Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1856-04-23
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Oar lltlle aftIele,Z q q week Or We aso, ap-

denis, O1 t1e ONO tfOn StUti0 " tOS6S4
We hope the gentlemen viii calm themselves.
Alive desired to do was to correct tho history
and geography" of that interesting portion of.
the Buckeye State. If the Tribune man will
come to our city, and inspect our coat and hat,
he.will be confirmed in the opinion that We are
"seeiy." But we have travelled" and have
been in Portsmouth and thereabouts, and We
failed to discover that it located in the 'iron
district" much less the ,'centre" Of the mineral
wealth SO .bountifully planted in the hills of
Lawrence, jackson, &c. We do not consider
twenty miles ''yicipity, much less the distance
Of so, SO and SO. How extremely ridiculous
would it be for the Pittsburgh papers to speak
Of the heavy manufacturing establishments of
Wheeling, as being in the ricfHity OF. that city,
and they could do so with as much fairness as
the Portsmouth papers claim thesirOn furnaces
to be in their vicinity, for the distance from here
to Pittsburgh is only about 60 miles. = The one
fact that Ironton is located near the centre Of the
great iron region of Ohio, and that Portsmouth
isuot located within that district at ALL is sufi-
eisnt to establish the correctness of our former
article and to justify us in rejecting upon the
Patent Office for publishing to the world, back
ed by the high influence of that office, state
ments not sufficiently established as facts, and
which were probably written and designed to
stimulate the inactivity of one city, and to check
the rapid strides of another, that threatened, in
few years at most, to overshadow in trade and
population, those ancient cities bordering our
river, great in historical "reminiscences, but ener
waited by fogyismworsc than nightmare.
The following, from the Ironton spirit of the
Times " gives, it appears to us, fair statement
of both sides:
Friend MCFARLAND, of the Portsmouth, 7ri-
6uHe, is little tcsty with the Editor of the
Wheeling Iatelligencer 1t seems that Hon. o.
+. Noon; made statement of the "Iro: Product
in Ohio" to the Commissioner of Patents, an ab-
stract Of which appears in the National Lntettt-
leHetf. This report locates all the Iron Furna-
ces on the Western Continent in the vicinity Of
Portsmouth, and the Wheeling InteLLigeneer cor
reefs the error, thus
"Ironton, Lawrence county, Ohio, is the chief
town in the iron district ofOhio. Laid out but
Q few years ago, it is now one of the principal
ports between this place and Cincinnati; and
with continuance of her prosperity for ten
years to come will Outstrip both Portsmouth
and MaySyille in trade and population"
Mac, for the want of argument pertinent to
the discussion, suggests to the Editor ofthe Ia
telligeneer that he is ''scety, and needs posting
alfttIe, "-"hatl better travel little &c. Next
day, however, correspondent, &c. makes his
appearance with one Of the 'tseediest article on
statistics we have seen for a long time
Editors Tribune:-I observe in your issue of
the I'd inst, an extract from the Wheeling In
teItgeReer, making exceptions TO the words Iron
Furnaces in the vicinity of Portsmouth" in a
statement handed by the Hon. o. F. Moore to the
Patent Office, abstracts ofwhich were published
in the National Intettigeacer at Washington
No person of any candor can for a moment sup
pose there was anything individous in using the
words 'vicinity Of Portsmouth, who will ex-
anime the list. There is
furnace landing SO miles from Portsmouth
I" 81 Sd-SS
all on Railroad leading directly to Portsmouth,
and AMI no Letsre eiss except the four first nam
ed, which can, if they choose, take their iron to
Chi1licOthe without rc-shipping. All the others
1s1itRin 90 miles Portsm'th by River and R. R.
IN q 40
Now, if these Furnaces are not within the
Vicinity of Portsmouth" do not know what
that word means.
WOuldals call your attention to the fact that
10 Of these furnaces deposit their iron exclusive
Portsmouth and part at other points. While to
tho town of lronton, which the editor of the
Wheeling Intellig6Rc6r claims sis the chief town
in,the iron district of Ohio" six furnaces land
there exclusively; three partially there and at
Portsmouth, and all the furnaces landing on the
river are below that town, except seven, ut a
distance of 6 to 10 miles on the Kentucky side,
,and24 of the furnace landings are on the Scioto
. & Hooking Valley and Marietta and Cincinnati
Railroads, and cannot possibly land their iron ut
Ironton. @.
10 this ar1ago of assertion, it is only neces,
.aary to indicate, briefly, whatthc facts are.
Al. Portsmouth is not in the Iron Region
titles from 10 to 10 miles west Of it
g Before the construction of the Scioto &
Hooking Valley r. X, there was not q furnace
landing at Portsmouth.
g. It is not tho natural landing for single
Furnace; iron being forced there now mainly be-
cause the Scioto & Hooking Valley Il. R.-cOn-
trolled by Portsmouth capitalists-will notpcr-
init switch to be made at Sciotoville, on the
Ohio, seven miles above Portsmouth.
T. Portsmouth now claims to be the landing
Of % Furnaces, but when the Scioto & Hooking
Valley Railroad and the Marietta & Cincinnati
Railroad shall have been completed, the landings
Of most the Furnaces situated in the Interior,
will not be at Portsmouth, but at points along
said Roads, thus enabling them to ship iron III
any direction.
g. All the Furnaces on the Ohio River are
nearer hontOn than Portsmouth, except Frank
lin,
Now, let us look at Ironton.
i. Ironton Is IN ths Iron Region, near the cen
ire Portsmouth is merely in the vicinity" oil
the Iron Region.
2. 1ronton has greater number ofIron man.
ufaetures than Portsmouth; has more capital
invested in the Iron business and is now, and
must be- the centre fthe Iron trade on the Ohio.
wHI(S ALI. OVER.
Hon. j. Q. Jones of Tennessee, concluded
his speech at The Clay Celebration at the Slash
Cottage, in Hanover county, Va, in the fol
lowing noble strain. His words will find a re-
spouse in the hearts of thousands of the. Old
Liners in ali parts of the Unions