The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-02-22
A Petition to the Legislature OF Wesl
virginia


The undersigned, citizens of the State
and residents of the city of New York,
who are owners of land on and ada.
cent to the Kanawha river, Respectfully
ask leave to lay before your honorab be
body a brief statement of facts. show.
ing the present unfitness of the Eanaw.
ha for commercial purposes, and 10 ask
that u law may be enacted 90 Improve
the navigation thereof, so that it may
transportation of coal and other arti.
Giles of traffic to the Ohio river.
And your petitioners, in this behalf
say, that so many and so great are the
lmPediments of the Kanawha as q
transit Tor commercial purposes, that
t3e amount of coal thereby transport
60 20 the Ohio river has never in any
or Whereabouts, whilst the nnmbeP al
bushels shipped from Pittsburgh,
alone, down the Ohio in the vaar ISf;O
was 8, So, $50, the greatest horton ~
which was brought TO Pittsburpb over
the Allegheny, Monongahela and
YoughiOgheny rivers.
This difference in the transportation
of coal does not arise from any inferi,
ority in the quality OF the KRnawha
coal, for, when brought into competi.
ton with the best Pittsburgh coal, eithel
in the markets OF Cincinnati or else
where, where its qualities have beer
tested, 1t is as readily sought after, and
is regarded as fully equal to it in poinl
of value.
Nor can this difference be supposed tc
arise from any lack in the quality OF
coal deposited in the Kanawha region,
for it is computed that this region GOV.
ers an area of about S, 600 square miles
or an area of available coal land great.
er in extent than the entire coal-fields
bounding the Allegheny, MonongaheIa
and Youghiogheny rivers.
This great difference then can not, II
is evident, be thus accounted for; and,
in the opinion OF your petitioners, il
can be accounted for on the assumption
alone that the present condition of the
kanaWha renders II wholly insufficient
or inadequate to compete successfully
with the Allegheny, Monongahela and
1oughiogheny rivers, III their present
Improved condition.
Whenever the time shall arrive that
suitable and adequate means are adopt
ed for the Improvement of the Kama
VIVA, your petitioners believe that the
number of tons of coal transported
over the Ohio from the region of the
kanawha alone will, in the course
of few years thereafter, not
only equal the number of tons of coal
transported over the Allegheny, Mon
ongahela and Soughiogheny rivers,
but of all other coal transported annu-
ally over the Ohio; and in support of
this opinion, assuming that the price
OF coal lands depends on their produc-
tive value, your petitioners will here
state that Immediately prior to the I'M
dertaking OF the present improvements
of the Allegheny, MonongahelR and
Houghiogheny rivers, the price of coal
lands IN that region did not exceed the
present price of coal lands in the valley
OF the kanawha ; that is to say, they
did not exceed in value the sum OF
twenty or thirty dollars per acre, but
since the completion of those improve
ments the coal lands, thereby made
available for a market, increased In
value SO that they are now estimated at
price varying from four hundred to
seven hundred dollars per acre and it
Is but reasonable to suppose that the re-
suits which followed the improvements
OF the Allegheny, Monongahela and
1oughlogheny rivers, will as surely
follow the improvement of the naviga-
ton of the KRnawha.
Nor were the beneficial results aris-
ing from the improvement of those
rivers confined 10 the proprietors of
coal lands in that region; the
most material interests of that
vania became thereby develop
ed and advanced, and that too
to an extent which the most sanguine
could at first have hardly conceived.
Your petitioners further say that they
are informed and believe that the cost
for suitable and adequate improvements
of the kanawha will not much exceed
if any, the-sum of $500, 600 but, how
ever that may be, such are the adyan-
tages anticipated to accrue from the
improvement of the navigation of that
river, that your petitioners feel war
ranted in stating that If the cost should
be double that sum, the amount so re-
CURED could readily be procured in the
city of New York alone
Your petitioners therefore pray that
such legislation may be had for the i'm
provement of the navigation of the Ka-
nawha river as will best develope and
make available the mineral wealth and
other products of that region and best
advance the material interests OF the
State.
And your petitioners will ever pray,
Ed. ii. MILLER, JOHN P. Grossly,
GoUy'R s. BIBBY, n. E. PIERRBPoNT,
W. X. TRAVERs, W. II. AsPIowALL,
\. ID. ELLISGwooD, JAs.C. MCANDREW,
ABR b. CLARK, HENRY A. GRAN,
ABR. BININGER, E. S. VAN wINKLE,
-.-. And others.
NeIc York, Feb. 1867.