N&W in 1909--Big Stony

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Wed Apr 15 21:20:16 EDT 2009


Allen and Gordon:

I have topographic maps; I'll use your suggestions as clues and see if I
can zero in. My "stomping grounds" were more downtown/College Avenue; I
went to Logan St. Elem. and then 7th grade at (old) Graham High before we moved
north. Oh, for the foresight to have asked for a camera for
Christmas....hindsight is 20:20.

Dave Phelps


In a message dated 4/15/2009 8:45:03 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

Gordon,
Having lived in Bluefield,VA back in the late 1950's and early 1960's, I
recall the area around Thistle Foundry (and Keys Lumber Mill on the opposite
side of the tracks) being referred to as Furnace (shown as a distance of
4.12 miles from Bluefield, WV in the employee timetable no. 21, dated Oct.
27, 1963). That would be about right for the Thistle location. I used to
walk by that area every day when I attended Dudley Elem. way back when.

Allen Evans
Federal Way, WA


____________________________________
To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Subject: Re: N&W in 1909--Big Stony
Date: Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:52:18 -0400
From: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org

I don't know the location of the Graham furnace, but I am attaching two
items from Google Books on it. Because the furnace incorporated a foundry, I
thought it might have been on the location of the present-day Thistle
foundry, but I found a item that the Thistle Foundry and Machine Company was
founded in 1899 with that name whereas the furnace was founded in 1890 and
named Graham Iron Furnace. So, the furnace appears to have been separate
from the Thistle foundry. Incidentally, the same item reveals that the
Thistle foundry was founded by J. P. Cameron, who hailed from Aberdeen, Scotland.
Considering that the national flower of Scotland is the thistle, the
unusual name of the foundry is understandable.

Gordon Hamilton

----- Original Message -----
From: _NW Mailing List_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)
To: _nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org)
Sent: Wednesday, April 15, 2009 10:54 AM
Subject: Re: N&W in 1909--Big Stony


I lived in Bluefield, VA (as Graham became known, of course....) growing
up but never heard of an iron furnace. Where was it located?

Thanks,

Dave Phelps


In a message dated 4/14/2009 9:13:33 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
_nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org_ (mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org) writes:

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
July 22, 1909

THE GRAHAM DAILY NEWS
------
Iron Furnace May Resume
The article in yesterday's Telegraph to the effect that the Big Stony
Railroad was nearing completion, was read with considerable interest by the
people of Graham, for it is believed that the penetrating of the Potts
Creek ore beds means the putting into blast of the Graham iron furnace just as
soon as the ore from that region is available. The furnace property is
owned by the Virginia Iron, Coal and Coke Company, and it is known that the
owners have refused to consider offers to lease or sell the property during
the past year, which is taken to mean that they expect to operate it
themselves as soon as the Potts Creek ore can be gotten. In years past, while
the furnace was in blast, the ore came from the Toledo Lakes and it is said
the freight rates were so high from that point to Graham that it was found
impossible to run the furnace at a profit, hence its operation was
abandoned. The Graham furnace when in full blast employs close to 200 men and its
operation means a good deal to the town in an industrial way.

[The previous posting on "Big Stony" should have mentioned that additional
information on the interesting Potts Valley branch line can be found in
John Joseph's article in the July/August 2002 issue of The Arrow.]
-----

Crowd Will Go to Roanoke
Quite a crowd from Graham will take advantage of the low rate offered
by the Norfolk and Western and go to Roanoke today to see the baseball game
and other good things to be seen there.
------
Gordon Hamilton


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