LYNCHBURG AND TENNESSEE RAILROAD.

VALUABLE AND INTERESTING LETTERS
FROM

DOCTOR

ALEXANDER

M'CALL,

AND

THOMAS L. P R E S T O N , ESQ..
GIVING A N ACCOUNT

SALT

AND

OF T H E

PLASTER

TRADE, ETC.

O F

SOUTHWESTERN
AND

VIRGINIA,

OF T H E

T E N N E S S E E RAILROADS, &c.
AND

TABLES, SHEWING THE POPULATION, VALUE OF PROPERTY,
AND BUSINESS OF LYNCHBURG, &c.

RICHMOND:
PRINTED BY S H E P H E R D AND COLIN.

1849.

RICHMOND,
To

0.

G.

CLAY,

December 26th, 1848.

Esq.

Prest L. and T. Railroad

Co.

SIR,

I herewith transmit to you letters from Thomas L. Preston,
Esq. and Dr. A. M'Call, in regard to the salt and plaster deposits of
Washington county, Va.
These gentlemen, of the highest repute and thoroughly acquainted
with the subject, have been kind enough to furnish detailed descriptions of the minerals, 50 far as they have been opened or examined ;
and from their statements it may fairly be inferred:
1st. That a constant supply of salt to meet any demand may be obtained from the water which is saturated by the immense bed of rock
salt.
2d. That the discovery of plaster at points extending over a space
of many miles in length, and several hundred feet in breadth and
depth, must convince any one conversant with such subjects, that there
exists one continuous and exhaustless bed of this valuable mineral.
Very respect full yr
Your obed'fc serv't,
O. O. SANFORD.

385.4
L98m

Washington County, Va.
December 10th, 1848.

SALTVILLE,
C
$>

O.

SANFORD,

Esq.

DEAR SIR,

£
With pleasure I reply to some enquiries made in
«* your behalf by our friend B. R. Johnston, Esq.
*
S
The yearly amount of salt made and vended from King's and Presg tjon's saltworks, somewhat exceeds 200,000 bushels. Of this amount,
p two thirds is conveyed to consumers by wagons, and is retailed at 50
** to 75 cents per bushel along the valleys from New river to Knoxville.
3 The remainder is conveyed by boats along the Tennessee river waters,
as far down as the Muscle shoals, at the same market rates. The mean
price at Saltville is 20 cents per bushel of 50 pounds. The population
of this market consume 42 pounds of salt per head, annually, and procure salt from Lynchburg, Fayetteville, Charleston, Augusta, Nashville
and Florence, below the Muscle shoals of the Tennessee river, in
greater quantities than from Saltville.
The salt rock on King's estate has a ten feet square shaft sunk into
it 70 or 80 feet, and an artesian boring extending from the bottom of
the shaft 60 or 80 feet deeper, without passing through the solid native reddish salt rock, 80 or 90 per cent, in purity, there being some
green sand and gypseous marl in the rock. The quantity is exhaustless, and the brine springs are reached by boring or digging 200 feet,
when the brine rises to within 46 feet of the surface. Gypseous rock
and marl compose the superincumbent crust above the salt rock, which
is dissolved by numerous freshwater springs uprising from the rocky
strata that are mostly inclined at an angle, facing southeast, of about
35 or 45 degrees. Last year we made an artesian boring 220 feet, obtaining the most copious and richest and purest brine ever discovered,
being 96° of saturation.
The extent of flat land at Saltville is about 640 acres, and was lately
covered by a marshy lake, which is now drained. The surface, being
peaty in dry seasons, will burn extensively. Along the north boundary of this flat are three lines of conical hills, at the northwest base
bf which runs the North fork of Holston, affording very bad navigation. Upon the southeast boundary, nearly of crescent shape, the
Chesnut ridge rears its high cliffy rocks of fine Buhr millstone, hydraulic limestone, marble, and cliff limestone, corroded on the face by free
sulphuric acid, at some period of great chemical commotion. The old
red sandstone and marls, allied to it, are in contact with the muriates
of soda, and apparently a salt lake once existed on this crater-like formation. The red and greenish saline and gypseous earth extends in
length nearly one and a half miles, and varies in breadth from fifty to
six hundred yards. In the Chesnut ridge, referred to as the southeast
boundary, much iron ore, sulphate of barytes, flint chrystals, travertine resembling alabaster, and much manganese, may be obtained. A

4
water gap in Walker's mountain, south of the Ohesnut ridge, affords a
grade for a railroad track, four miles in distance to Saltville, at 30 to
40 feet rise per mile.
The sulphate of lime, (or plaster,) is of the hydrated chrystalline
description, and is not anhydrous, like the Nova Scotia or New York
gypsum. In several borings here the gypsum is 800 to 1000 feet in
thickness, in many 500 feet, and generally lies 15 to 30 feet under the
soil surface. On King's, Preston's and Robertson's lands, you may
safely estimate 200 acres of superficial strata of gypsum, having a
mean thickness of 600 feet, adjacent to Saltville. On Poston's, Pearson's, Taylor's, Tate's, Buchanon's, and others' lands, extending 20
miles, at intervals, up the river, still greater quantities exist, and at one
point is above the common surface. At Buchanon's a ten feet shaft
was sunk 675 feet into pure solid gypsum, without passing through
the stratum.
At no time has the entire consumption of plaster reached above 1000
tons yearly.
Our salt rock, or brine, has no trace of muriate of magnesia, nor
muriate of lime or iron. The best brine, 18 or 20 gallons to 50 pounds
of dry salt, has one half of one per cent, of sulphate of lime, and no
other impurity in it. This is readily deposited in a cistern by mingling with 30,000 gallons of water half a bushel of quick lime. Our
salt, evaporated by steam process, is the purest fish and pickling salt,
in large chrystals, and by fire evaporation the pure dairy salt of fine
grain is yielded. T o make the best Liverpool salt equally pure and fit
for pickling, it must be dry heated so as to evaporate the muriatic acid
from the magnesia and lime, and then dissolving the mass in river water, the brine must be again evaporated. We have in operation the
cheapest and best, and latest improvements for manufacturing salt, superior to that of any other place, and invite searching examination.
The New York salines this year will supply about six millions, Kanawha nearly three millions, and other factories along the seaboard and
at sundry salines will furnish about two and a half millions, leaving
for importation from abroad about eight millions and a half of bushels.
Including fishery and salt contained in exported articles, the United
States annually consume nearly twenty millions of bushels of salt.
When a heavy railway track extends from Lynchburg to Knoxville,
the ivestern works being completed, three to five millions of bushels of
this unequalled salt will be consumed in the Mississippi valley states,
and one million of bushels eastwardly, every year. Prior to the existing state of the New York improvements, Syracuse yielded a few hundred thousand bushels of salt, while now, 4000 labourers, engaged in
that business, make five or six millions of bushels annually, affording
a great amount of tolls for freightage by canal and railroads. The
state of New York owns those salines, and after receiving $200,000
profit by an impost of 6 cents per bushel, for a long period annually,
this tax is reduced to one cent per bushel; and above 250 salt establishments are in operation. Every citizen who chooses may make salt,
the state supplying them with brine at their respective factories.

5
I would remark, that the common estimate of making salt here is
12 to 15 cents per bushel. Hauling wood three or four miles is very*
expensive* About three cords of hard wood will make 100 bushels,
in a furnace under good trim ; or 28 bushels of coal will, at Kanawha,
make 100 bushels, where the brine is 25°, instead of 94° or 96°, as
here. But the evaporation is faster from fresh water or weak brine,
than from saturated brine, under like consumption of fuel. Coal will
be brought here for evaporating use when a railroad is made. A plank
or wooden railroad, a few miles long, would now redace the cost of
making salt here fully one third.
About the close of 1845 and beginning of 1846, you will, on enquiry, find the Syracuse, New York, fine salt sold at the works at five
to six and a half cents for fifty-six pounds after inspection, and when
transported to Buffaloe or New York cities, sold at 85 to 86£ cents per
barrel of 280 pounds of salt and 20 pounds tare. The barrel cost 27
cents at the salthouse—the packing, nailing and drayage, three cents,
and the freight to New York 30 cents. When five millions of bushels
of salt is sent west and east 200 miles from here, the salt will be made
for about 5 to 6 cents, receivable in the salthouse in good condition.
Many labour-saving processes can be adopted, when the quantity made
and handled is very large. Probably no one, better than myself, knows
the capacity of the various salines. All, except New York, will in process of time fail to yield salt. Here the stock is exhaustless.
You have no doubt understood that the state of Georgia has appropriated $ 365,000 to finish the tunnel and 34 miles of railroad from
the present terminus at Dalton to Chattanooga; and that a company,
having three millions of capital, are at work, and in three years will
complete the railroad from Chattanooga, 130 miles, to Nashville. From
Nashville to Cairo at the mouth of the Ohio, a distance of 220 miles,
a railroad charter, of liberal character, is granted, and the stock will be
taken. The Hiwassie railroad is now merged in the Georgia and Tennessee railroad, and a contract has been entered into for its construction
110 miles from Knoxville to the Georgia and Chattanooga road. From
Knoxville to the Virginia line a charter is granted, but no arrangements
respecting it will be made until Virginia decides whether to connect
with it. By pursuing no systematized plan of improvements Virginia
has almost sacrificed seven millions of dollars in past works. Prior to
1819, Pennsylvania sacrificed nearly eleven millions of dollars, and
Ohio about nine millions, which was only in part redeemed by adopting a regulated and connected system of state works. Now is the
time for Virginia to resuscitate the desponding hopes of her citizens
by connecting past expenditures with new improvements. If the older
improvements have already received the fostering care of seven or eight
millions, they will not oppose three and a half millions to the Lynchburg and Tennessee railroad.
The works of Ohio, of Georgia and South Carolina, and of Tennessee, are no longer fancies, visions. Already Virginians find their
state, with all its superior advantages, falling far back into the wake
of her neighbours. Since 1836, persons and property enough have
left Virginia forever, to have executed a splendid system of state internal improvements.

6
Few, if any sections of the Union, of like extent, can vie with
Southwestern Virginia and East Tennessee in resources of timber,
water power and mines of iron. In coal also and lead they abound, as
well as in all the material for glass. The mineral springs and fine
scenery and summer climate will invite the visits of many to this
quarter for residence during the warm season. The comparative freedom from ice and snow will induce much travel this way from the
south and the west and the northwest during winter.
Within ten years after this main line is established, the population
and the value of real estate will be quadrupled. It is probable the
Mohawk and Genessee swampy plains, formerly valued at one dollar
per acre and now rated at $ 70 to $ 100 per acre, would not have been
reclaimed, short of a century, without the New York state improvements. New York has made her borders the first receptacle of the
artizan emigrants of Europe with all their skill and capital; and by
her expanding system of common schools, based upon the products of
her public works, has solved the problem whether public industry
and education are not inseparable handmaidens of political economy.
Building of railroads, of prime importance, is not a sysiphian labour, but
from the first causes combined capital to minister to the industrial
happiness of whole communities in the vicinity and remotely situated.
The worthy representative from Lee county, Mr. Fugate from Scott,
Mr. Aston from Russell, Doct. Tate and Major Thompson of Smyth,
Col. Boyd of Wythe, Col. George of Tazewell, and others from the
southwest of Virginia, can give you reliable information on the topics
you suggest. I will, at any time, lend my mite to you for advancing
an object, so imperatively required by the welfare of our own section
and of the entire state.
In my absence, William King, my partner in business, will with
pleasure attend to your calls.
Very respectfully, Sir,
Your ob't seiVt,
A L E X ' R M'CALL.
P, S. T h e 16,666 miles of navigable streams in the western
states long since induced their citizens to seek the best foreign markets for selling and buying. No one there esteems it a matter of state
care to build up a few commission merchants at a state capital
The
free moving enterprise of the people sell cheap in their own borders
and seek competition by every passway, outside of their own state.
A hundred highways, in aid of foreign barter, does not impoverish
them.
A. M.

7
SALTVILLE, WASHINGTON COUNTY, VA.,

Dec'r 11th, 1848.
B. R.

JOHNSTON,

Esq.

DEAR SIR,

I received your favour, enclosing a series of questions
from Mr. Sanford about our salt and plaster, on Saturday afternoon,
and avail myself of the first leisure moment to answer briefly and to
the best of my knowledge. I hope these answers may be satisfactory.
1. What quantity of salt is now sold per annum, and the extent of
the country supplied ?
Ans. The quantity now manufactured may safely be put at 350,000
bushels of 50 lbs., equal to 17,500,000 lbs. The country supplied
extends from Salem, Va., to the head of the Muscle shoals in Alabama—in the line of the valley and along the Tennessee river—Giles,
Monroe, Greenbrier, Mercer counties on the north, and Floyd, Patrick,
Franklin on the south; also that portion of North Carolina west of
Salem, along the base of the Blue Ridge.
2. What is the average selling price per bushel at the works?
Ans. The price now is 20 cents per bushel.
3. If the charge for transportation on the Lynchburg and Tennessee
railroad was such as to enable this salt to come in competition with
other salt at the Richmond market, what would be the probable
amount transported along and through the Lynchburg and Tennessee
railroad ?
Arts. Were the charge for transportation upon the Lynchburg and
Tennessee railroad 50 cents per sack of 230 lbs., the whole country
now supplied from Richmond, including Lynchburg and Danville,
could be supplied from this place.
At the present price of 20 cents per bushel, or 92 cents per sack,
exclusive of cost of sack, salt could be sent from here to the Richmond market at less than the average quotations, putting them at
$ 1 75 to $ 1 87.
A portion of Tennessee now gets salt from the Goose creek works
in Kentucky. The northern portions of Georgia and Alabama obtain
a part of the supplies from the seaboard. If we could send our salt
by railroad westward, all this country also would be supplied from
here, for we could give them a better article and at less cost. In
short, the area of country to be supplied with salt from this valley
would be increased at least threefold if Richmond were connected by
railroad even with Chattanooga.
From these facts some estimate may be made of the quantity likely
to be transported along the projected route.
4. What is the probable superficial area and average depth of the
plaster deposit, and what portion can be excavated without expensive
drainage ?
Ans. The plaster deposit is known to extend in a direction nearly
18 miles. In width it varies from 20 yards to upwards of two miles.
At one point a shaft was sunk more than 500 feet through pure plaster,
without getting through it, and at several others excavations of 40
feet deep have been made. The depth of the deposit is not known.

8
Except where the river crosses the bed of plaster, there are few
places materially interfered with by water, and in excavating it, therefore, no expensive drainage is necessary.
5. At what price per ton can plaster be furnished at the quarries ?
Arts. It is difficult to say at what price it could be furnished. The
means now employed for quarrying it are of the rudest and most primitive kind, and yet it is quarried at some places at from 75 cents to
$ 1. If the demand at any one point would justify an outlay of, say
$ 3000 for proper machinery and fixtures, it could be furnished in the
lump for $ 1 , and ground at from $ 2 50 to $ 3 per ton. The present
price is $ 3 for lump, and $ 5 for ground plaster in barrels, with a
charge for the barrels.
6. If the charge for transportation through the Lynchburg and Tennessee railroad would admit of plaster being carried to Lynchburg,
what quantity would probably pass through, and what quantity would
probably be required at different points along the railroad?
Arts. If plaster could be put at an average cost of $ 5 a ton to the
farmers along the projected line, I suppose in five years there would be
a demand for 200,000 tons. The sales of the present year from this
valley will be about 2000 tons. The average cost to the consumer in
the limited district, now but partially supplied, is not less than $ 12
per ton. At Wytheville it is worth in the lump $ 10-—at Christiansburg $ 18—in Abingdon from $ 5 to $ 6. Notwithstanding this heavy
cost the demand has steadily and rapidly increased. I have no data
upon which to form any thing like an accurate estimate of the quantity required at the different points. They have never been supplied,
and to say that the consumption would be increased an hundred fold,
wrere the price lowered and the supply certain, is, I think, within
bounds. In putting the price of quarrying at 75 cents to $ 1 per t o ^
I mean only that process. The expense of piling and the subsequent
handling are quite equal to quarrying.
1 would be glad to enter into some speculations or calculations about
the tonnage likely to pass on the railroad from this valley—but from
the data given I presume Mr. Sanford will deduce them himself. One
example to the purpose may suffice. Suppose the country along the
railroad to consume 500,000 bushels salt, equal to 108,700 sacks, and
200,000 tons plaster—that the freight was 50 cents per sack, and $ 4
per ton for the plaster, then this valley alone would pay a freightage of,
On 108,700 sacks salt, at 50 cents,
On 200,000 tons plaster, at $ 4,

54,350 00
800,000 00
$854,350 00

I send you this as a sample; and if it can be of any use, you are
more than welcome to it. No apology is necessary from you for
" troubling" me with these matters. It gives me pleasure to furnish
for the good of the country any information I possess.
Very respectfully,
Your ob't serv't,
THOS. L. PRESTON.

A SUMMARY

OF

CENSUS

AND

OF

TOWN

RECENTLY

OF

TAKEN

THE

THE

AND

STATISTICS

THE

LYNCHBURG,

PREPARED

COMMON

BY O R D E R

COUNCIL,

D E C E M B E R 28, 1848.

OF

!

3,828

otal value
real andpe
sona

O bi

alue of rea
estal e.

fc
650

3,200

of per soestate.

&

otal popula
tion

©

o. of freen
groe 3.

1 *

.
o.of slave

o.of white inhabitants.

CENSUS.

.2 *

53
h
|
> fl
>
7,678 1 1,332,120 00 1,633,108 00

H

j

$3,392,778 00 J

Mechanic Trades and Arts, and Number of Hands engaged therein,
xn

Number.

•a

§
A
o

5ZJ

Bookbinder, Cabinet-makers,
2
Carriage-makers,
3" Chairmakers,
10 Wheelwrights,
Boot and
1 18 Hatters, shoemakers,
.
2
18 Tailors,
4 Saddlers,
29 Housejoiners,
10 Stonecutters, -

i

1

.

9
4
11
40
6
10 J8
8
4
20
2
. 120 j 1
11
54
2
20
150 1155
40 1

Churches,
Male schools,
Female do.
Printing offices,
Hotels,

60
20
10
54 j
15 |

Bricklayers, Plasterers,
Painters,
Blacksmiths, Coppersmiths and tinners,
Lock and gunsmiths, Tanners,
Tallow-chandlers,
Cordwainers,

4

5I
4
4

653 1

Lawyers,
Physicians,
10 ! Insurance agencies,
3
Exchange office,
Livery stables,
8

13 1

-

23
15
5
1
5

[A.]
STATISTICS.
Statement shewing the amount of Produce and Merchandise received and forwarded during the Current Year ending 1st December 1848; also, the Annual Sales of Merchandise, and the
Capital employed.

Commission merchants, Dry goods stores,
Grocery
do.
Hardware do.
Earthen and glass stores, Book store,
Shoe and hat stores,
Clothing
do.
Confectionary do.
Drug
do.
Jewelry
do.
Other capital empl'yd in the

Tons of
metal.

Packages
mdze.

Packages
produce.

R E C E I V E D AND F O R W A R D E D .

30 75,000 70,000 6,636
16
80
4
2
1
4
7
t
"
"
6
4
6
pure h'se of agricult'l prod'ts,

ANNUAL SALES.

600,500
1,000,000
70,000
12,500
12,500
40,000
32,000
20,000
30,000
23,000

00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00
00

$1,840,500 00

CAPITAL

EM-^

PLOYED.

33,000
200,000
333,000
25,000
5,000
5,000
12,000
10,000
6,000
11,000
7,000
260,000

00 1
00
00
00 j
00 f
00 J
00 1
00
00 I
00 1
00 I
00 j

907,000 00 j

12
[B.]
TOBACCO.
Statement

shewing the Quantity of Tobacco Received, and the
Value thereof.
Pounds w e i g h t . Value at Lynchbuig.

Hhds. inspected
annually.

At the five warehouses,
Loose or unprized,

-

449,904 00
55,520 00

12,854,400
2,220,805

10,712

! 15,075,205 $505,424 00

[C]
Statement

shewing the Quantity of Tobacco worked in
MANUFACTURED.

Lynchhurg.

STEMMED.
Operators.

Boxes.

Factories,
Stemmers,

-

36
8

Lbs. weight.

51,896

Capital.

1,145
50

$520,000 00

H h d s . Lbs. weight.

6,746,480
305

427,000

1,195

[D.]
PRODUCE, PROVISIONS, &o.
Statement shewing the Quantity of Wheat and Flour brought to
Market, and the Quantity of Flour Manufactured at Lynchburg.
PURCHASERS.

Bushels

Town millers,
Agents for other mills,

143,000
100,000

Value.

Wheat.

W h e r e manufactured.

Barrels
Flour.

Value.

26,000
128,700 00 Town mills,
90,000 00 Country mills, 18,929

130,000 00
85,180 50

44,929 $215,180 50 J

243,000 $218,700 00

[E.]
Statement shewing the Quantity of Bacon, Butter and Lard received,
and the Number of Homed Cattle, Sheep and Hogs slaughtered.
BUTTER.

1 Pack'gs. Lbs. w e i g ' t Packages.

854

85,400

BACON.

HORNED CATTLE.

SHEEP.

HOGS.

Lbs. weight.

Lbs. weight.

No. slaughtered.

No.

No.t

84,800

1,100,000

850

],150

7,000

LARD.

848

13

[F.]
FORAGE.
Statement shewing the Quantity of Forage weighed at the
Public Scales.
FODDER.

OATS.

HAY.

TOTAL.

Tons weight. Tons weight. Tons weight. Tons weight.
215

600

500

1,315

[G.]
MANUFACTORIES.
Statement shewing the Annual Operations of the Cotton and Woollen Factory.
No. of No. of Lbs. of yarn Yds. of cotton Yds. of woollen Lbs. wool
No. of
made.
cloth made.
cloth made. rolls made.
operatives. spindles. looms.
! '70

1,900

18

281,700

187,800

31,300

15,000

Capital invested.
$ 80,000 00

[H.]
Statement shewing the Number of Brass and Iron Foundries,
the Number of Hands Employed and the Capital Invested.
No. of No. of hands Tons metal
foundries. employed.
consumed.
4

914

57

Capital invested.
$20,000 00

[1.3
Statement shewing the Commerce and Tonnage of James River
and Kanawha Canal, and of the Upper James River to and
fmm Lynchburg, for one year.
BOATS NAVIGATING THE CANAL.

Passengers.

Packet boats,
2
Freight boats,
92
Batteaux navigating the Upper James river and tributaries,
- 100

6,200

194

6,200

Tonnage
up.

Tonnage
down.

Hands
employed.

20,000

21,340

30
552

15,000

300

-

882

20,000

Capital
invested.
30,000 00
70,000 00

$100,000 00

14

[K.J
Statement shewing the amount of Bank Capital in the Town.
Aggregate capital Agg'te capital of
of state banks.
savings banks.
Two branches state banks, Three savings banks,
-

Total bank ca- \\
pital.

$600,000 00
-.

$280,000 00 : $880,000 00