Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1877-07-14

NaiuS oaliy, oay duu HiSut, SuoIu eNeiy
facility Of communication. Neither
storm, ice, nor disaster can isolate it
from the great avenues Of Continental
trade and transportation. 1t is literally
and truly, upon the line of all national
and international traffic and trade.
RAILROAD CONNECTIONS.
Martinsburg is Grstolaa station
and the terminus of the FIRST division OF
the Baltimore aad Ohio Railroad. 1t
is, also, the terminus Of the Martins
burg and Potomac Railroad which CON
meets, at Hagerstowu, intimately and
directly with the whole OF the great
Pennsylvania Railroad system. 1t is
only twenty-five miles by stage con
nection, from Winchester, Va, and
there meets the Valley lines to Staunton,
and ultimately to the South West.
ACCESSIBILITY.
Looking at the map Of West Virgil
MIA, one readily perceives that the coun-
ties of Ohio, Marshal, Wslzel, Marion,
Taylor, Preston, Mineral, Hampshire,
Hardy, Grant, Pendleton, Morgan,
Berkeley and Jefferson, seek their way
to the marts of trade by the B. &c. o.
Railroad But looking again at the
map, It is preceived, with equal readl-
ness, that the counties Of Cabeil, Put
nam, Kanawha, Fayette, Summers,
Monroe, and Greenbrier, must seek
their Eastward communications by the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, which,
with its connection at Staunton with the
Vally Road, at once opens up all the
resources of the Is. & Q. Railroad to
the traveller. The location of Martins
burg, thus, makes it more accessible
taking everything into consideration
to two-thirds of the State, whether re-
garded geographically or with regard
to population, than any other establish
ed and developed town. 1t may be
stated, too, as fact of some significance,
that. the Capital Of Pennsylvania, (Har-
risbutg.) the Capital of Maryland, (An-
napolis,) the Capital at Washington are
all within few hours reach by railroad,
and are connected, of course, by tele-
graph.
Were Martinsburg the Capital OF
West Virginia, 1t would need only the
time tables of railroad companies and
the actual experience of the people,
having business with the seat of govern
ment, to show that it was more accessl'
BILE to the greatest number, then any
town or city in the State. In connec-
ton with this assertion, few figures
NAV be invoked as witnesses. Mar
tinsburg to Baltimore via the Is. Il O.
Railroad, 90 miles; to Washington, via
Is. q @. and Metropolitan, so miles; to
Baltimore, via Marlinsburg, 102 miles;
to Harrisburg, Pa, 100 miles; to New
York by any route, 8 hours; to Boston,
81 hours, and so on, connection being
arranged with every part Of this Cor
tinent and the Continent of Europs.
TIE TOWN
Has, as before stated, about 1000 in
habtants, and up to the period Of gen
eral depression in business, was increas-
ing. Even financial difficulties have
failed TO rcprcss the energies of our
people, and within the past year a num-
Der of new buildings nave been erected,
Which add to the wealth and the arehi-
tectural beauty Of the place.
Martiusburg is lighted with gas and
supplied with the purest water from
limestone spring through the Holly
system of water works. This affords
almost absolute protection against fire,
as every water-plug-and they arc az
in number-has the power and capacity
of an ordinary steam ire-ensine. There
are IL churches, and number OF e1-
celent-indeed, elega nt--school houses,
with capacity for :, 800 pupils
HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS.
Manifestly, nothing can be more i'm
portaut, in determining the location OF
State Capital than the means town
offers for the comfortable acCommOda-
ton of the Legislature, officers Of State,
tho Courts, and the necessarily large
number of visitors who must be provid
ed for Msrtinsburg has hotels, besides
good private boarding houses Among
them is new hotel, nearly completed,
with all modern improvements, which
has rooms for 500 guests. Another
hotel, lately finished, is in operation,
while still another has been remodled
and largely increased in its dimensions.
Those which are older and have been
long established, have been thoroughly
reitted 1t is not too much to say, on
this point, that no town in the State
lot even excepting Wheeling-can
offer the same facilities for the comfort
and accommodation of al who may
come to it.
NANuTA cTorIu
The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
shops and the large Hannisville Distil
lery and Mills, together with other en-
terprisss just started, give the town
the benefit which comes from the e1-
penditure of large sums of money in its
midst, brought from elsewhere and
injected into all the veins and arteries
of local trade. To this cause alone can
be attributed the continuation in these
days of business depression, of much of
that enterprise in building, &c, which
has elsewhere languished to the pSnt
OF actual cessation.
THE PEOPLE
OF course, eulogy of the people of
Martinsburg and Berkeley county would
be out of place. 1t is enough TO say
that they are an honest, thrifty, careful