ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 12, 1996 TAG: 9603120089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BIG ISLAND
SOURCE: RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
Sanderson's old cannery was one of four vacant buildings that investigators think were set ablaze between 5 and 9 a.m. Sunday in the heavily wooded, mountainous areas of northern Bedford County.
About 8 p.m. Sunday, they believe, the same arsonist or arsonists struck a fifth time, igniting a two-story hay barn on Virginia 761 in Boonsboro.
No incendiary liquids like gasoline appear to have been used in the fires, said Lt. John McCane of the county Sheriff's Office. Investigators have recovered some evidence and are running down leads, McCane said, but so far, they don't have any suspects.
Meanwhile, Sanderson is left with the black piles of ashes, charred timbers and twisted sheets of tin roofing that used to be his family cannery.
"My daddy bought it back in 1954 or 1955," he said. It was built in the '20s, and by the time his father bought it, the cannery was in its final years, Sanderson said. Over the past 30 years or so, Sanderson has used the building to store hay and farm equipment, though much of the original canning equipment was still inside.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Bedford County was the one of the leading producers of tomatoes in the world. At its peak, the county had more than 75 canneries. Well-known companies such as Piedmont Label and Bunker Hill Foods were founded as cannery businesses.
Today, only the county-subsidized New London Cannery remains as a reminder of that past. The rest, like Sanderson's, closed up because of drought or competition from larger canning factories.
Sanderson said he's grateful the recent cold weather kept the snow on the ground. That stopped the fire from spreading up the mountainside and starting a forest fire.
"There's a whole lot of stuff there that isn't worth a hill of beans, but it's worth something to me," Sanderson said. "The worst part is to think about that you got somebody going around doing things like this. You don't know what they'll do next."
Anyone with information about the arsons should call the Sheriff's Office at 586-7827 or the crime line at 586-9100.
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