USA > Virginia > Bedford County > Bedford County > Historical sketch: Bedford County, Virginia, 1753-1907 > Part 5
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
.I.GO S
BELLEVUE HIGH SCHOOL
61
BEDFORD COUNTY, VA.
MANUFACTURES
Tobacco manufactures, grist and patent roller process flouring mills, cigar factories, woolen mills, pulp and paper mills, aluminum mills, paint mills, cement mills, tomato canning factories, saw mills, stave mills, box factories ; in fact, all kinds of manufactures thus far attempted in Bedford have met with success. The ex- perience of the woolen mill is a striking illustration of the truth of this statement. In competition with the mills of this entire country, it has repeatedly secured government orders for thousands of yards of goods for the U. S. Marine Corps. The Government purchasing agents say that the peculiar merit of the goods is in the uniformity and permanence of the coloring ; merits attributable to the absolute chemical purity of the water used in dyeing, scour- ing, and fulling purposes ; so that the manufacture of woolen goods, indeed, of any goods involving the use of dyes, finds here a specially favorable condition, in addition to those of good climate, cheap labor, cheap fuel, low taxes, easy accessibility, cheap raw material, etc., etc. 'As exhibiting another inducement to the grazier and stock raiser, it may be said, incidentally, that of the amount of wool required by the mill, only a very small percentage can be ob- tained in Bedford County, although the full market price can be obtained without the charges of freight, commission on sale, or any cost of sale. The same inducement holds good in the case of the tobacco planter. Ten times the amount of the present sales of tobacco could be bought and handled with ease at Bedford City, and as we have a large area of the best dark tobacco land that can be found anywhere in the country, there is no reason why the crops should not be increased many fold in the next few years, if the present price for tobacco continues to be obtained. The outlook for the tobacco raiser is encouraging in this section; ready buyers, with ample capital are at your door to take every plant that is raised. In fact everything that can be spared by the farmer or the good housewife, will sell readily at good prices. Our facilities for reaching nearby markets are unsurpassed. There are now residents in the county from many of the northern, north- western and western States, who will bear cheerful, conclusive testimony to the good will and neighborly treatment they have
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
ever experienced from the natives of Bedford. A settler from a western state says: "In a long life spent in many parts of the world I have never been among a more kindly and hospitable people. The moral tone of the community is unusually high, Bedford County is a good place to live in and raise a family. Any one may make a comfortable living here, at the minimum of effort. The soil will produce under proper care and management all the products of the temperate zone. I have lived in this county a number of years, and find the climate healthful and invigorating."
CEMENT WORKS
The Ridgemont Manufacturing Co., located at Ironville, Bed- ford County, Va., is the seat of the first cement works established in Virginia. The James River cement was made here 60 or 70 years back. Present works have a capacity of 500 bbls. daily of natural rock cement. Brands: "Standard Rosendalt," and "Ridge- mont Hydraulic." This cement has an extensive sale throughout different sections of the county.
PAINT WORKS
A few years ago a gentleman from Detroit, Michigan, was visiting a friend who had located in this county. Many drives were made in and around Bedford City, when all at once he became very much infatuated with an old hilly homestead that had been the victim of very rough treatment at the hands of careless, in- different tenants, though the legatees were descendants of one of the most learned and distinguished jurists of ante-bellum days. The old mansion house was admirably located and commanded a fine view of the noble Peaks of Otter and the Blue Ridge Mountains for many miles. As soon as the man from the Lake shore beheld this magnificent view from the front porch and from under the thick shade in the yard, he was spellbound and turning to his friend said emphatically: "I - -, if I do not want this farm. I will give $6,000 cash for the 400 acres." It was bought. He moved down. A modern dwelling was built in an adjoining grove to the old mansion yard. One day strolling over the many hills, he was struck with the extremely rich red soil. Samples were pro- cured, analysis was made. Chemist and expert had their say.
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BEDFORD COUNTY, VA.
Result : A $30,000 paint factory is established with modern machinery, thousands of barrels of the dry pigment manufactured. and the mixed paint is now being sold in all sections of the Union. On brick, iron and tin it has few equals. One could hardly imagine what a wonderful change could be wrought by a coat of this paint on old brick dwellings. Old Bedford has many such hidden treasures, only waiting for the practical man of energy, push, and means to develop them.
ALUMINUM MILLS
This is located in this county on the James River division of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway, and is a manufacturing plant of won- derful power and capacity. The magnificent water power of the James river is augmented by an electrical plant of wonderful force. Some of the mineral used in this factory comes all the way from Asia Minor. The products are said to be used by the Govern- ment in the manufacture of projectiles, and also for the protection of armored cruisers. The great intensity of the heat generated at this plant is wonderful to observe. The rapid flow of an abun- dant supply of water on one side of the mill and the C. & O. Rail- road on the other, with its never-ceasing chain of coal cars pass- ing all hours of the day and night, make these locations for factories something to be considered by future industries seeking new fields of enterprise. Cheap lands, cheap powers, cheap coal, and low taxes are points to be considered when a new site is desired for any enterprise. Nearby and up the river are two large pulp and paper mills referred to on another page in this pamphlet, and there are many others at different points along this river about and below our county's line. Should pure fresh water be needed, it can be obtained where the numerous streams from this county empty into the rivers both on the James and on the Staunton, the fall in both rivers being about the same. Ample water power for large mills could be obtained if desired at low prices.
PULP AND PAPER MILLS
These mills are located on James River and front on the C. & O. Railroad at Big Island and Coleman's Falls in Bedford County. The machines are operated by water and steam power
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
and have the capacity of from twenty-five to thirty tons of pulp every twenty-four hours. The paper mill at Big Island is run by the same powers and has the capacity of about thirty to forty tons of paper every twenty-four hours. Papers manufactured are manila, news, hanging, drawing, pattern, fiber, and porter. This com- pany is operated by Richmond capital, employs a large number of hands, and consumes thousands of cords of poplar and pine wood annually.
With the vast amount of undeveloped water power in every section of this county, but more especially on the north and south sides and through the centres, Bedford should have a dozen such paper mills, with the raw material right at its doors, and ample transportation facilities. Many natural locations could be selected where a short high dam could be easily constructed and a tremendous water power obtained at a nominal cost. Sand and rock being on the ground or nearby, cement and labor would be the only costly items in the construction of the dam and foundation.
The demand for paper is great and increasing, the old fields are burdened with rapid-growing pine and the undeveloped water power is gently gliding by, never to be recalled. Who will be the next to harness these restless waters and turn them into money?
ASBESTOS
The American Asbestos Company has in operation at Bedford City, Virginia, a large manufacturing plant, equipped with the best and most improved machinery, which can turn out from thirty to fifty tons of the manufactured article daily, ready for commercial use. These ores are obtained from the company's mines, which are located some fifteen miles south of Bedford City, and are now being mined and hauled by wagons to the mills. The new Tidewater Railroad passes directly through a portion of these valuable mines, which will lessen the cost of hauling. This is one of the few industries that have been established in our midst in the last few years, almost entirely by outside capital, and it is destined to be a great success, if pushed to its full capacity under proper and judicious management and supervision. The ores are here in inexhaustible quantities and should be mined at a minimum cost to the company. The constantly increasing de- mand for this commercial article should make these properties
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BEDFORD COUNTY, VA.
one of the best investments in this section of the country. It is an interesting sight to see the ponderous machinery pounding away on the tenacious fibres for a considerable time, which are then taken through the various processes of reducing and refining, and finally to observe the powdered article ready for commercial use. The shipments are usually made in car load lots. These fields of development and industry have hardly been touched, and thousands of acres still remain in the hands of the original owners, which can be bought at reasonable figures.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
AGRICULTURE
CENSUS REPORT BEDFORD COUNTY, VIRGINIA, 1900
Statements of number of acres in farms; number of acres im- proved; total number of farms; number of horses, cattle and other live stock, and acreage and yield of principal farm products, as reported for the census of 1900:
Total farm acreage .: 432,479
Total acres improved ...... 249,956 Population of County 1900. 30,356 Total number of farms. . . 4,030
Rank
Acres.
Bushels.
acreage.
Prod.
Corn
35,127
735,000
11
7
Wheat
23,005
181,030
10
10
Oats
15,975
187,760
1
1
Irish potatoes
642
35,513
13
16
Sweet potatoes
474
28,027
13
20
Beans and peas
637
5,983
Onions
22
3,243
Clover and grass seed.
1,930
Clover
1
1
Alfalfa
5
6
Pounds.
Tobacco
9,162
6,910,260
4
4
Honey
....
1
Eggs
Value.
Values.
All other vegetables
2,513
$104,226
5
Small fruits
..
.
Enumeration of live stock on farms, 1900:
Number.
Rank.
Horses and colts.
7,733
Colts under one year.
9
Colts one and under 2 years
. . .
7
Colts 2 years and over
..
5
Cows
7,218
Dairy cows 2 years and over
4
All other cattle.
9,297
Sheep and lambs
5,806
Swine
15,869
16
Calves under 1 year
5
Value of forest products
$96,563
6
Orchard fruit, etc
16
.
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BEDFORD COUNTY, VA.
TOBACCO
In 1900, Bedford County produced 6,910,260 pounds of tobacco, an average of about 7,501 pounds per acre, at $7.00 per 100 pounds. This would be $52.50 per acre or $483,718.20 for the whole crop. Samples taken from all grades sold at public auction on the ware- house floors at Bedford City during the month of March, 1907, will show that some farmers can raise dark tobaccos that will weigh from 1,200 to 1,500 pounds per acre, and that will bring from $125 to $175 per acre. These samples, with the prices attached, will be on exhibition at Jamestown, Virginia, this year ; 235 pounds at $5.00; 265 pounds at $5.50; 200 pounds at $8.00; 210 pounds at $8.50; 100 pounds at $10.25; 140 pounds at $12.50; 235 pounds at $15.50; 285 pounds at $18.00; 175 pounds at $22.50; 315 pounds at $25.00, making a total of 2,155 pounds of tobacco from 7,000 hills planted, or an average of 1,530 pounds per acre. The total amount of money received was $292.64, an average of $13.57 per hundred pounds, or an average of $209.00 per acre. This land was a part of an estimate of over 500 acres that had been run down by negro labor, before the war ; tobacco and tenants, since the war. The present owner bought off 1821/2 acres in. 18- at $5.50 per acre. This land is assessed at $1,002.38, taxes $13.03. The owner has built houses, made fences, and im- proved the land generally ; he considers his real estate richly worth $5,000. This section of the county located along Stony Fork Creek, is especially adapted to the growth of that fine, dark, tough, silky, wrapper, that always commands a very high price on our local markets. A good man and a boy can cultivate four acres in tobacco, i.e, about 20,000 plants, and have time to look after the stock and a small crop of corn, wheat, oats and hay. The Bedford City ware- houses commense selling tobacco on the first of September in each year, and stop the last day of July; the amount of tobacco sold at these warehouses for the year ending July 31, 1906, was 1,837,595 pounds, and brought $127,290.11, an average of $6.92 per 100 pounds. For seven months, ending the 31st of March, 1907, the same warehouses sold 2, 105,547 pounds for $147,553.94, an average of $7.00 per 100 pounds. At least two-thirds of the crops of tobacco
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
raised in Bedford County are sold in Lynchburg and some little in Danville, Va. With a good tobacco market right in the center of the county, Bedford should be the first county in the State instead of the fourth, as she was in 1900. Tobacco from this county stands at the top in Lynchburg and Richmond. In 1892, when the whole State of Virginia, had a competitive exposition of farm products at Richmond, the State Capital, Bedford had the honor of carrying off the first prize on dark tobacco and the first prize on light tobacco.
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
The principal agricultural products of Bedford County are to- bacco, wheat, corn and oats. Besides which there are products in smaller quantities, but of most excellent quality : rye, buckwheat, sorghum, clover, alfalfa, soja beans, peas, and timothy hay. All the vegetables come to great perfection. Apples, pears, peaches, grapes, strawberries, cherries, melons and other fruits, cannot be surpased. The rank that Bedford County holds in these respects among the counties of Virginia, is shown by the award received by her exhibits at the State Exhibition held in Richmond in 1892. In competi- tion with the other counties, her awards were as follows :
First premium :
Second premium :
Wheat,
Pease,
Corn,
Fruits,
Mineral,
Root crops,
Dark tobacco,
Light tobacco,
Oats,
Irish potatoes.
Rye,
Third premium :
Sweet potatoes,
Other vegetables.
Wood and timber,
Agricultural products.
DARK TOBACCO EXHIBITS Jamestown, Virginia, 1907
This leaf tobacco exhibit was selected by Mr. John T. Edwards and Messrs. Alberta & Company from tobacco that had been
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BEDFORD COUNTY, VA.
bought on the warehouse floors at Bedford City, Virginia, without any picking or culling, but just as the tobacco came from the Bed- ford County farmers. These commercial samples will represent the domestic, German, Austrian and Italian types of tobacco raised in this county, and the rich, dark, tough, silky wrappers, for which this section is so famous, and for which fancy prices are al- ways obtained. Great credit is due these experienced dealers in dark tobacco for this excellent exhibition, which they procured on such a short notice, after the bulk of the crop had been sold. May the honors of 1892 be again bestowed upon our dark "weed."
ALFALFA
The soil of Bedford County is admirably adapted to the growth of alfalfa, as has been shown by its successful cultivation in differ- ent sections of the county. If cut at the right time, properly cured and cared for, it has few equals as a hay. It can be raised at a cost of from $3.00 to $5.00 a ton. A ton and a half of alfalfa hay, that has as much protein as a ton of bran, will cost you from $23.00 to $25.00 per ton. Horses, cattle, hogs, sheep and fowls will eat it in the dry state almost as readily as they will in the green state, and do well. It is a great improver of the soil and when unobstructed its roots will penetrate the soil for 10 or 20 feet. Its value is so great as a feed that some claim that an acre well set in alfalfa is worth $100.00, and a hundred acres well set in alfalfa is worth $10,000.00. As a mortgage lifter, at the present price of hay, alfalfa could not possibly have an equal. Although it is necessary to go to some expense in order to put the soil in proper condition for alfalfa, yet the meadow is so valuable when established, and should yield profitable results for so many years, that extra time and expense are amply repaid. Nine-tenths of the alfalfa lands in Bedford County, that are not producing a ton of hay to the acre, could easily produce from four to five tons of alfalfa hay, under proper culture and care, and at the same time be a great source of income to the owner. The following statement will show what three-fourths of an acre of Bedford's stiff, tough, red soil has done in alfalfa during the past three years. This land was carefully prepared and seeded down, on the third of May, 1903, without
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
inoculation of any kind. The third cutting in September was cured for hay, the other two cuttings going to the land :
Cuttings
1904. Pounds.
1905.
1906.
Pounds.
Pounds.
1. May
1,500
May
1,800
May 15. .. 2,000
2. June
2,000
June.
2,200
June 19.
2,500
3. July
1,500
July. . . . 1,800
July 26. . . 2,000
4. Sept.
1,600
Sept. 1,800
Sept. 1. 2,000
Totals
6,600
7,600
8,500
Averages
8,800
10,113
11,333 per acre
The fifth crop during the fall of 1906 attained to the height of 20 inches, but was cured as a pasture until late in the winter, and, at this writing, the 15th of April, 1907, the alfalfa on this three- fourths of an acre will average over 15 inches. A sample of this alfalfa hay crop for 1906 will be on exhibition at Jamestown, Va. Had the owner sold his 8,500 pounds of hay on the Bedford City market at the price now prevailing for hay, i. e., $1.25 per 100 pounds, his three-fourths of an acre of land would have brought him the nice little sum of $106.25. As a soil feeder, alfalfa has few if any equals. Set apart such an acre as you think will carry your cow for a month, and you can cut morning, noon and night for thirty days, then start where you began and continue to repeat the cutting process until the close of the season. The tobacco lots are good places to grow alfalfa. To get a good stand of alfalfa is worth any farmer's most persistent efforts, for it will enable him to cut down very materially his feed bills. It is a good substitute for bran, offal and other mill feeds. It is the best feed for the dairy, and for all kinds of young stock. Hogs winter well on it, with very little grain. There is nothing better for sheep. Chickens relish it green or dry. Let every farmer in the county, old and new-comers, put forth strenuous efforts to try to secure a good stand of alfalfa on a well selected flat of his farm, and if he succeed, then try to keep hoof of every kind off for three or four years.
CRIMSON CLOVER
All thin land planted in corn should be seeded to German clover in July and August, using a little bone meal. Should this process be continued for six or eight years, the yield of corn will gradually
-
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BEDFORD COUNTY, VA.
increase, the crop of hay will be larger and the amount of nitrogen taken in, will so enrich the land that it can be set in grass or al- falfa. This clover cut at the right time, securely housed, and pro- tected from the damp weather, will make a safe, rich food for any kind of stock, and at the same time return to the soil nitrogen enough to more than pay for the seed and culture. Why is it that our farmers do not adopt these cheap methods of surely enriching their lands, instead of mortgaging their crops, before they are planted for fertilizing, which often does not improve their lands? Take a poor, well-drained lot of our Bedford red sub-soil land and treat it to corn, crimson clover, and pure bone process, for seven years, and see if your corn will not go from two to eight barrels per acre and your land increase in value tenfold. By taking a new piece of poor land each year and going through the treatment, and after each acre has taken in from $15.00 to $20.00 worth of nitrogen, it should be seeded to alfalfa, which will yield from four to five crops annually for a mumber of years. By this means Bedford County would soon move up from sixth county in the State in the pro- duct of alfalfa to the first, as she now is in clover.
PEAS AND SOY BEANS
The pea, before the war, was planted on thin land, sowed in rows alternating with corn, and was relished as a vegetable in the green state; later it was sown in the corn at the last planting and used as a fertilizer. Now great fields of peas can be found in all sections of the county and is used as a great land improver, and a hay crop. A mixture of a bushel of peas and a peck of sorghum seed to the acre, makes one of the finest feeds for stock that can be raised. Take a stack pole eleven feet long, plant it one foot in the ground at convenient intervals around the field, and, after the peas have been cut by the mower, place six five-foot braces at equal intervals around the eleven-foot pole, with one end on the ground. and the other tacked to the pole one and a half feet from the earth. As soon after the mowing as it takes to set a pole and brace it as above described, you can commence to stack the green pease and sor- ghum hay around these poles, carrying the moulds up perpendicu- larly, capping off with a slope and a big fork full right on the top of the pole, so as to keep the rain from following down the pole.
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
H
A DISTRICT SCHOOL HOUSE
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BEDFORD COUNTY, VA.
Don't allow any one to get on the shock while stacking. The air will pass under and up the pole, curing the whole shock sweet, and green in color. Though the season of 1906 was extremely dark and rainy, this method was followed to a successful conclusion. At no time were more pease cut than could be promptly gotten up be- fore they wilted. As house room was scarce, this entire field of hay stood out all winter; the last shock was taken in on the fourth week in April, sound, sweet and of a bright green color. No waste in feeding, as it was eagerly consumed by both horses and cattle. The same will be tried again this season; the yield last season was about two tons of dry hay per acre. The soy bean has not been as extensively cultivated in this county as the different kinds of peas, yet it has given good satisfaction as a land improver. The yield of green forage has been large, and much easier to cure and save than the peas"; as an entire feed for milch cows it hasn't an equal in anything that has ever come under my observation, and they seem to prefer it above all other rations. The same methods of curing peas have been tried with the soy beans with fine results. The high price for seed will curtail the acreage for this season, but with better preparations and a sure planting of every seed sown, the crops will be equally good, if not better, for light culture will surely increase the yield and a less number of seed can be used.
MILK, CREAM AND BUTTER
There are a good many small private dairies in this county, which have been run successfully, and the local demands for these products at Bedford City, Lynchburg and Roanoke, have made these indus- tries a continuous source of income. The demand is greater than the supply, and hundreds of such establishments could be main- tained in this section, and all could be making money at the prices that are now demanded. Buttermilk, 16 cents per gallon ; sweet milk 30 cents per gallon ; cream, $1.25 per gallon ; butter, 35 cents per pound. The general custom is to make yearly contracts with pri- vate families to furnish so much each week, at stated prices; thus your market does not fluctuate with the seasons, but you know when your products are measured or weighed, before you leave home for the city, what you are going to get. Those most distant only mar- ket butter and cream. The hand separators are much in use and facilitate the handling of sweet cream. The number of cows in each herd could be kept at the minimum if we had a few like "Black
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HISTORICAL SKETCH
Bess" from "Wheats Valley," who has been known to give ten gal- lons per day for ninety consecutive days, on clover, grass and a peck of wheat bran. The owner has recently declined $150.00 for her,, though she is in her ninth year. She is a black poll-mongrel.
At the prices at which hay, soja beans, sorghum, etc., can be raised in this county, Bedford should have many coöoperative cream- eries and cheese factories.
BEES
Bedford being one of the banner fruit counties of the State, it would naturally follow that the honey bee would flourish where flowers and fruits come to great perfection. There are tons and tons of nectar going to waste, that could be safely housed in little one- pound cases and turned into money, if the farmer, and even the busi-, ness men in the town, would only procure a few colonies and make a start in bees. We get our honey from a very great variety of flowers white and red clovers, some wood fruit and berries, sour wood and honey dew on the pine and some other trees, buckwheat, chickweed, maple, fruit blossoms, salad, kale, clover, holly, spanish needles, purple boneset, and a host of others. The average yield per colony is about 48 to 72 pounds and upward. Bedford County is an ideal honey section. Our honey is classed as "fancy" and number one, and commands good prices in all our towns and cities ; the de- mand cannot be supplied ; one farmer in the county has been known to gather as much as fourteen tons of honey in one season. Bedford County stands at the top round for honey in the State of Virginia, as shown by the census returns for 1900. Beginners should pro- cure a few modern hives, buy the A B C of Bee Culture, published by the Root Company, of Medina, Ohio; get a good smoker and veil, and then you will be ready for business. The 8-frame dove- tailed movable frame hive is the one mostly used here and they come cheap. An invalid can obtain health, recreation, and nice income, on a small space in this vocation.
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