Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1857-06-04

verses Harrison county, one Of the richest and,
in every way, most valuable portions of Vir-
ginia Clarksburg, its county seat may we'll
look as prosperous, happy and smiling as it
does, for nature and improved agriculture have
together accomplished wonders for this region,
of which it forms the heart.
The shortest radius upon the road is one
thousand feet, while the heaviest grade is 81
feet to the mile. These facts account for the
number Of tunnels on the work, and show that
its constructors adopted the sound result of our
country's experience Nth railroads. that is
spared no expense in it's frst construction that
might reduce the cost of hereafter running the
road, the wear and tear of supeFstructure, and
of machinery, and of the power ordinarily neces-
sary to accomplish the amount Of business tore
done on it (the road.)
Ten miles east Of Parkersburg we struck the
bank Of the Kanawha river, which already bears
on its bosom annually for mans advantage, an
immense amount of coal, lumber, salt. &C., to
the broad Ohio.
We are now rushing down to Parkersburg, at
its mouth. Its valley, so far as I have yet seen
it, is highly cultivated and thickly settled
Renowned in story as the scene of most of the
desperate Indian wars of the early settlement
of Western Virginia, its every picturesque point
has connected with it still lingering legends of
the trials and troubles Of the ancestors of the
worthy danes, themselves now venerable, who
so love to narrate them. Of later years the
mineral wealth Of this Kanawha country has
been attracting more and more of popular at
tention, until public opinion has unanimously
come to regard it rs being more replete with the
elements Of future substantial wealth than al
most any other to be named W.D WI.
mo. o. JUNE 2-IIa.m.
At 10 a. m and 20 minutes, true to schedule
time, we reached Parkersburg, and as our train
rolled through its streets the music of our band
notifying the population of our advent, caused
them to rush 50 like mad down to the hand
some depot and station Offices on the banks OF
the Ohio. The improvements of the company
here are substantially and tastefully constructed
far better than the average on new railways
in this country.
Of course large number of the throng at
tending the arrival of the train at Parkersburg
were of the fair sex, whose public spirit Ito say
nothing Of their curiosity brought them by
hundreds down upon US. We had little oppor-
tunity to see the venerable town, now again an
. enterprising snd growing one. 1 remember i,
, we'll as it looked seventeen years since though
its Kanawha river business has subsequently
/, given it much increased Importance, and ma
terialiy amended the features II presents to the
, enquiring stranger passing hurriedly through it
We are all now on the steamer John Buck
, slowly-comparatvely speaking-wonding oul
way up to Marietta, nine miles distant, where
, we take our first Ohio railway reached on thi:
excursion. Many of those long are, fer the frs
time, on u western steamer. and crowded az the
John Buck is, putting as no Atlantic coast (low
pressure) boat puffs and blows with every rev
olution of its machinery, more or less of these
ladies and gentlemen wear visibly in their
countenanees an impression that all may not be
exactly right. Visions of western boat racing
of collapsing boilers, Mississippi spags, &c.
are evidently rising up in terrific proportion:
, in their minds, for the craft is shaking like ar
old man with the palsy, and as sheer he
, turns and wheels about, now and then Keeling a.
, though top-heavy, in more ways than by carry
, ing upon her upper deck her vast live freight o
the occasion. She is now dashed along side O
{ another, and much larger steamer, containin,
D more than half our company and also steamin;
: up to Marietta. On both boats really magni6
cent tables are laid, so far as their decoration
I are concerned. 1t will take time to tell wheth
er the dinner is to crafty more than the eye
n w. D. VII