The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1866-12-15

GuTCs
Impressed with the conviction that
you will, during the session of the Leg
islature of 1867, permanently locate he
Seat of Government of the State of of
West Virginia, the writer of this is de-
strous Of calling your attention to the
centrality, accessibility, and other a6
vantages Of Clarksburg.
1t would be doing the members of
your honorable, body injustice to sup
pose that they would not locate it at a
point the most convenient to the people
of the whole State, provided that point
can be ascertained. The irregularitg y
OF the boundaries of our State render
1t difficult to ascertain the precise geo
graphical centre of it, but the centre of
population is not difficult to ascertain.
and 1t is fair to presume that YOU will
be guided in the selection of location
more by the centre of population than
by the actual geographical centre. MI
To ascertain the exact centre of the
population of our State NAV not be
practicable, and if it were determined
1t might not prove so convenient and
economical to locate the Capital at that
point as at some other. The presump B.
ton is, that the location will be made
with reference to the practical convent
ence of the State rather than to minute
centrality-of course approaching as
near the centre of the population OF the
| oLhIS dS 4uClueuIA1 COnVeuleuCeS VIII
admit of. 1t is presumed then, that the
prime object of the Legislature in Sc
lecting location for the Capital, will
be to ascertain what place can be
reached the most conveniently by the
people of the State, not losing sight OF
the facilities sfforded for erecting pub
lie buildirgs and other incidental id
Yantages. 'e+h7 .i&E
In order to ascertain the most conve-
nient point, it will be necessary to take
into account the population of the va
riOus sections of our State. In 1860 the
population of the counties now COM
prised in the State OF West Virginia, in
ties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall,
| Wetzel, Monongalia, Marion, Tyler
and Peasants, (nine counties) which
lie entirely North of the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad and the Northwestern
| Railroad, contained SO, ,941, inhabitants,
nearly one-fourth of the population OF
the whole State. The counties which
lie Immediately on the Railroad be-
tween Harper's Ferry and Parkers-
burg, are Jefferson, Berkeley, Morgan.
Hampshire, Mineral, Preston, Taylor,
Barbour, Harrison, Doddridge, Richie
and Wood, (twelve countles) contain
| ing l13, ,4S3 inha bitants, which added to
the population of the nine first named
| counties, make an aggregate of 200, ,423
footing up more than half the popula-
tion of the State, by about fourteen
thousand. We find that the counties OF
Grant, Hardy, Tucker and Writ, lie a
short distance South of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, and are convenient
| to it, and the Capital located at Clarks.
burg would be more accessible to the
people of these counties than Buck
hannon or any point South of the Rail
road, which has heretofore been a con.
testant for the Capital.
| If the Capital were located at Charles
ton, these two hundred thousand peo.
pie, and their representatives would all
be forced to travel by the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad to Wheeling or Park
burg, and there takesR steamer to the
the mouth of the Great Kanawha, and
thence ascend to Charleston. But the
location of the Capital at Charleston
would impose additional inconven.
iences upon the people of the counties
of Randolph, Pendleton, Lewis and Up.
shur. They would have a horseback
journey to the Railroad, and then
would have the routine of Railroad and
Steamboat travel just mentioned.
\ Were the Capital located at Weston OF
Buckhannon, the two hundred thou.
sand people residing on the railroad
and north of 1t, would, in order to reac ch
the seat of government, be forced to &c
| to Clarksburg, and there take stage
coach; and the people Of Roane, Jack
son, Mason, Kanawha, Cabell, Wayne,
&C., would have the routine of steam
boat and railway travel to reach Clarks-
| burg, and then wind up their journey
on the stage coach, and that over roads
that are at certain seasons almost i'm
passible.
Such being the inconvenience that
would be inflicted upon a large MAORI
| ty of the people of the State were the
| Capital located at Charleston, Weston,
1 ~ PVIa would hn
enough to locate it at some point on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad?
| The presumption is, that when the
members of the Legislature take into
consideration the facts here mentioned,
| they will at once see the propriety
of selecting location for the Seat OF
| Government on the Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad. This leads to the considera-
ton of an eligible point on that thor
| oughfare.
It does appear, taking everything
into consideration, that ClRrksburg pos
sesses more conveniences than any 9TH
er place. It can beireached from Wheel
ing, by rail, in six hours, from Parkers-
burg in four hours, and Harper's Ferry,
the extreme eastern part of the State,
| in ten hours. 1t is easily accessible
/ from the counties on the Ohio and
Kanawha rivers by steamboat and rail-
way, and were it the Seat of Govern
ment, but few Of the people of the State
| would be necessitated to travel on
horseback, or in stage coach to reach
IL. Communication with parts of the
world is easy and. expeditions from
Clarksburg. Daily mails arrive every
day from the East and West, and also
from the border counties. 1t has tele-
graphic communication in every direc-
ton. Clarksburg now contains as
good hotels and boarding houses as any
town of its size in the State, and were It
made the Seat of Government, these
would be ampliied so as to furnish all
| the necessary accommodations. 1t is
remarkable for its healthiness, cpl
denies scarcely ever visiting it. Du-
ring the late cholera season, it did not
make its appearance in Clarksburg.
The truth of what is here stated can be
/ attested by the Oldest inhabitants,
among whom also may be reckoned the
physicians, but they are few, probably
the number of them in proportion to
the population of the place is less than
any town in the United States. 81
There are other towns on the Balti-
more and Ohio Railroad that might
claim to be almost as conveniently sit
uated as ClRrksburg, but then they
want other advantages possessed by
| Clarksburg. No other place that occu-
pies anything like a central position
has the amount Of building material
within its reach, as has Clarksburg.
! There are very near the latter place, the
| finest quarries of building stone in the
! world, and then there Is a greater
abundance of coal in the immediate
point on the Baltimore and Ohio Rail
| road. ES
Another advantage which C1arksburg
possesses, is its rich surroundings. It