The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-09-22
Hlrhhmona 9ispatth.
The Mineral Treasures of Western vir-
alnSa.


a CORES pondent of the Washington St1f
writes from the Kanawha region fiattering
account Of the resources of that rich section
az Virginia. He says there are now four
steamboats, plying regularly up the Kanawha
River. as high rs the Kanawha Sahnes, some
seventy miles-twc Cincinnati boats, ard two
from Galiipolis a point on the Ohio shore, a
taw miles below Point Pleasant. The ka-
nnwbs il described as river OF wonderful
beauty. willow -fringed, and bordeTed deeply
by rich vege Iation Of the most brilliant
green, at a season whea the vegetation else
where is parched and brown. The growth OF
trees IN the background is magnificent. The
soil on the river is excellent. No bottom
land on the kanawha can b. bought Tor less
than forty or fifty dollars an acre. away
rron the river, In more hilly sections, adr1ira-
bly, adapted for stock raising, land can oe
bought for a mere song. hat the insecurity o.
land titles in Western Virginia hae rrevente"
its settlement The naNig alton 81 the river Is
now being improved by foEr Gredg'ng RIA
chimes aud the contractors engage to com
,,ta,s IN. improvement as high up rs Loup
- reek tveuty-seYen miles above CAariestowr
by October, 1861.
TIE writer gives graphs description OF the
,n.xhaustthie wealth of the coal fields OF the
rivers, though, he observes, nothing short of
personal inspection can give an adequate idea
of ,heir proiusion. Veins OF camel coal three
20 four fee: in thickness splnt coal three TO six
feet. AID hitumiuous coal from four to ten, are
-.ld 10 be IA "cenmoR rs goose pasture" At
peYtona, Boone county, on Coal river, two
companies are said to be successfully engaged
in mining and shipping camel coal to C!nci1-
other
-,oints Tney have sent down S50,UUO bushels
~ excellent camel coal during the last nine
months and propose soon 20 erect factories
and make oil on the spot. In kanawha there
are eight OF nine oil factories, which turn out
from 6uO to :, GUO gallons each of crude oil Per
dav The correspondent thinks that coal
mining ought to lie even more successfully
prosecuted here than in the PIttshaTg district,
because the coal fields are TWO hundred and
.!.lv miles nearer Cincinnati CHE great mart
If The Western coal trade> than the Pittsburg
fields The navigation of The ONO below tile
Gkauagha - open daring The winter for weeks
frequently, whlIe the upper Ohio is frozen
over and there seems 20 be no doubt OF the
superiority of these coal fields over those OF
Piusburg The business on Coal river, which
has Suffered from injuries 10 the works BY
sudden freshets VIII again revive, iasse sums
having been expended upon the repairs and the
improve ment OF The navigation. IL Is stated
that within eight years upwards OF million
OF dollars have been invested by American
aud European capitalists in han.wha, and
E k and Coal river properties.
The correspondent adds that, with The COM
eo,et,ou Of The Coyinston and Ohio Railroad.
sd OF the James River ana hanawha Canal
he people - that region are locking fer Il
brilliant future il the development CT the
splendid mineral and agricultural resources
of Western Virginia. Such facts as these
should give an impetus TO those great works
which cannot be pushed forward too soon to
their contamination.