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An Old, Old StoryBy PAUL DIMING Intern WriterA Union-soldier, known only as . Watson, started, the remarkable chainfofevents, An isolated farm on Mfr*€reekin Pulaski County supplied 'the setting. A fortune was spent and lost, all for a handful of redr coliored rocks in a knapsack.The story is told by firelight every summer to hundred of young boy scouts attending Camp Ottari and Camp Powhatan. The story4eller is an older man who speaks with a slow, but distinct Southwest Virginia accent The man who dons a uniform. and a wide-trimmed campaign hat each Sunday night to tell the story once more, is B. G. Richardson, a retired ranger of the 16,600 acre Blue Ridge Scout Reservation. *After a hearty “Hello ail you Scouts and Scouters,” “Big Gary” Richardson begins his tale. The story starts with a Union soldier from Philadelphia he calls Watson at the Battle of Cloyd's Mountain in Dublin, Virginia. According to Richardson, three young Officers served together with Watson at the battle. All threesoldiers who were from Ohio; Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes, lieutenant William McKinley and Corporal James Garfield became U. S. President after the war.Although the South was forced to retreat, the North did not win a major victory. The northern troops suffered high casualties and remained at Dublin to regroup. After an., inventory was taken, they found that many deserters had fled with horses and amunition into the country side. The northern generals did .not need the men as much as they wanted the expensive horses and' amunition. A scouting party, which included Watson, was sent after the deserters who fled through Pulaski County.Before the outbreak of the war, Watson worked for the John Wood and Sons, Iron Manufacturing Company and was familiar with the various metal ores. On his way throughN.the Max Creek area of Pulaski County, Watson picked up a few pieces of roejc and examined them for traces of iron ore. He threw several specimens, which, appeared .to contain iron ore, into lt;his knapsack for testing after the^war.The toeks Watson carried with him from Pulaski County in Virginia were assayed by chemists in Philadelphia and were found to contain iron. The soldier of war and fortune told !iis employees '*‘There’s mountains full of this stuff down there.” Watson added that the other raw materials lor melting iron ore into pig iron; limestone to use as a flux, wood for making charcoal, and water were present in the area also. The company was -‘ntrigued with the possibility d? a large mining operation in Virginia and-dreamed of miiUng.otoer metals including tin, silver and Ven gold. “■A group of men were sent down to test for other metals as well as iron, These men recommended *that John Wood and Sons investigate purchasing the farms in the area and developing the mineral rights there.Consequently, the company bought up 100 farms of various sizes and converted the parcels into one tract. According to Federal Judge Ted Dalton, the funds sent down from Philadeljiiiia to buy the farms was one of the largest amounts of reconstruction money flowing into the soutt) from the north after the war.The construction of a smelting furnace was begun, on the banks of Max Creek in 1667, two years after the Civil War ended. Across the creek, a large white frame bouse,called the King House, was built to bouse the superintendent, A row of smaller white frame houses were consturcted further down the stream to house foremen and nther white collar workers. South from the furnace, log cabins were built to house the Mack workers who provided most of the heavy labor. ^By I860, pig iron was tjieifig manufactured on the land,hauled by donkey carts and for the Wood brothers’ dream of barges on the New River to mining in Southwest Virginia. Radford where , the iron was The Philadelphia firm held shipped by rail to Philadelphia. _ ontoIhe land until Waiter tyood, According to Dalton, ‘'The .the last Wood brother, died in experience in the manufacture 1937. In his will, the land was of pig iron begun in 1869 with a . given to the state of Virginia for small furnsfce on the Camp educational purposes, The Powhatan property did not pan state, in turnjgave the land toout as a successful business benture.” The smelting operation Continued until 1905 when the furnace cracked. TheRadford College. -The college kept the original tract intact until JJS§Pu when the Roanoke Area Council of the Boys Scoutscost to repair and modernize the of America bought 600 acres tofurnace, .combined with builda a new Camp Powhatan,discoveries of larger deposits of The site of the old Campricher iron ore, spelled tlie end Powhatan is still visible nearNatural Bridge.In 1959, Radford College under the presidency Charles Martin, needed money to buy a pipe organ for their new^ auditorium, Preston Hall. The State told the college that no money., could be appropriated for the organ. butjaidHhat it may be possible for the college to sell its land in Pulaski County since it was not being used. The college could then put themoney toward the purchase of an organ.(Continued On Page 19, Col 1)Welcomed ManyA sign greets visitors at the gate to Camp Powhatan, one of two camps on the 16,600 acre Blue Ridge Scout Reservation. 50,000 ScoutsThe Sunday Times Journalhave enjoyed the excellent camping facilities since the building of the camp in 1950.^.4
Newspaper Details
Pulaski Times Journal
Pulaski, Virginia, US
Sun, May 23, 1976
Page 28
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
NA, 12 Feb 2020
Other Publications Near Pulaski, Virginia
The Pulaski News
Pulaski Times Journal
Pulaski News Review
Pulaski Staunton News Leader
Pulaski Southwest Times
