Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-12-24
Way few Of the people Of Western virginia,

VINO are porn ana raised among Its hills and
valleys, and who go out from its borders annu-
ally Westward and Southwark in quest of the
smiles of fortune, have any idea of the greatness
of the country they leave behind them-of the
immense and princely fortunes which are yet
and that right speedily to be tBken up from
little way under the eaFtb's surface.
Western Virginia to most of her people, we
may say, for oil practical purposes ut least is
terra ineOgnita. Yet in the very nature OF
things in this age of steam and lightning, when
speculation and enterprise are on the restless
look out for opportunities, it is impossible that
the resources Of such country as that lying
between the Ohio river and the Allegheny
Mountains can longer remain 4s it were seques-
tered. We all know that for some time past
no field Of enterprise has been exciting more
attention among many Eastern capitalists-and
already an advance column from the great tide
Of emigration that is so soon to take up its
march for Western Virginia, has settled itself
some distance below us.
a writer in the Cincinnati Gazette, who has
been contributing letters from the South to that
paper, has now under consideration the resour-
ces and prospects of Western Virginia. After
speaking of the immense increase in the con-
sumption Of coal which has been going on for
some years, he remarks that
Doubles the consumption of coali to increase
very rapidly through the growth Of manufnc-
lures, and inasmuch as the river must be de-
pended upon in the main, for the cheap Transport
tation of coal, it mpst be matter of great
Importance, that aitnes so much nearer the city
than those Of Pittsburgh, should be freely
wrought and especially when from this point on
the ohio, coal can often be shipped to Cincinnati
when none can be obtained from above. These
facts indicate very clearly that if the writer
whom have quoted, is correct in regard to the
quantity or quality Of coal, and its proximity
to navigable water, then Western Virginia offers
very attractive field for capital and skill in
this one department of industry aud commerce.
Nor should the recent introduction and success
of the coal oil he overlooked in these calcula-
tons Present indications would lead to the
conclusion that this is to supercede in a great
measure, all other light giving fluids, both from
its safety, its cheapness the brilliancy and soft
ness of its light; and if SO, then it will greatly
increase the consumption of those Kinds of coal
from which it is manufactured.
The iron ore found in connection with the
coal, and the unusual facilities which this coun-
try offers for the manufacture and sale of various
kinds of irons. should also be considered among
the inducements which it offers to settlers
Throughout wild region in the vallies of the
Knnawha, Coal Guyandottte and Twelve Pole
rivers, the lands are rich, not only in coal, bnt
also in that kind of iron ore which is usually
associated with it>-analagious in character to
that of the best ore of the British coal fields
The lands which afford the iron and coal can
now be purchased, II is said, at from five dollars
TO twenty-five dollars per acre, while inferior
coal lands in Ohio have been sold, asis stated,
for three hundred dollars per acre-this value
arising from their accessible position.
Western Virginia now offers very cheap min
eral lands, yielding coal and iron, abundance
of wood for the making OF charcoal, and cheap
transportation both for the raw material and the
manufactured article. Indeed, no reason offers
why the country should not be thickly stud.
ded with blast furnaces aud mills for the
manufacture of hll-dsSariptiUIIS OF iron, and
that these great natural advantages and re-
sources have remained so long uncared for,
or unknown, show how completely slave
labor system has excluded all proper activity
and enterprise from the regions which 1t has
crossed. FREQ labor, steam and machinery will
speedily change the whole aspect of this
land, and fill it with the busy life of
varied industry, such rs its riches warrant.
It is stated, on apparently good authority,
that many of the iron furnaces OF Ohio and
Kentucky have transporter first their charcoal
and iron ore several mies, TO their furnaces, and
then the pig iron rom ten to twenty miles to
tbo 0hio o1 dig Sandy Rivers and vet have
made f.a profits upon the business, when thus
rr-Incted. II is doubtless true that in other
portions OF the country, for instance in Massa.
chnsetts, charcoal has been transported from
five to ten miles to the furnace, the iron ore five
miles, and then the manufactured iron sent bv
teams twenty-five miles to navigable water; and
yet the business has made its owners wealthy.
These facts go to demonstrate that if good iron
ore, cool and wood, are found in Virginia, con.
tiguous to each other, and all on, or very near
navigable streams, then investments in the man.
ufacture of iron in that region, offer promise of
rich returns. find the following statements
made by the same writer whom have quoted
already, and which are interesting. 'sThe iron
manufacturers of Cincinnati occupy sites of the
city property adjacent to the River, and worth
from one hundred to two hundred dollars per
foot, frontage Tho concerns paying heavy CITY
taxation. buying their Goals from Pittsburgh.
Ohio and Virginia coal boats at seven to len
cents per bushel, and their pig iron from the
furnaces of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee MT
about thirty dollars per ton Current rates) thew
nevertheless continue in the business and some
of them have realized handsome fortunes in a
few years
How much cheaper could manufactured iron
be made here, whore the land costs nothing for
erections, the timber only the price Of cutting
and preparing it. fuel aud pig iron on the spot,
and no city payments The saving ia fuel alone
ha HlNs