New-York tribune., 1871-10-21

chief river OF West Virginia, wherein Prof.
A6sted Reports nearly twenty worksble' sesms
of Coal, with an aggregate thickness OF over
seventy feet. It's entire length is 800 miles, ex-
tending from Northern Pennsylvania TO Ana
bama, with a width ranging from 30 to loO
miles. Its horizontal position, proximity 70
the surface, and freedom from noxious cases.
render It the easiest mined Coal In America
From this field the Coal is now dug which sup
plies New-York and Philadelphia with gas
It has been computed that most OF this area
will yield 5000 tuns of Coal to the acre, OF
%, 800, 900 tuns to the square mile; much Oh IL
80 disposed as to render pumping or llttlng uh-
necessary. Immense quantities OF it are no"
boated down the Kanawha and Ohio, hndlng
markets all the way down to NeW-orleahS
Splint, Camel, and every other variety Oh
Rituminous Coal, are found in different parts
Of this vast field. The Splint Is widely re-
parded as the best Coal known for smelling
Iron from the ore, which exists in great
abundance all through both Virginias. 1t is
nrobable that the valley of the Kanawha,
when traversed by the Chesapeake and ONO
Railroad and stts branches, will be found one
of our best localities for making good Pig
Iron cheap; while the Camel Coal yields
sixty gallons of superior Petroleum to the
tun, and has been, as it probably will again
be, the surest and most profitable source of
that valuable oil. The seams of Camel Coal
often show an aggregate thickness of fourteen
feet, giving 1000 tuns to the acre, containing
100000 gallons of crude oil. And fit timber
for oil-casks is nowhere else 80 abundant as
In West Virginia.
Iron Ore is found in most of the
counties of the two Virginias, and has been
mined to profit in at least twonty of them.
The Magnetic Ore which is found along the
eastern base of the Blue Ridge from Albe-
marie County down into North Carolina, is
very rich and abundant: the James River Canal
and most of the Virginia Railroads Caid with
British rails) traverse or cross it, as the Cbes-
apeake and Ohio either does or soon will.
The Norfolk and Great Western Railroad
soon to be pushed through the southern tier
of counties-cuts through vast deposits Of rich
fossiliferous ore, mainly in Patrick County.
The Charcoal Pig made from this ore is
hardly surpassed Massive beds of Brown
Hcmatite exist in Carroll County-not yet
available, but soon to be made 80 by the rail-
road last named. No richer ore is anywhere
IL.
soil of nearly every county in western (old)
Virginia, from Botetourt to Grayson and Taze-
well, rs Brown Hematitos do those of
the entire Shenandoah Valley, and either
have been or soon will be made
available by the completion of the Rail-
roads required to combine them cheaply with
Coal When the Chesapeake and Ohio and
Norfolk and Great Western shall have been
finished, the requisite branches and cOnnec-
tiOns will almost build themselves. When
these roads shall have commenced freightng
Ore to the coal-felds and Coal back to the
ore-beds, Virginia may proftably supply half
the scaboard and third of the Ohio Valley
with cheap and excellent Iron. The fact that
the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad had to be
cut, for a considerable distance, through
vein of Coal eleven feet thick, will serve to
convey some idea of the mineral wealth OF
the two Virginias. A new railroad from the
Chesapeake and Ohio at the junction Of the
Greenbrier with New River, forming the Great
Kanawha, will run up the valley of New
River crossing the Virginia and Tennessee
and the Norfolk and Great Western Roads,
carrying the Coal of the Kanawha Valley to
the great ore-beds Of South Western (old)
Virginia, and incite unwonted and benetcent
activity in IronImaking therefrom.
In most Counties of either Virginia, excel
lent Coal or Ore (Often both in close proxim-
ity) can now be bought at prices ranging
rom s. to $50 per acre. Many of these acres
have a rich deep, virgin soil, with splendid
growth of forest-trees covering two-thirds to
three -fourths of them-lands which in Penn
sylvania would be deemed dirt-cheap at $1,000
per acre. Who can doubt that Free Labor
with Railroads will soon give like value to
the Mineral lands of old and of West Eir-
ginia9