Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1858-10-09
From the Hichmond Enquirer.l
TME coal, AND IRON ORsVIRGINIA.

of the eighteenth century, and the most useful
and powerful auxiliaries to man IN subdulng
Nature to his use andlpleasure, or in combining,
utilizing, and developing her hidden wealth and
her manifold provisions for our wants, are en-
phaticalIy the minerals of Virginia. No State
in the Union, no country of like-extent in the
World, is so profusely blest with q superabun-
dance of those great agents OF industrious man.
We t0ant fuel in all our toGlts;;s man cannot DO
without it The forests are disappearing and
has'long since failed to supply. even our most
urgent necessities, the necessities of every day
life. Coal, then, We must have, and wise
Providence has filled our mount ains with an IN
lexhaustible store, evidently for our use-placed
there in the most convenient and available posi-
ton. Then why are We suffering for the want
of coal? Whyldo we not make use of those5
generous gifts which Nature has so plainly
manifested? Why dove spend millions year
for coal and iron, when VIC have enough and to
spare-even more of the material than those%e
purchase from? Bringing coal and iron to Vlr-
Iginia is like carrying coal to Newcastle, or
Stalking salt to Kanawha' useless, foolish and
rulnouS occupation 81
Our people cannot doubt the existence of those
minerals, since they surround US, and are devel-
Ioped on every baud. Almost within sight of
the capital lie immense beds of rich bituminouS
coal, which have been worked longer than any
of US can recollect, and yet are not perceptibly
diminished in extent OF quantity. A coal, too,
which has no superior for nearly all the purpo-
4 ses to which coal is applied. In the manptac-
turing of cannon, and in FORCES generally, it has
no rival for the distillation of gas, it stands as
high us any bituminouS coal in the country
AS coke, it answers all the purposes OF the iron
manufactures, and as 'tpreSSeG coal, no better
can be found for steamships the world over. A
variety of Goals, from the slightly to the lightly
bltumInous, exists in the Richmond coal field
In Cumberland and Prince Edward counties,
coal is also found in workable quantities. Iron
NiGray Al. I
/ on the line of the james River and KGnawha
Canal as we'll as limestone and and cement in
! Buckingham, and every convenience offers for
the manufacturing of iron in the city of Rich
mond ITSELF A variety of ores exist in the best
character for combination. The carbonateS and
! clay iron stones of the bituminonS coal fields,
contain from 20 to 40 per cent of irOn.- The
black oxyde and magnetic ores Of Eastern Vir-
GINA, generally, particularly about Willis Noun
talns, in Buckingham, and the red oxyde and
brown ores, or hcmatites of the valley, contain
from 40 to 80 per cent of iron; and all are ac-
"eSSible by the canal to the coal and water pow
i er at Richmond, and might be transported there
/ with case, and manufactured there with profit
The coal formations of the Valley of Virginia
are numerous and valuable The variety ranges
from anthracite to bituninous, and even to a
semi.canncl. In Botetourt and Allegheny coun.
ties large quantities Of coal exist directly in the
iron region, and close to the limestones but at
/ presentitis unavailable, because the avenues to
/ market are not opened-they are too far from
the head the canal, butdirectly in its propos-
cd route When the James River and Kanawha
Canal is finished to Covlngton, great change
will come over the iron and coal interests of Vir-
GINA. Had it been finished years ago. not only
to Covington, but to Kanawha as it should have
! been, we should not now be waiting to demon
strate those great facts they would have stood
out bold and prominent, like the mountains
| themselves, SO
But at present, Southwestern Virginia,
owing to the enterprising people of Lynchburg
| and the hardy and energetic mountaineers west
of the Aleghanies, stands first in facilities for
the manufacturing Ofiron and the mining of coal.
The great New River region-the terra iRcog-
nitG, until recently, of the State-wil turn out
to be its richest and most magnificent domain.
From the SUBMITS of the Alleghenies to Mount
AIRY, the Western mountains of the valley are
full of coal-not theoretically or spcculativey,
but actually, vSibly, and in fact. For over fifty
miles those long ranges have been made to show
their hidden wealth, and at many places coal of
the finest character has been excayated. In
Montgomery county, near Christansburg, regu-
lar mines have been opened, and anthracite coal
4 is now mined regularly, and, We hope, it may
be intellgenty. That there are faults in this
region, as in all other coal regions we must
admit, but that they are general, we positively
Il deny.
4 In the midst of coal, and onsthe never.failing
Iandpoweriul waters of New River, lie mountains
of the richest ore, from which the best of our
fine Virginia irons have been manufactured for
many years. We have seen the richest and
II greatest deposites of other States, but never
have we seen anything to equal the extensive
4 mountains of ore which we have traced for more
than fifty miles on the New River They are
truly exhauStless. They can never be exhaust
ed though we supply the.world With iron They
are more valuable than all the gold of California
OF all the copper from the Lakes to the Gulf
| We do not refer, in this article to the coal
1 and iron of other regions thoughpwe mightstill
volumes on the immense deposits of the North
west and the West. We only wish tos call at
tention to the fact, that we hare the minerals
Just where they ought to be, and where they are
most wanted We have only to inform our.
selves of these facts; 10 develop intelligentlys
what we have, and no longer waste millions
yearly of that little capital we still possess in
taking salt to Knnawha" Virginia might well
afford to keep in her employ a practical mining
engineer and geologist, to teach her people how
to avail themselves ofthe advantages Nature
has so generously bestowed sHq0e goua Pilot
on board"
PATENT TRuTHs.--It is estimated that there
are in the United States twenty-five thousand
persons who make their living partially by the
lsaleof patent medicines.
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