Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-12-02

country, but crops out before the sum
| NIT of the mountain is reached.
6, The Snakedale vein-say 100 feet
below the great coal vein.
:. The Hastings vein. This is about
| 10 or ~ inches in thickness, and
has the reputation OF being splendid
/ ore.
The three last mentioned veins are
not in the same order geologically, as
the four first mentioned. We saw and
carefully examined all of these. There
are some others.
LIMESTONE.
A deposit OF limestone is found in this
region of not less than 10 feet in thick
ness. It's geological position Is about
| 100 feet below the Martin ore vein. 1t
crops out on the bank OF the Cheat q
short distance above Ices ferry, and
again near the summit OF the mountain.
1t is of irstrate quality, and makes white
lime.
FIRE CLAY.
In the same region OF which we have
been speaking, and over which we tray
eled some twenty miles, there is album
dance of the same kind OF fire clay Of
which the Bolivar and Mount Savage
bricks are manufactured, and OF quail
ity equal to either. Some years ago
there was an establishment for the man
ufacture of fire brick at which brick OF
excellent quality were made, but which,
for want OF means OF transportation, Is
no longer in operation. We visited the
old works.
OLD FURNACES.
The time was when our whole coun-
try was nearly on a level with regard to
facilities for transportation. At that
day iron could be and was manuiactur-
ed proftably in that part of the valley OF
the Cheat which we visited. We saw
several abandoned furnace stacks
some very old and in ruins, others Ill
pretty good condition. Away up on the
side of the Laurel Hill, on pretty little
stream called Quarry Run, we saw the
ruins of what was once called pleasant
Furnace" and it was rightly named, Tor
it was on as beautiful and romantic a
spot as could be found i'll all Virginia.
1t was built some seventy five or eighty
years ago, and was blown by the power
of the water of Laurel Run. But so
feeble was the blast that IN pieces oil
cinder which we picked up were bits OF
charcoal not consumed. At an early
day charcoal was exclusively used in
the manufacture OF iron, and thus the
mountains were nearly denuded where
so many iron mines crop out. But now
a new and beautiful crop OF timber has
sprung up, so that finer place TO cut
and gather telegraph poles and railroad
ties does not exist. Some OF the later
furnaces used coke. At one OF these,
before finally closing up, the manager
found that his stock Of coke ran out be-
fore his stock of ore. He then resOrtcd
to neighbOring coal vein, three or four
feet thick, and ran off about two hun
dred tons of metal with that raw coal as
fuel. Finally he managed to get his Pig
iron to market ria the MOnongahela,
when that which was made with the
raw coal was pronounced charcoal iron
by manufacturers in Pittsburgh, and ac-
tually sold for four dollars per ton above
coke IRON. As there is any quantity Of
the same coal there yet, this may be
fact of no little importance.
COAL AGAIN.
The great COnnellsville vein extends
TO and across the Cheat, and also to the
west side of the Monongahela. A mile
or so below lees Ferry, which is about
ten miles above the mouth of the Cheat,
il crops out; but there are numerous
veins of coal geographically lower, al
though geographically higher, one Of
which is mentioned above in connection
with the iron manufacture. That great
vein is also found, it Is said, at the OPP
posite base OF the mountain. On the
west side OF the MonOngahela 1t IL not
over twenty feet above the level OF the
bottom land; but in the hill above it
there are said to be two other great veins,
one Of which is half way up the hill, and
is nine or ten feet thick, and another
near the top of the hill reported TO be
eleven feet in thickness. These two up
per veins are of cubical fracture, and
therefore well adapted to the trade in
raw coal. OF the extent of these two
fields we have no knowledge.
Some few years ago, when the oil te-
yer was prevalent, a gentleman OF science
and intelligence drilled hole down
about 400 feet, not far from Ices Ferry,
in the hope of finding oil. He kept a
careful record of the strata through
which he drilled. Atthe depth OF about
100 feet ne struck vein of coal which
he reports to have been thirty-three
feet thick. This, il true, is vast re-
serve which can bc reached by shafting
ON the margin of what, at a
small expense, can be made navigable
water.
SLACKwATER NAVIGATION.
The MonOngahela Slackwater Naviga-
ton Company have already extended
their works to New Geneva. One more
dam will slack the water to within two
miles of the mouth Of the Cheat This
that company is prepared to build as
soon as Congress apprOpriatcs rs much
as will build another at the last mem
toned point. That done, the naviga-
ton OF the Monongahela will be COM
plete TO Morgantown; for dam and lock
fourteen miles below that town gives
navigation up there already. The dam
below the Cheat will back the water sew
eral miles up that river. and thus open
up both rivers to the ineXhaustible
stores of mineral wealth there deposited
and at present practically inaccessible.
There would be six locks in the ninety
miles between Pittsburgh and the Cheat.
The tolls for that distance would be as
follows: