf of Mexico, through what is now Tennessee, North Georgia and Alabama. RAILROADS. The " Wolf Hills " of 1759 are now, after a lapse of one hundred and thirty years, in 1889, the site of Abingdon. The buffalo and Indian trail is now the line of the Norfolk and Western railroad and its adjunct, the Shenandoah Valley railroad, leading to the great marts of the North and East. To the southwestward the East Ten- nessee, Virginia and Georgia railroad follows practically one prong of the trail from Wolf Hills, and the civil engineer has located another great line into Kentucky and to the Ohio river that follows the trail that led from Wolf Hills across the Clinch Mountain at Little Moccasin Gap. And, enabled by his modern science, this wizard of the nineteenth century, with his transit and level, his n d and chain, has gone back and followed, in reverse, Boone's first route across the mountains from east of the Blue Ridge, and has found it not only practicable, but favorable, to a direct railway to the sea, and work has been commenced on it from Abingdon to the first base of the mountains to the southeastward. It thus appears that Abingdon occupies what no other town does between Chattanooga and Lynchburg, a distance of nearly five hundred miles — a site where great trunk lines of railroad not only can, but must, cross each other at nearly right angles, with western connections to the Mississippi and beyond, and competing outlets to the coast at the same, or at distant points. In addition to these lines there is another of vast importance to our future : — The Ten- nessee Midland road, now building from Memphis this year, and almost certain to be extended next year from Nashville via Bean's Station Gap in the Cumberland range in Tennessee to the Holston river, and up that and its North Fork and via Abingdon and Damascus to Danville and Norfolk, effecting a saving between Mem- phis and the port of Norfolk of more than one hundred and sixty miles over an existing railway connection between those cities, the one on the Mississippi and the other on the best harbor of our At- lantic coast. The lines mentioned being completed, Abingdon will become a great railroad centre in the most attractive portion of ail the Southern country, with competing lines of transportation in all directions. Great as would be these advantages to our town, they are subor- dinate— but essential — to others of still more importance. 6 ABINGDON, VIRGINIA, GOAL, COKE, IRON. The mineral wealth all around Abingdon, that within the last ten years has been scientifically explored and, to a considerable degree, has been exploited to determine its extent, is almost incredible. Within thirty miles northwest of the town we enter the great South- western Virginia bituminous coal-fields of from eight hundred to one thousand square miles in extent. There are six workable seams above water-level in the hills and mountains lying nearly horizontally, con- sisting of splint, bituminous and cannel coals, superior in quality to any yet found on the American continent. The coke made from one of these seams — eight feet thick — is pronounced by experts the finest in the world for metalurgical purposes. Between Abingdon and these coal-fields are three parallel ranges of mountains — the Clinch, Moccasin Ridge and Copper Ridge — all carrying iron ores of the best qualities, manganese in large quantities, and limestones and marbles. To the south and east of Abingdon, and beginning only four miles from the town, we enter upon the most extensive iron ore, copper, manganese and zinc field known in the South. Its extent from west to east is more than one hundred miles, and from north- east to southwest a much greater distance. These ores are in great variety, many of them of the highest grade known of their class. Between the great ore-fields on the one hand, and the coal-fields on the other, the average distance is less than anywhere in America between such fuel and such ores. In the Northern States the average haul on high grade iron ores to the smelting furnaces is over four hundred miles, and on the fuel used over two hundred miles. Here, by lines of railway projected, or under construction, to pass Abingdon, and in conjunction with the Norfolk and Western lines, the average haul on these prime raw materials for making iron and steel will be less than one hundred miles, as against six hundred miles in the North, a vast profit in itself to be realized on this most important manufacturing business from the saving in transportation charges. The ovens for burning the coke will be near, or in the coal fields, and the furnaces for smelting the ores will be both along side of the coke-ovens on the one hand, and at or near the iron mines on the other. The site for the rolling-mills, to finish up the products of the furnaces, is properly at Abingdon, where the railway lines from all directions will meet, and be prepared to distribute the product ITS HIS TOR Y AND A TTE ACTIONS. 7 in all directions. Such mills would soon be surrounded by the shops of car works, engine works, bridge works, foundries, stove works, wagon and carriage works and all the diversified manipula- tions of iron ; and, within thirty or forty miles of the town, are more than one thousand millions of feet of the very best classes of merchantable lumber for manufacturing and building purposes. And for all such enterprises no town possesses greater advantages. It is more than two thousand feet above tide. It is in the midst of a broad, fertile valley of unsurpassed healthfulness, protected from storms, cyclones and hurricanes by the neighboring mountains. The purest water for all the needful purposes of a large city is available. Food supplies are produced up to the very suburbs of the town of the very best qualities, beef, mutton, pork, poultry, wheat, corn, pota- toes, turnips, cabbages, celery, asparagus, apples, pears, plums, peaches, berries, milk, butter, cheese; and this town is supplied, even now, with the luxuries of the sea and sea-coast, by rail, in the greatest abundance and of the best quality. For suburban and town residences no locality surpasses this. The country is undulating and rolling. High mountains are in full view and within two hours' carriage driving. The North and Mid- dle Forks of the Holston river are each about five miles distant. They are large, clear, beautiful streams, abounding with the most delicious game fish. The mountain streams are but three hours' drive, where speckled trout are, and always have been abundant. Field sports can be enjoyed in every direction. Quail are found on all the farms ; pheasants in the hills and secondary mountains ; wild turkeys, some deer and more black bear in the higher moun- tains. In short, in God's handiwork there is scarcely a fairer land under the sun. The town is the. oldest in Virginia or in the United States west of the Alleghany mountains. Its people are among the most refined in the State, and possessing in an eminent degree the social qualities so long characteristic of Old Virginia. For a place no larger — its population is not quite three thousand — the educational facilities are remarkable. Martha Washington Female College, the Catholic Convent and the Stonewall Jackson Institute afford the highest edu- cation to young ladies who come here from a distance, as well as to our native girls, while the Abingdon Academy prepares young men to enter the colleges and universities of the State. Besides these, 8 ABINGDON, VIRGINIA, the usual primary schools provide an ample course of study for all, of both races, in English branches. Nearly all the Christian denominations have excellent church edifices, large congregations and good preachers. All the large cities North and South are within easy reach by rail in a few hours, or a day or two at most. In short, for the investment of money in real estate with a cer- tainty of great profit, or in manufactories or mining, or as a place of permanent residence or summer sojourn, or for the education of the youth of both sexes, few places can be found anywhere more desirable and more attractive than Abingdon, Virginia. MARTHA WASHINGTON COLLEGE. This celebrated school is situated in Abingdon, Va., and is per- haps the historic old town's most conspicuous adornment. The College is convenient to the railroad depot, and connected by paved walks with the churches and stores. It can be asserted with entire safety that no section of the Valley of Virginia is more healthy than Abingdon. The atmosphere is bracing and invigorating even in midsummer. Mineral waters in great variety abound in its vicinity. Its location in Southwestern Virginia, over 2000 feet above the sea. gives it great advantages, because young ladies here have all the benefits of the climatic influences of the mountains, and at the same time escape those severe, rigorous winters that prevail further North, and that so sorely try constitutions accustomed to a Southern climate. Of all the pupils from the South who have entered this institu- tion, even in mid-winter, not one has found the winter too severe or at all injurious to health. The permanent advantage to the health of young ladies, whose constitutions develop under such climatic influences, is invaluable. The grounds are large, comprising eight acres, six of which are elegantly carpeted by a luxurious growth of native blue-grass, and beautifully set in shrubbery, in shade and fruit trees of unusual variety. These grounds are girded and intersected by walks of the most tasteful and admirable construction, elevated and covered with tan ITS HISTORY AND ATTRACTIONS. 9 to secure dryness and pleasantness, the entire length of them being not less than a mile. Lawn tennis and croquet sets, rustic seats, etc., are provided ; the whole campus presenting a scene of picturesque beauty rarely equalled and never excelled, and affording the most inviting facili- ties for healthful diversion. The situation commands extensive and imposing views of grand mountain scenery. The buildings consist of the spacious mansion formerly owned and occupied by Col. Thomas L. Preston, and a new brick structure on the same grounds. These are built of the most excellent ma- terial, and according to convenient models. The main building was erected at a cost of not less than $30,000, and the new one at a cost of |9,000. The session begins on the second Thursday of September, and closes Wednesday before the third Thursday of June. For con- venience it is divided into two terms of twenty weeks each. For more than a quarter of a century Martha Washington Col- lege has been celebrated as one of the best schools for girls on the continent, and at no time in its history has it been better equipped, enjoyed a more satisfactory prosperity, or had a better prospect than at present. A BIT OF M. W. C. HISTORY. Martha Washington College has an exceedingly interesting his- tory. Several years before the war, McCabe Lodge No. 56, 1. 0. 0. F., of this place, projected a plan for the erection of a first-class female college. A plot of several acres of ground was purchased, upon which a large three story building was erected — intended as the main building. During a severe storm the building was so ma- terially injured as to preclude the possibility of safe repair, and as it became apparent that the Lodge could not repair and complete the buildings, as was contemplated in its projection, a proposition was considered from a committee of the Holston Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, in regard to the property and its franchises. The debris of the College was purchased by the trustees of the Conference, and as the ample house and grounds of Thos. L. Preston, Esq., (now Martha Washington College) was offered upon exceedingly accommodating terms, the trustees of the church purchased the property and inaugurated the grand school now in operation in this place. 10 ABINGDON, VIRGINIA, The trustees on the part of the church received the transferred property and franchises August 27th, 1858, and purchased the Preston estate in 1859. The College was opened for pupils in 1860, under the administration of its first President, Rev. Wm. A. Harris, Though thus opened at the beginning of the war, the College sus- pended work only a part of one year, and passed through that period without serious injury to property or furniture and equip- ment. Under the successive administrations of Dr. W. A. Harris, Dr. B. Arbogast, Dr. R. W. Jones, Dr. Warren Dupree, Dr. E. E. Hoss, Dr. E. E. Wiley, and Dr. D. S. Hearon, the institution has held on its career of unbroken and increasing prosperity and effi- ciency. Persons wishing further information concerning this school (and parents wishing educational advantages for their daughters cannot find better in the South) will do well to write for late catalogue, addressing Rev. D. S. Hearon, D. D., Abingdon, Va. JACKSON FEMALE INSTITUTE. One of the schools of Abingdon bears the name which forms the caption of this article. It was founded in the year 1868, and is under the charge of a Board of Trustees, composed of some of the most prominent men of the town. While not sectarian in its instruction, it is under the charge or auspices of the Presbyterian church, and is therefore considered as pertaining to that denomination. It is both a boarding and day school, and is situated upon a beautiful eminence on Main street. The main building was erected in 1833 as a residence for John S. Preston, a distinguished member of that eminent family of Prestons. Upon his removal to the State of South Carolina it became the home of ex-Governor John B. Floyd, who resided there until the time of his death. A short time after the close of the war the property was purchased for the purposes for which it is now used. A commodious addition has been erected at the east end of the building, three stories in height, and it is contemplated during the present year to erect a similar addition at the west end. The Institute grounds occupy about two acres, with splendid old shade trees, and it is in every way a comfortable and pleasant place for a school. 1T8 HIS TOR Y AND A TTRA CTIONS. 11 The Institute was named in honor of the famous Stonewall Jack- son, that grim, prayerful Presbyterian, who, with his brigade at Manassas, stood the shock of battle so firmly that the gallant Bee, when rallying his brigade broken by the fierce onset of an over- whelming force of the enemy, said, " Look at Jackson, standing like a stone-wall." The Institute grounds are surrounded by a massive stone-wall, which stands as a continual reminder of the unyielding character ot the Christian soldier whose name and fame are intended to be com- memorated by the name of this excellent institution of learning. Miss Kate M. Hunt has been recently elected Principal, in the place of Rev. J. 0. Sullivan, who has been in charge for the past four years, and who has resigned. Miss Hunt is an experienced teacher, a lady of fine literary at- tainments, and comes into the community with the highest testimo- nials to her worth and efficiency, and it is confidently believed that the Jackson Female Institute, in her charge, and with its increased facilities and more ample accommodations for pupils, will enter upon an era of enlarged usefulness and prosperity. Any persons desiring further information in regard to said school should address Miss Kate M. Hunt, Principal, or Judge R. M. Page, Secretary Board of Trustees, Abingdon, Va. ACADEMY OF THE VISITATION. (b. v. m.) Villa Maria, as the Catholic Convent is called, is a roomy brick building, with three acres of beautiful ornamental grounds in the rear, wherein the young ladies who attend school here recreate. Through the grounds flows a picturesque willow-bordered stream — always a refreshing sight in summer time. The Academy is under the management of The Mother Superior, aided by a corps of Sisters, and has accommodation for quite a large number of boarders. For further particulars, apply to The Mother Superior, Villa Maria, Abingdon, Va. 12 ABINGDON, VIRGINIA, ABINGDON ACADEMY, Founded in 1803, HIGH SCHOOL FOR BOYS AND YOUNG MEN, Most healtlifully situated in the mountains of Southwest Virginia, immediately on the line of the Norfolk and Western railroad, gives a thorough preparation for a university or business career, and pre- pares especially for the University of Virginia. To this institution, chartered by an " act of incorporation " Jan- uary 13th, 1803, some of the most famous men in the history of Virginia owe the groundwork of their education. Its alumni are scattered all over the United States. The school buildings are most beautifully situated in the midst of a large grove of chestnut, oak and poplar trees, on the summit of a hill, half a mile from the town which it overlooks. The grounds, consisting of eighteen acres of land, afford ample room for the recreation of the boys. From the Academy Hill a view is obtained of the surrounding picturesque country which cannot be surpassed, and a cool breeze is here obtained on the hottest summer days. Those attending the Academy as boarders are well fed and well cared for in every way, and are allowed such license as may be deemed advisable. THE FOUNDER. About a hundred years ago a young man hailing from the Emer- ald Isle, William King by name, whilst traveling through this country, discovered signs of salt at the place which is now known as Saltville. So convinced was he of the value of his discovery that he staked his all in the purchase and development of the property. After many rebuffs and more disappointments, success finally crowned his efforts, for the generous yield of salt which fol- lowed proved to be the finest both with respect to quality and quantity in the United States, and consequently Mr. King was soon numbered amongst the wealthiest men in the country. He married Miss Mary Trigg, of this town, but having no issue, his valuable property was divided amongst a multitude of heirs. William King, died in 1808, at the early age of thirty-eight. Amongst his many generous acts was the founding of this Academy ITS HIS TOR Y AND A TIE ACTIONS 13 in 1803 by a gift of twenty acres of land, with suitable buildings for a school at that time, and an endowment fund of $10,000. Since Mr. King's death the Academy has been under the control of a board of trustees, fourteen in number. METHOD OF TRAINING AND TREATMENT. The object aimed at in the government of the school, both inside and outside the class-room, is to train each pupil mentally and phy- sically in a scholarly and manly way. The student who intends to enter business immediately on leaving the Academy, is given such a course of training as will be most useful to him in the business walks of life ; and as to the student who intends to enter upon a college or university career, every care will be taken that he shall acquit himself with honor to the institution in which he has received the groundwork of his education. The system of teaching pursued is as thorough as will be found in any school in the country ; thorough, solid, honest work we insist upon; and that pernicious system of prematurely forcing superficial knowledge on the untutored mind is never countenanced. Discipline is maintained in a firm and kindly manner ; and since what is known as the honor system— where every boy is treated as a gentleman till he proves himself otherwise— is in vogue here, it is seldom that corporal punishment has to be resorted to. The boys are encouraged in all manly physical exercises, it being our experience that a quick eye in the playing-fields is usually ac- companied by a clear head in the class room. The full course of study requires at least four years' attendance ; and, while we endeavor to steer the student safely through the shoals of Ancient and Modern Languages, Literature and History, and through the trials of advanced Mathematics, we are ever mindful that the first duty of each one is to read, write and speak his mother tongue fluently and correctly, and to have the elements of Arith- metic continually in rapid and accurate working order. The session, which is of nine months' duration, begins the third Wednesday of September, and ends the second week in June. Terms— Tuition, per session: Primary Course, |50 ; Intermedi- ate and Final, $60 ; Academic, $70. Boarders, $150 extra. Paya- ble half in advance, and half on February 1st. For further particulars, apply to Arthur P. Wilmer, Principal. 14 ABINGDON, VIRGINIA, EMORY AND HENRY COLLEGE, (Emory, Virginia.) Nine miles from Abingdon, on the Norfolk and Western railroad, is located Emory and Henry College, so called in honor of Bishop Emory and Patrick Henry. In 1887 was celebrated, with great iclat, the semi-centennial of this famous institution. As is shown by the history of the college, published at the time, more than five thousand students, many of whom' have shown conspicuous ability as lawyers, ministers, teachers, merchants and statesmen, have re- ceived their education wholly or in part at this institution. If a college be judged by its alumni and former students, then Emory and Henry deserves a place second to no college in the South. The number of students, though not so great as before the revival of higher education in the South, is on the increase, and at no time in her history, everything considered, has the outlook of the college been so promising as now. Vigorous plans are being laid and pushed to increase the endowment. Never before has the scope of the work been so broad or the standard of scholarship so high, Kecognizing the development of the mineral and land wealth of Southwest Virginia, the college has just met a long-felt need by in- creasing its facilities in the departments of Chemistry, Mineralogy, Geology and Surveying. The " William Morrow Science Hall " named in honor of Dr. William Morrow, of Nashville, Tennessee, whose Christian liberality is hereby recognized, has been fitted up and furnished with modern improvements and a^pparatus to supply the best advantages to students in these departments. The Sam. W. Small Gymnasium, named in honor of Mr, Small, an alumnus of the college, and a most liberal contributor, is one of the largest and best buildings of the kind in the country. On public occasions, it can be used as an assembly-room, and seats sixteen hundred people. In addition to these, two new buildings are to be added before the opening of the next session. One of these will contain rooms for the Library, now numbering twelve thousand volumes; two large halls (to take the place of the old ones recently destroyed by fire) for the literary societies, which, for fifty years, have been the pride of the institution. The Faculty, composed of gentlemen who have had the advantages ITS HISTORY AND ATTRACTIONS. 15 of study at the best institutions of America and Europe, is as fol- lows : R. W. Jones, LL. D., President. Rev. E. E. Wiley, A. M., (Wesleyan University), D. D., Treas- urer and Agent. Rev. Edmund Longley, M. A., (Wesleyan University), Professor of Moral Philosophy and English. Rev. James A. Davis, M. A., (Emory and Henry College), Pro- fessor of Natural Philosophy and Botany. Samuel M, Barton, Ph. D., (University of Virginia), Professor of Mathematics. George W. Miles, M. A., (Emory and Henry College, graduate of the University of Virginia), Professor of Greek and German. R. W. Jones, M. A., (University of Virginia), LL. D., Professor of Chemistry, Mineralogy and Geology. E. B. Craighead, M. A., Central College, (Vanderbilt, Leipzig, Universite de France.) For more special information, apply to R. W. Jones, LL. D., President, Emory, Virginia. VIRGINIA'S FUTURE. In looking at the future of Virginia there is very much to en- courage and but little to dishearten any one who has the growth and prosperity of the State at heart. Commercially, Virginia has been content to take a very humble position among her sister States on the Atlantic seaboard. New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland and other States, with far inferior natural advantages, have far out- stripped her in the race, and have long enjoyed their supremacy over her without a murmur or a struggle. But things seem now to be taking a turn which may bring unlooked for results. Three great railroad systems, one transcontinental, now find their nearest and best ocean termini on the coast of Virginia. The old Chesa- peake and Ohio, with its two arms from Clifton Forge eastward and westward, furnishes connections reaching to the Pacific ; the Rich- mond and Danville system, with its thousands of miles permeating the whole South and concentrating at West Point ; and the Norfolk and Western, with its constantly increasing business and expanding lines 16 ABINGDON, VIRGINIA, pouring its mineral and other wealth into the spacious harbor of Norfolk, must have an important bearing upon the commercial and industrial interests of the country at no remote period. "With the stream of trade between the Atlantic and Pacific pouring into and through Virginia, an impetus will be given to her manufactures and other industries which will soon make her the new Empire State of America. Situated midway between the North and the South, Vir- ginia is the natural meeting point for the varied productions of both, as well of those of the great West and Northwest. Here, where man is free from the icy blasts of the North and Northwest, and from the enervating heat of the South, wiih a genial, healthy and invigorating climate, we may reasonably expect to get the  the successful rival of the most populous Northern States, is being recognized North as well as South. In an article which recently appeared in a New York paper the statement is made that ^' the New South, with its vast deposits of natural wealth and its growing development, must soon exceed the wildest dream ever indulged in hy the W.est. ***/(! offef)'S more inducements to the surplus popula- tion and surjylus wealth of the world than any other area on the globe. When the hum of its ivheels, the roar of its industries, and the maelstrom of its full developing energies break forth, the West arid the North and the East will be drowned in the din.'' We might multiply similar extracts to any extent, but they are not required. It is beginning to be recognized as one of the fixed facts of the near future. — Extract from Lynchburg Virginian, May 10th, 1889. SOUTHWEST VIRGINIA. When the annual overflow of the Nile occurs, and the canals of Egypt have conveyed the waters of that river in every direction, until the land is hidden from sight, the inhabitants of that fertile valley know that within a brief period after the water shall have receded, the growing crops will cover their fields with a mantle of green, and that in due time they will reap the golden grain which will furnish sustenance, and which will enable them to pay their annual taxes. The present condition of Southwest Virginia may be likened, in the blessings which will flow to our State from the ITS HIS TOR Y AND A TTRA CTIONS. 1 7 development of its mineral treasures, to the river Nile when the first sluggish m.ovement of its waters indicate the coming flood which will enrich the parched earth and cause the planted grain to in- crease an hundred fold. The wealth locked up in the hills of that magnificent portion of our State has attracted the attention of capitalists from other States and from abroad, and from the accounts which reach us it looks as if that section, which has long been deficient in transportation facilities will shortly be as well supplied with railroads as any other portion of the Commonwealth. The coal of Pocahontas and the iron 6f Cripple Creek have given us a faint idea of the flood of prosperity which will follow when the hills and valleys of all that region shall be made to yield the wealth which they are known to possess. And, as bountiful harvests fol- low the rising of the Nile, so will prosperous and thriving villages, towns, and cities in Virginia follow the development which is now going on in the southwestern part of the State. — Norfolk Ledger. In this part of the State, moreover, there are perhaps more rail- roads contemplated, surveyed and in actual course of construction than in any similar area in the United States. As has been more fully mentioned before in this pamphlet, one of these roads, part of which has been graded to within three miles of the town, will pass through Abingdon, at which point it will cross the Norfolk and Western Railroad. The results of the develop- ment and opening up of the surrounding rich counties on the com- pletion of this road will be enormous ; and the day cannot now be far distant when this development must take place. r^^=^£] ^=®^ ABINGDON. (Pop. nearly 3,000.) A BRIEF SUMMARY OF ITS ADVANTAGES. One of the most attractive towns in the United States, with beautiful mountain scenery on every side. Noted for the culture and refinement of its people ; priding itself especially on its superior educational facilities. Easy of access, being on the main line of the Norfolk and West- ern Railroad, well known as being the best equipped road in the South, with a daily service of six mail trains. Situated 2057 feet above sea level, amongst the mountains of Southwest Virginia, in the centre of a region which cannot be surpassed for combined mineral and agricultural wealth. Enjoys an unusually healthy climate, whilst in the vicinity numerous healing mineral springs abound, thus making the town an ideal summer resort, especially since the local medical attendance is in every way ample, skillful and trustworthy. Has in its past history been the home and birthplace of many illustrious Virginians, having furnished the Old Dominion with , three Governors, David Campbell, John B. Floyd and Wyndham Robertson, and the United States with seo-eral Senators and Con- gressmen. In the course of a few months the town will be provided with electric light and water works. Its streets are well laid off, carefully graded and macadamized, with brick pavements on either side. Its houses are, for the most part, solidly built of brick, whilst several handsome new buildings are in course of construction. Has many churches of various denominations, which are attended by zealous congregations and presided over by able and popular ministers. A new railroad is in course of construction to cross the Norfolk and Western Railroad here. Has telegraph communication all over the world, telephonic com- munication with the surrounding towns and counties. ITS TITS TOR Y AND A TTEA CTT0N8. 1& An excellent point for profitable investment, supporting two banks, two hotels, two weekly papers, and numerous industries and substantial wholesale and retail business houses. INDUSTRIES OF THE TOWN. 