In a message dated 3/18/99 1:38:16 PM !!!First Boot!!!, swvaroot@swva.net writes: << But when did it start?? Would it generate the money for land purchases?? I don't see iron or lead be 'floated' anywhere. That would have to been limited to locate consumption. Even horses would not take lead far over the roads of the day. >Mr. Hearl said: Tobacco and salt produced in southwest Va. was floated by flatboat down the >rivers to New Orleans to be sold. There was also lead and iron from Wythe County. The old Shot Tower still stands that was near the lead mines. >> The Austinville lead mines in SWVA produced 1/3 of the lead used by the Confederacy during the Civil War.