The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1866-12-15
Communicated
Plea for the Location of the Capital
mt Clarksburg.

9 a Plea fOr the hOCdtOu VI thS S"PAso
mt Clarksburg.
, To The Honorable Senator's and Detegat,
!. ofthe Hest Virginia legislature:
IMPRESSED with the conviction tina
r Won will, during the session of tn
Legislature of 1867, permanently locat
the Seat Of Government of the State G
! West Virginia, the writer of this is az
sirous of calling your attention TO tn
, centrality, accessibility, and other nd
vantages of Clarksburg.
1t would be doing the members
YOUR honorable body injustice to sup
pose that they would not locate 1T at
point the most convenient to the peoph
of the whole State, provided that pom
can be ascertained. The irregularity o
the boundaries of our State renders i
difficult to ascertain the precise geo
graphical centre of it, but the centre o
formulation is not difficult to ascertain
and it is fair TO presume that you vii
be guided in the selection of location
more by the centre ofpOpulation than b,
thgactual geographical centre.
To ascertain the exact centre Of TIT
population of our State may not bt
practicable, and if it were determined
it might not prove so convenient ant
economical to locate the Capital at tina,
point as at some other. The presump
ton is that the location Will be made
with reference to the practical conVen
fence of the State rather than to minute
centrality-of course approaching as
near the centre of the population OF the
State "a Incidental conveniences Will
admit of. 1t is presumed, then, that
the prime object of the Legislature in
selecting Il location for the Capital, Will
be to ascertain what place can be reach
cd the most conveniently by the people
! of the State, not losing sight OF the
facilities afforded for erecting publlC
buildings aud other incidental advan'
| tagcs.
! In order to ascertain the most conve'
uient point, it will be necessary to take
into account the population of the vari-
Gus sections of our State. In lS6O the
population of the counties now com
prised in the State of West Virginia, III
! the aggregate, was 33o,ooS. The coun
ties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall
Wetzcl. Monongalia, Marion, Tyler and
Peasants, (nine counties) which lie en-
tjrely north of the Baltimore and Ohio
railroad aud the Northwestern railroad
contained S6,9il inhabitants, nearly
one fourth of the population the whole
State. The counties which lie immedl'
atcly on the railroad between Harper'
Ferry and Parkersburg, are Jefferson
Berkeley, Morgan, Hampshire, Mineral
Preston, TAYLOR, Barbour, Harrison
Doddridge, Richie and Wood, (twelv'
counties) containing ll3,4S3 inhabi
tants, which, added to the population
of the nine first named counties, make
.. an aggregate of Don, i23, footing up NOR
than half the population of the State
by about fourteen thousand. We find tina
the counties of Grant, Hardy, Tucke
and Writ, lie n short distance south O
, the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and ar
convenient to it, and the Capital locat
ed ut Clarksburg would be more accessi
| BILE to the people of these counties tina
@ BuckhannOn or any point south of tn
:, railroad. which has heretofore been
;, contestant for the Capital.
If the Capital were located at Charles
ton, these two hundred thousand pee
3 pie, and their representatives would n
I be forced to travel by the Baltimol
!. and Ohio Railroad to Wheeling or PA
l. kersburC, and there take steamer
). the mouth of the Great Kanawha, an
}. thence ascend to Charleston. But Ii
r location of the Capital at Charlesto
n would impose additional Inconvenience
n upon the people of the counties OF Ral
/ do.ph, Pendleton, Lewis and Upshu
c They would have 4 horseback Journe
a to the railroad, and then would hay
{ the routine of railroad and steambo:
travel just mentioned
!. Were the Capital located at Westo
| or Buckhannon, the two hundred tho'
c sand people residing on the RAILROAD
/ and North of it, would, in order to reac
y the Seat of Government, be forced to &
to Clarksburg and there take a stag
coach; and the people of Roane, Jacl
son, Mason, Kanawha, Cabell, Wayn
l. &c, Nould have the routine Of steam
: boat and railway travel to reach Clark
: burg, and then wind up their journe
on the stage-coach, and that over road
y that are at certain seasons almost In
!, pasSable, $50. ,
Such being the Inconvenience tn:
would be inflicted upon large major
/ ty of the people of the State were til
G Capital located at Charleston, Weston
q or Buckhannon, would 1t not be We
enough to locate 1t ut some point o
: the Baltimore and Ohio railroad!
b The presumption is that when I'll
e members of the Legislature take in'
consideration the facts here mentione,
l. that they will at once see the propris'
IS of selecting u location for the Seat
Government on the BALTIMORE and On
railroad. This leads to the consider
ton of an eligible point on that tho
II ouShfare.
d II does appear, taking everything I'M
II consideration, that Clarksburg possess
lie more convcnienccs than any other plac
1t can be reached from Wheeling
lie rail, in six hours, from Parkersburg
r. four hours, and Harper's Ferry, the e
lie IRENE Eastern part of the State, in Il
s. hours. 1t is easily accessible from Il
II counties on the Ohio and kanawl
.e rivers by steamboat and railway, al
IF were it the Seat, of Government, but fe
of the people of the State would be n
cessitated to travel on horseback. or
a stage coach to reach it. Commune
A with AL parts of the world is easy al
Q expeditions from Clarksburg. kDai
Il mails arrive every day fi'm the Ea
r and West, and also from the bord
n counties. 1t has telegraphic eommuu
It cation in every direction. Clarksbul
% now contains as good hotels and boar
le ing houses as any town of its size in Il
e State, aud were it made the Seat OF TO
= eminent, these would BE- amplihed so
to tarnish all the necessary aacemmod
" lions. 1t is remarkable for its healt
- iness, epidemics scarcely eyer yisitl
o it. During the late cholera season,