Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

Shelved in remote storage. Users must request at least 24 hours in advance of desired use.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Virginia Blue Ridge Railway Records, 1904-1979 (1914-1961), Accession #11582. Special Collections, University of Virginia Library.

Acquisition Information

These papers were transferred to the University of Virginia Library by Cornell University Library on January 21, 2000.

Processing Information

Some of these papers were partially processed while at Cornell University. Any order imposed by Cornell has been retained; otherwise, the original order of the files has been maintained, if it could be discerned. Thus, some of the files are in regular chronological order and others are in reverse chronological order. The series are based upon the types and size of the material in the collections and have been imposed by the University of Virginia.

Scope and Content

The Virginia Blue Ridge Railway covered about nineteen miles from Tye River to Massie's Mill, Nelson County, Virginia, the site of its principal office. The railroad was incorporated on May 22, 1914, and was originally built to haul chestnut timber for two timber companies, the Leftwich Timber Company and the Tye River Timber Company, who needed a common carrier railroad to connect the two lumber mills by rail with the Southern Railway near the village of Tye River. The track laying for the ten miles of the main line was completed in 1915, with the six mile spur into Massie's Mill becoming ready for use in October 1916. The carrier served the small towns of Massie's Mill, Lowesville, Woodson, Piney River, and Rose Mill.

The original corporate officers of the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway when it was organized in 1914 were John W. Dwight (1859-1928), former U.S. Representative from New York, President; John W. Powell (?-1957) of Canisteo, New York, Vice-President and General Manager; Fordyce A. Cobb (?-1930), Secretary and Howard Cobb (?- [1948?]), Treasurer, both of Ithaca, New York; and Frank O. Lathrop, Superintendent.

The Tye River Timber Company owned the timber rights to the Cub Creek area timber, which it agreed to sell to the Bee Tree Lumber Company. This latter company was created to run the Massie's Mill timber operation and a bandsaw mill. The Tye River Timber Company was a holding company for the timber, with Howard Cobb as President and John W. Dwight as Secretary, and headquarters at Lynchburg. The Bee Tree Lumber Company was a West Virginia Corporation with offices at Blue Jay, West Virginia, with A.M. Kistler as President and H.N. Crowell as Secretary. The Bee Tree Lumber Company mill ceased operations in 1922, after the Cub Creek timber had been harvested.

The Leftwich Timber Company begun by R. Gilmore Leftwich (1875-1963), a Lynchburg businessman, was the second holding company created to secure timber rights and arrange with another company to build a mill to produce the lumber. The Leftwich Timber Company, with R.G. Leftwich as President and Howard Cobb as Secretary in 1913, owned timber rights to about 12,000 acres. By 1915 a modern bandsaw mill was under construction at Woodson, Virginia. During the early years, the actual management of the mill and wood operations was handled by A.J. White and Son Company.

When all railroads were nationalized during World War I, the two lumber mills were considered non-essential producers and the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway was shut down until after the Armistice was signed. The Woodson Mill resumed operations as the Woodson Lumber Company, but by 1924 the mill was closed permanently. The Leftwich Timber Company survived until 1944, when it consolidated with Tye River Timber Company into a company known as Tywich Corporation. The Tywich Corporation existed until June 2, 1959.

Because of the chestnut blight and the intervention of World War I, the railroad never reached its full business potential by hauling milled timber to the main line of the Southern Railway. The Virginia Blue Ridge Railway was much more successful hauling freight for Southern Mineral Products Corporation, a subsidiary of Vanadium Corporation of America. This company established a mine, mill, and chemical plant in 1930 at Piney River to manufacture titanium dioxide pigment, a substitute for white lead in making paint.

The Dominion Mineral Division of the Riverton Lime and Stone Company in 1939 and the International Mineral and Chemical Company in 1941, both built plants to mine and mill the Nelson County aplite deposits. Aplite is a primary ingredient in the manufacture of glass and rock-wool insulation. The Piney River area in Nelson County is the only important source of aplite rock known to exist in the United States. Other minerals and commodities carried by the railway during its career include feldspar, ilmenite ore, calcium phosphate, ferrous sulphate, fertilizer, coal, sulphur, kaolin clays, cooperage stock, acid, apples, and pulp wood. For more information about the history of the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway and the timber companies, see Sentimental Journey by Carl M. Lathrop (1979) filed in Cubic 21 and copy in Rare Books.

Organization

These papers are arranged in six series: I) Correspondence of the Virginia Blue Ridge Railway (Cubics 1-5); II) Correspondence with the Officers of the Company and their Chief Business Associates (Cubics 6-12); III) Topical and Subject Files (Cubics 13-26); IV) Financial and Administrative Records (Cubics 26-41); V) Unfoldered Bills of Lading; Delivery Receipts; and Telegrams (Cubics 42-48); and VI) Bound Volumes and Oversize Materials (Cubics 49-52 and various oversize locations).