The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1865-01-12
MONONGAHEI.A VALLEY OIL
BEGION.
A Trip up the Wealth
of the Valley The sIaekwafer Com
pauy-The Oil Wells iu Fayetie aud
Green Counties.

A correspondent of tire Philadelphia
Press recently paid a visit to the oil re-
gions of Greene aud Fayette counties,
which he thus describes in letter dated
Pittsburg
arrived in the Smoky City" in time
To take the M0n0ngahela boat for the
New Petrolea now rising Into notice III
Greene and Fayette counties, near the
VIRGINIA line | confess | was stranger
to the interest which thls valley Is calcn-
lated TO awaken in the visitor. From
the time of our departure from the Pitts
burg wharf, | was constantly reminded
of the wealth and Importance of this
comparatively unnotictd portion Of the
country. Manufacturing i'll its various
departments extends along the banks,
showing everywhere the most cheering
activity. Industry is the salient charac-
terstic of the population. The idlers ap-
pear to be few.
The river, without an island, runs
through its whole course among hills
skirted with rich bottoms. These pleas
antly alternate from side TO side with the
meanders of the stream Agriculturally
the whole valley will vie in richness with
any portion of Pennsylvania, but its min
eral wealth constitutes its prominent
distinction. In the vicinity Of Pitts
burgh the coal lies near the top of the
hills. and is run down TO the boats by an
automatic arrangement of ears and tram,
wavs, the full descending car drawing mp
TO the mouth of the mine the empty one.
Mining the coal here, az you are probably
aware, Is always by the adit and never by
the shaft. Boring has frequently dem
onstrated the existence of rich yalns
of coal beneath the water level,
and shafting will, probably, be eventual
ly resorted, to but the supply above
ground will probably prove inexhausti-
Die for centuries As we ascend the river
the chief coal vein. averaging more than
nine feet in thickness, dips rapidly to
wards the water, till mile below Browns
vile it is submerged when the stream IS
at flood 1t then rises again fifty feet
or more in the hills in the vicinity of that
town and in the main, though at one or
two points above Brownsville dipping
below the river, it 50 continues beyond
the State line The coal interest gives
employment TO vast number Of opera
tives, and to an annually increasing mum
ber of flat boats, barges, tugs and steam
ers. In l545 the number of tons taken
to market did not exceed one hundred
thousand; now, in 1864, il amounts to
two millions The market extends from
Pittsburg TO New Orleans. and the time
is not far distant when the coal trade of
this Valley will equal that ofthe Lehigh
OF the Schulkill Darby, the historian
aud geogIapher, native OF this region,
pronounced the valley of the MonOnga
hela the richest district of country III
the world This was the first settled
country west of the Alleghenies, and
originally the recipient Of sturdy and
intelligent population, il has over since
maintained character tor industry and
enterprise Boat building for the whole
valley of the Mississippi has been done
largely upon the banks Of this river, and
many a steamboat man starting hence 10
the rivers of the west and south has
there gathered wealth with which to re
turn and make himself comfortable
among his native hills The abundance
of fine white oak timber in this country
gives il special advantages for the con,
struction of vessels
Apart from the utilitarian view OF the
Monongahela valley, it presents much To
interest in its natural beauty and by his
torical associations The hills arc stud
ded with their primeval growth of forest,
or trimly cleared, and smiling under the
hand of the culivator. AT BraddOck's
Field, eight miles above Pittsburg, Is
still pointed out to the traveller the scene
of Washington's first exploit i'll arms A
shoIt distance above, and almost directly
below the dam of the Stack Water Com
papy. of which Hon J II. M0oThead Is
the President, and the completion OF
which is mainly owing 10 his energy and
enterprise, and which will stand mOnu
lnent to his fame, is the ford at whsch
rbe British troops Hnder Braddock made
their crossing, and advanced along the
bottom on the eastern side, TO fall into
the ambush of the French aud Indians
Brownsville, on the site of Redstone
Old Fort. is a town of about 5000 people
the place extending chiefly overa roman
tic bluff some 200 feet above the river
This was the point from which cmigra
ton for the West and south, for hall
century, first took water The old Ma
tional or Cumberland road crosses the
river here in its rOute tn Wheeling In
the manufacture of iron aud glass, in
boat bnilding, aud in local trade, the
town is one of the most thriving and i'm
portant in this section of the State.
Thirty miles above Brownsville, Or
about eighty from Pittsburg, ! arrived
at Geneva. close in the vicinity of the oil
operations Preferring 10 perform the
rest OF my journey as cavalier, OBJ
tanned a horse at Geneva, and rode over,
first to the wells on Dunkard Greek, and
next TO those on the Whitley They are
all within three OF four miles OF Geneva.
None of these wells have as yet success
sufficient 10 give them prominent place
on the stock list, but ID is To be borne In
mind that. although oil was found here
TO some extent al the outbreak OF the
war. that event had the effect to suspend
operations, and it is only very recently
that they have been renewed. For the
length Of time that they have been
worked, and for the capital thus far en-
barked in the business, the prospects