Before the Railroad
In the late 1800s, the New River Valley was a rugged, isolated region of Southwest Virginia. Lined by steep, forested mountains and framed by the winding, rocky New River, the land was beautiful but incredibly difficult to traverse. Transportation relied on dirt roads, horse-drawn wagons, and slow river boats.
Everything changed when the Norfolk & Western (N&W) Railway began pushing its lines into the mountains to access rich veins of coal, timber, and iron. However, the sleepy bend in the river that would eventually become Fries was still just wilderness—until one man recognized its untamed potential.
Colonel Francis Henry Fries Had a Vision
Colonel Francis Henry Fries, a prominent industrialist from North Carolina, saw what others missed. Where most saw treacherous rapids, he saw raw, unharnessed power. In 1900, he purchased land along the river with an ambitious plan: to construct a massive textile mill powered entirely by the river's current.
To bring his vision to life, he needed three monumental projects completed simultaneously:
- 1A hydroelectric dam to harness the river.
- 2A sprawling cotton mill to process materials.
- 3A railroad connection to transport the finished goods to the rest of the country.
By 1901, the town of Fries was officially chartered, and construction began in earnest. The landscape was forever altered as workers blasted rock, poured concrete, and laid heavy steel tracks.
Building the Railroad Into Fries
A massive textile mill in the mountains was useless without a way to ship goods. Colonel Fries negotiated with the Norfolk & Western Railway to build a 5.5-mile branch line from the main route at Fries Junction directly to the site of the new mill.
This branch line became the lifeblood of the town. For decades, the mournful whistle of the N&W steam engines echoed through the valley. Trains arrived daily, bringing raw bales of cotton and essential supplies to the isolated community, and departed laden with finished cloth destined for markets worldwide.
