The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1865-10-12
VEST TIRGNTf.
BY J. r. DODGE.


BY J. R. DODGE.
(CoNTINUED.)
The following extract from correspon
'tence of the department is furnished by
Ill. HaganS, of BrandOnville, in Preston
county:
"Preston county,. geographically, lies
land and Pennsylvania lines, and is sew
eral miles west of the main Allegheny
range, though east of, and bounded on
the west by, Laurel hill, the most west
ern member of the great Appalachian
chain. The county has an average width,
from east to west, of twenty miles, and
is traversed by Cheat river from its south
end north some twenty miles to the
mouth of Muddy creek, within fifteen
miles of the Pennsylvania line, where it
defects to the northwest, forcing It's way
through lofty hills, and Laurel hill it.
self, and debouehes into the Monongahe-
lajust within thelimits of Pennsylvania.
east of Laurel hill, takes a southerly
course, and joins Cheat river before that
stream passes through the mountain
Thus, Preston county is chiefly included
in a basin, bounded on the west by Lau-
rel hill, and by coterminous range on
the east, called Briery mountain, which
mountain, however, runs several miles
west of, and nearly laterally with, the
Maryland line, and the space between
the said line and mountain is occupied
chiefly by part of the region called the
'Yough Glades.'
although our county lies principally
in basin, it is for more than two-thirds
of its length, from north to south, geo.
llVy oil f1l l,n
tains on either side, which is shown by
the eastern declination of the great lime
stone vein which crops out ON the west,
at the crest of Laurel hill, and the west
ern declination of the same stratum crop
ping out at the crest of Briery mountain
on the east, other rocks and minerals
conforming substantially thereto. A
fine illustration and proof of this fact is
afforded where Cheat river cuts its way
through Laurel hill. In the centre of this
rugged passWay, this great calcareous
stratum is seen eight hundred feet above
the troubled river, and, travelling up the
struggling stream, it declines eastward
at the rate of about two and a half de-
grees, and at short distance below the
mouth of Muddy creek, where the river
has made it's course northwest, the lime
stone plunges under the river bed, and
is seen no more until it rises and makes
its eastern cut-crop, as above stated
Above this great limestone seam are
found nearly all our minerals-that is to
say, a six, a four, an eight feet, and some
minor seams of bituminous coal, all of
which, however, vary in thickness, as
well as in quality, in different localities.
In the southern section of the county,
and especially at Tunnelton and New
burg, on the Baltimore and Ohio rail-
road, and its vicinity, has our mineral
coal wealth been most developed, as well
as its superior quality, yielding, as is
proved by analysis, about 10000 cubic
seams worked at these localities are from
six to eleven feet in thickness, and the
same are found tOrange through all those
neighbOrhOOds.
Our whole country is underlaid by
these bltumlnOus seams, though in most
parts eight feet is the heaviest vein that
has yet been developed. Camel coal has
also been found, and manufactured to
some extent into oil.
Interspersed with our coal measures
are corresponding veins of iron ore, of
nearly all the varieties and forms of the
hematite class found in the Allegheny
less, through every farm in the county,
and are found in many localities in strata,
pure or intermingled, ranging from one
to four feet in thickness, and yielding
about thirty-three per cent. iron. But
little attention has been hitherto bestOW
ed upon this great and indispensable ele-
ment of our wealth. The see-saW policy
that has resulted from the prevalence OF
antagonastic parties has at one time en-
couraged, and at another discouraged,
enterprise in the manufacture of iron,
and finally ruined thousands who had
engaged in it. These are among the
reasons why our rich iron ores have not
been better developed and turned into
the great channels of commerce. l be-
lieve but four blast furnaces have ever
been built in the county. Two of them,
many years since, near the northern sec