Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1851-06-10

which is more than 1000 miles Z! If his ma
tural eye could range over this grand space,
what would be see A barren belt, like
that through Asia. on the same line or al
pine SHOWS or separate peniusulas or on
great Sahara? No, he would view the
most fertile land under the Sun; drained by
one mighty river, and its tributaries rua-
ning from the head springs of the Mononga
bella, at his feet, to the gorges of the Rocky
Mountains, the head waters Of the Platte and
the Yellow Stone; from the Lake Of the
Woods, to the Balize. He would view this
net work OF navigable rivers, sending down
thousands of miles the products Of all eli
mates TO the sea near the tropic, from the
great inland seas, the Lakes, so valuable to
trade and intercourse; filled with pur
drinking water--ftted for the steam engine,
that propels our useful inland ship the steam
boat; to the Mexican Gulf There lies his
prospect of continent. drained by one riv
err; the whole valley, bound together by its
tributaries, running up and interlocking with
the head-waters of the James, and the POI
tomac, and sweeping up towards lake Erie,
as if to invite the enterprise Of our people, to
unite them, by the artificial improvements of
Canal and Railroad The land increasing in
fertility until the intensity of its richness, in
the low grounds of the Mississippi and Mis-
souri,, must be witnessed to be believed, and
not only fitted for agriculture, but filled with
minerals, and the means and facilities of
working them, to which, | shall more par
ticularly allude when come to look at its
geological peculiaritics.
Beyond that valley, we come to mountains,
the Western wall of the great central basin,
or valley; higher and more inaccessible than
the Alcghanies, but still in places so cut
through as TO make the land travel perfectly
practicable, even in its present wild and un-
settled condition. Then come we to more
parallel ridges, and vast enclosed basin,
holding salt lake and medicinal springs
and pushing Westward, over the Sierra Ne
vada (the snowy boundary Of California, we
reach the modern FL Dorado--the land at
present of golden speculation and enterprise;
destined to be, if we remain one people, mere
ly the great Pacific sea slope of our Empire;
with our Piedmont and Tide
Water country here--the land Of commerce,
and cities, and the arts-drawing its com
mercIal importance from the old lands of the
East-China, Japan, India and the Eastern
Archipelago of the Islands Of spices, and silks,
and teas, and tropical productions. These
two sea- coast slopes arc to be but the COM
mcrcial and navigating wings of this great
country. The great heart, the great proda-
cling centre of the Empire, is in the valley o.
the Mississippi. So much for rapid geo.
graphical outline Of the country, as compar-
ed with others on the globe. Can any one
shcw me one. like unto it? No, not even
South America. with her range OF Andes
close along her Western coast, her burnt up
tropical Pampas, and Presidential river basins
under the line, bears any resemblance to it.
Geographically, considering the scale, there
is nothing to compare to it on the globe.
Let us see now, whether there De anything
in the geological formation of our country
which bears like features Of peculiar and pros
pective advantages to run along with our
facilities and prospects, derived from our geo.
graphical position.
This branch of my subject of itself might
be the theme of many discourses can but
glance at it, however, rich as it is.
There is but one metal not found in Amer
lea that know of mean metals known In
commerce and valuable to mainland that IS
Tin. Gold, silver, copper, zinc, lead, and the
semi metals and all those compounds, or
chemical combinations of them, useful in the
arts are found most abundantly in our Land
Above all--yes above all of them Iron the
metal of civilization, the material OF the work
ing man, the metal alike of the trembling nee
die of the mariners compass and the axe OF
the PIONEER the tool of the artizan and the
weapon Of the soldier--which, as the hair
sprinr of the watch, is worth more than its
weight 10 gold--a worth given 1t by labor
intelligent labor, which in very deed gives
true value to every thing Yes, Iron is found,
and in Missouri so rich that the smith can
take the ore from the mountain, and with his
common forge make an axe or mattocK,
without the aid Of the smelling process. And
this valuable metal is found every where;
Int in abundance in the coal formations,
where the sandstone is at hand, Uhc very
Aoor of the coal measures) to line the need
full furnaces. and the limestone, for lux,
ranging with the coal strata; and the rich
coal in deep layers, cropping out on the bill
sides--covered with forests for charcoal. and
intersec.ed with streams for water power.
In Europe. we hear little of coal except in
the British Islands. IN france, as III DONE
mia and other countries Of Europe, coal is
said to be found and yet in Paris wood Is
sold by the pound, for the common purpose
of warming their dwellings. The traveller
over the Continent finds no coal fires in com
mon use, except in England. The reason of
this is, that the coal measures lie under the
cretaceous Or chalk formations, aud are, (com-
pared with the depth Of the strata here deep
and often thin, and not worth working Even
in England, the land Of coal, whose prosperi-
ty has, we may say, been derived IN great
measure from her 'black diamonds, " thou
sands Of pounds sterling are sometimes expen-
ded in sinking shafts through the superirn-
posed strata, before the coal seams are reach
ed; and then again, frequently great addi-
tional labor and expense is incurred IN con-
sequence Of what are called faults in the
seam. These are dislocations Of the strata;
where the miner suddenly comes upon the
bare face Of a rock, which corresponds with
a rock, above or below, several hundred feet
requiring the miner to sink new shafts, on
abandon his mine altogether. These occur
"A the