Monongalia mirror. [volume] (Morgantown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1855, 1853-08-27
From he Pittsburgh Dispatch.

THE GREENE County People, and
others on the head-watcrs of the Mo-
nongahela, are strongly urging the
speedy completion Of the slackwater
Of the Monongahela to the Virginia
State Line. lnproporiion TO tho out
lay involved, no improvement can be
made. in view of the amount of local
trade and travel it will command,
seeking Pi,,sburg connection, that,
in their opinion, will pay as well as
this. The cost of building five miles
of railroad will carry slackwater to
the state line. But there ale other
considerations to be taken into view
The region of country beyond
Brownsville, for ten years past, has
suffered very considerable lsss%s, ig Rs bay;
over the improvement orfrom Pitts
burg. The cost of taking a barrel Of
-four to market, for instance, at pres.
ent, is from five to eight cents per Dbl,
more than it was previous to the cree
ton of the dams, and so of everything
else.
But the slightly increased cost in
transportation will be more than coun-
,erbalanced by the advantage of hav-
ing constant access 10 market, which
will be the case in the event of the
completion of the improvement.
The view of the case to which we
call attention is this: /.
The river cannot be navigated with
boats carrying freight, above Browns.
vile, except in time offreshets. Ar
rived at Brownsville, the mostdifficul
part of the navigation to Pitlsburg
has been overcome, and from thence,
an old boatman informs US, the de-
scent, at common stage of water,
before the dams were built, was four
or FIVE miles per hour, to Pittsburg.
Now the Company, with their dams,
have made the current, THAT whilom
took the boat on without labor to their
destination dead water, and no pro-
gress can be made without the severe
labor of rowing-and for thus having
to row aud paddle, they are required
to pay tolls on their cargoes Can a
case be conceived ofranker, of more
palpable injus,icel 1t is like some
mischievous fellow, building q fence
across public road who would watch
The travelling public, and ask a dime
to let down the rails toilet them pass
on! To be serious, the upper Mo
nongahela suffered severe detriment
from the obstacles placed in the way
Of The navigation Of the river, by the
,miscalIed, $50 far as they are concern
ed,) Monongahela lmproesmeat.-
The company has acedimpediments
in The way Of a free communication
with their most eligible market. 1t
has hedged themi in, by placing an on
erous tariff upon their productions,
and thus increased the cost of trans
porta,ion on their flour, iron, coal,
&C., &c, TO Pittsburg, and other
points below. /
With country equal in every re-
spect to lae lower portion Of the Mo.
nongahela, SO far as its resources 10
coal, iron orc, and agricultural prod.
ucts are concerned-with glass, sand,
abundance Of The best clay for the
manufacture of stone-ware. any a.
mount of the best water powcr-they
have all the elements necessary to
unite capital, and.encourageimprove-
men,, ba,Iclieap facilities in reaching
a market.
: A spirit is now abroad there, that
will no longer brook delay. The
people areat last awake. The fnesse
Of those, acute as they may imagine.
them Jlyes,) who have the control of
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS perfectly under.
stood. The,I,reaEhery Of pretended
fieuds, heretofore, and Of some at