Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 4.djvu/268

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

his native state, with a reasnal)le recom- pense for the time spent. But the trip was a developing agency and brought out the latent qualities, which years of tranquil life Ml the Pennsylvania village could not. He returned in 1861 to find his state ablaze A ith the excitement of war. the states hav- ing elected to arbitrate their differences \>y the sword drawn in mortal combat. He t once enlisted in the Eleventh Pennsyl- . ania Regiment, and until March, 1865, was I brave soldier of the Union, following the ■ f the Potomac through the many battles ■ought with the Confederate Army of X'orthcrn Virginia. He rose step by step irom the ranks to captain, by regular pro- motion for "gallant and meritorious con- iuct." and was mustered out in 1865 major i y brevet.
 * 1ag, and sharing the fortunes of the Army

Captain Roper's youth had been spent in I great pine and hemlock district of Penn- sylvania, and he had become familiar with the values of standing timber. During the war he had been nearly the whole time in Virginia, and had become familiar with the great timber tracts of this state, particularly in the southeastern part and the adjoining part of North Carolina. \\'ith his western experience added he could fairly judge of the great value of this forest region, and also that Norfolk was the strategic point at which to center a great manufacturing and export lumber business. In 1865 he moved his residence to Norfolk and began lumber- ing operations in Princess Anne county, at a ])oint twenty-four miles distant from where the Albemarle and Chesapeake canal entered the North Landing river. He erected a saw mill at that point, equipped with the best circular saw system, having an annual ])roducing capacity of 6.000,000 feet, lie s])ecialize(l in North Carolina pine. a grade of lumber that had not at that time the high reputation it deserved, nor which it has since attained. The lumber he carefully I)repared in dry kilns for the market, l)eing a pioneer in the use of dry kilns also. He personally supervised every detail of the purchase of raw material, its conversion into lumber, and its marketing until the business grew to such ^proportions that this was impossible. Little l^y little he ex- panded, larger and larger tracts of timber land were purchased ; additional mills for manufacturing lumber were erected ; rail-

roads necessary to connect forests and mills were built; mills for the manufacture of related interests were erected along the rail- roads, canals and rivers, all owned and con- trolled by the great Roper Company. This continued, with Captain Roper the active head, until the summer of 1905, when he retired from active business, turning over to the succeeding company above a quarter of a million acres of timber land, owned in fee simple ; many lines of railroad, one of thirty miles in length ; five large plants, one just outside the city limits of Norfolk, one at Roper, North Carolina, another at Win- thrope. North Carolina, each equal in size to the Norfolk plant ; another plant turning out nothing but Juniper lumber, another making the "Roper Cedar Shingles." and many smaller mills, variously located, the total annual ca])acity being 50.000,000 feet of manufactured lumber. Nor does this statement properly demonstrate the value of Ca])tain Roper's far-sighted operations. During all these years vast sums had been expended in wages, new industries with which he was unconnected stimulated, and prosperity brought to a large section of countr}-. and to thousands of families. He early adopted a liberal policy in dealing with communities, and with men. and to this he steadily adhered, hence when Roper Company prospered, all prospered, his suc- cess not being built upon the fallen fortunes of others, but upon the prosperity of all.

At the time of Captain Roper's retirement from the active management of the Roper Lumber Company, he was interested in many other companies, connections that he retained. He was vice-president of the Vir- ginia Savings Bank and Trust Company ; the Lumberman's Maine Insurance Com- pany, the Seaboard Fire Insurance Com- pany, and others. In politics a Republican, he was for several years a member of the city council and was a member of the cham- ber of commerce. He is exceedingly promi- nent in the Masonic order, having attained the highest degree possible in Scottish Rite Masonry, the tliirty-third. He is past grand commander of the Virginia Grand Com- mandery of Knights Templar and led in the movement that gave to Norfolk a fine Masonic Temple. He also led in financing the Woman's College of Norfolk, and or- ganized the United Charities, of which he was for years president, furthering the