The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-05-20

the mineral riches OF this rich State. We
can only say that the whole region be-
tween the Ohio and Big Sandy andthe AL.
leRhanies Is undeflaid withthe richest de.
: posts Of and Iron in the Union. And
these m~ininglands can be bought for
from so 10 500 per aere,-about one
tenth Of what similar land commands In
Pennsylvania,
D The forest wealth Of West Virginia Is
probably greater than that Of any other
Its surface Is covered with an original
growth Of oak, maple, chestnut, pine, and
b~lack.walnut; denser and finer than any
other timber east ofthe Rocky Mountains.
Is estimated that there are in the State
100000 acres of this timber, standing
sOO0 teet upon an lCre,-say, S0,0O0.000,.
Vge teeti enough 10 keep every sawmill in
Michlgan busy for eighty years, II they
cut an amount yearly equal 10 the
whole annual production Of that great
lumber State. With Maine and Michi.
gan. now more than half denuded Of
their timber, It will not be long before
This great forest wealth will be brought in.
70 market; and then this virgin State will
no longer sit solitary In the Wilderness
but DO made merry with the music OF the
ax-music set 70 the chorus OF Yankee
Doodle. Scarcely any impression has yet
been made upon this immense wealth Of
timber. Not enough logs are now cut In
thewhole State 10 keep running any two
ol the larger saw mills located on the sagi.
nav River. We know OF but one firm
that is engaged in the systematic getting
ont ottimbeF, and probably not 100000
900 feet OF both logs and lumber are now
annually sent out OF the State. There are
q lew saw mills along the line OF the rail.
ways; but they deDend for their supplies
Of logs upon the back country people, who
cut a few trees every winter, and float
them down, singly or In small RATS, TO the
nearest market, and there sell them for
what ready money they will bring, to
supply their moderate wants for such
"~luxlries' as whisky and tobacco; or, II
they happen To produce these, then for
such Chicken iXin's'' as tea and coffee. or
such" fancy doin's''as you think are appro
pirate TO the adornment Of the mistrasS Of
the household. None Of the t%natiyesD ara
engaged III logging as q regular employ.
ment; and, It they were, they would make
no sensible Impression upon those almost
lnexhaustible forests In any conceivable
time less than o full decade Of centuries.
What Is most wanted In West Virginia Is
an immigration Of hardy and ~enteFprising
woodmen, who shall make those forest
giants "bow their boar heads" and heap
their shorn locks into the lap ofcommerce.
We may a well here briefly tell the
woodmen who Yields his own Ak what he
might do, II he bad a little pluck, a little
industry, and still less ready money, in
West Virginia.
A hundred acres Of heavily timbered
land, OF rich soil and well located, almost
anywhere on the Greenbrier, Elk, Gauley,
Coal, Guyandotte. or Big Sandy Rivers, can
now be bought for from 81 to IS por acre.
.Wewill suppose thattwo active woodmen.
having say $3.50 between them. club 10. .
gether and buy such q tract OF land, nav. !
Ing down upon il SlOO at the time Of p1r. :
chasing. With the remaining $50 they can :
a log shanty, buy a cooking.stoye, :
and lay ma winters supply Of provisions. )
Then, with their two axes anda cross.cut i
saw, they begin their assault upon the d
giant lords Of the forest. How many feet a
timber they will out in a day they know 6
better than We, for We have not the honor :
their acquaintance, but It Is safe :
to say that their logs will not : !
cost them, put into RATS in the l
nearest stream, more than % per thousand :
Ieet, Another dollar, or at most s., will '
boat them down to the nearest say.nill; /
and there they will sell them,-.heo oak u
and the ,whitewood for SO or 81 and the S
for $25 per thousand. The 9
probabilities are that on each Of the 100 I I
acres there will be three or four black ! !
walnuts that will every one ''cut up" $500 !
teet or more; but II there are not III the )
whole woods are oak or whitewood-the :
Iwoodmen will have realized a profit Of at /
least y per thousand, and, with q CROP Of {
100 feet an acre and a tract Of 100 acres, 6
i Is easy to estimate the profit the two In.
iustrious fellows will have made upon
their original purchase.
Nov, II we bear in mind that this soil,
like all soils on which oaks and black-wal. g
nuts grow, isvery productive, andthat the d
land will beworth when cleared more than 9 |,
that tho timber upon it would have ;;
we shall be able to form some ;
idea Of the advantages which are offered :
by West Virginia to the w%orkingmau who :
to its surface a decimal fraction of /
the energy he now expends in gaining a !
peaEer livelihood in some less favored q