The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-04-07
VIRGINIA AND WEST VIRGINIA
IRON ORES.

A SHORT time since some of our iron
manufacturers in company with gentle
men from Pittsburgh. Stcubenvile
Ironton, and other points, made u pros
pecting tour to the iron region of Viz
ginia, along the line OF the Chesapeake
and Ohio railroad Col. Y. G.. CABELL,
Of Richmond, Va, who joined the party
at 1ronton, writes very interesting his
tory of the excursion, which is published
in the Dispatch, from which we make
some extracts.
After leaving Covington, he SAYS, tax
ing our cars, we arrived at Clifton Forge,
where We have tho railroad and Its at
attendant cOnveniences; and we rightly
considered ourselves blessed in being able
TO avail ourselves of saddle horses and a
wagon to proceed on our journey. These
were improvised by Mai, Cook. one OF the
owners of the Cally furnace, the next
place to be visited For all the fatIgues
of cold ride over II mountain pathway
covered with snow We were fully repaid
when We arrived at his mines. They have
been opened snd worked in several
places, showing the continuous direction
and richness OF the vein. the pcrpen-
dicular exposure of the vein is now, say
fully sixty feet in depth on the side OF
the mountain. and the iron ore is mined
and thrown down shaft to a tramwsv
below, which passes through short tun.
mel, and then in the side of
the mountain To- the forge
The exhibition of ore superior
in quantity and quality is simply wonder
full. ! will not waste words in describ-
ing it. Like the Falls of Niagara. i,
must be seen to be appreciated. You
are prepared to hear that the furnace is
not now in blast, owing 10 the depression
of the iron interest. Ii requires rail.
road TO connect it with the Chesapeake
and Ohio railroad to bring TO il the
cheap fuel Of the hsnswhs. Once made
il was agreed that iron could be manu-
featured for Slo50 per ton. Major
Cook says that the cost of mining ir.n
ore is twenty-five cents per ton.
including movement to his furnace.
To this is TO be added the items of coal
two tens-from kanawha labor, contin-
gencies, and red tape-msking together
$1,000 per ton the cost of manufacturing
one ton OF iron. What a vision Of power
and wealth does this present. 1t renders
possible the manufacture AZ a cost so
small as no. only to chill every furnace
in Eastern Pennsylvania, bu: to compete
with the furnaces of Great Britain. The
price of iron now in Great Britain is Sl5
TO SIC per ton. The difference in price
will make Us their competitors in the
markets of the world. and render .ariff
on pig iron unnecessary.
OF course the manufacture of pig-iron
into the finer fabrics must be conducted
in our cities in the East and West. For
this large number of skilled workmen
must be employed, and there find their
homes in cities that give the advantage
of schools, churches, smusements, and
the excitement of so-called higher and
mo refined civilization; and as coal
and iron are the basm upon which rests
the material prosperity of Great Britain,
so will Virginia and West Virgins, oc-
cupying the coal and iron belt OF tbs
continent, become her compeer in mater
ial greatness.
The scientific portion Of our party re-
manned in Lynchburg to continue their
Investigations of ore for thirty miles be-
low Lynchburg-of the famed ore-beds
on the very bank Of the canal. The ore
here is the speculsr and msynite-grest
in quantity and rich in quality. This is
the ore our Pittsburgh, Wheeling and
Sleubenville friends desire to mix with