The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1879-02-05
IfInli Yireinia,s resources.

West Virginia's Resources.
Wetake the GLOWING extaact from
Hon. II. G. Davis speech on agricul.
lure, recently delivered in the Unit
ed States Senate:
aThe:eoal fields of West Virginia
are, beyond question, the most re.
smarkable in the world, 1t is in this
State that the veins Of bituminous
coal exhibit their maximum thick
ness, having in the Kanawha Valley
a combined thickness of fifty feet
This State is the only place in this
country where camel coal is found
in good quality and paying quaint.
ties audit is said to be fully equal to
English or Nova Scotia
Thesplint coal Of the Kanawha Val.
ley4is,ole ofthe best non-coking Goals
for smelling iron that can be found
any@hefe. Another advantage our
coal possesses is that it is nearest to
the sea board, and consequently the
rates Transportation are, or ought
.toSbe, greatly in our favor. The ex-
ceHentsels and steam qualities ofour
bitumilI bus coal are known all over
the coupIry.
f The ilthracite coal is confined to
an area of about 40 square miles in
Pennsylvania, whereitaloneis found
in the country. The production Of
1877 amounted to 81 ,92S,0O0 TONS
The coal area Of West Virginia com
lprises nearly 10000 square miles,
within production in 1878 of 1000.
600 tons; while the whole of Great
Britain,has but 1900 square miles,
with a papduction in " Of 154,179,-
968 tons Germany, Ito square
miles, producing in ", 4S,93T,95O
tons. France, 2,0S6 square miles,
producing in N, 16,763,779 tons.
A report made by the engineer de-
partment of the U. S. to the Secre'
tary of War, makes the following ref
erence to West Virginia coal;
1t is well known to geological men
that the veins of bituminous coal
which pervade the entire western
slope Of the Appalachian chain Of
mountains have their maximum ag.
gregate thickness in the Kanawha
Valley. From late authentic work
on the subject of Kanawha Goals, the
following extract is made:
"The coal fields of the Kanawha
region are superior to those of Great
Britain or Pennsylvania. They are
regarded by eminent gentlemen as
the fuest deposit Of coal in the
world. The quality of Kanawha
camel is equal to the best English;
its bituminous is equal to tile best
found in Pennsylvania, and Kama
wha spllnt for smelling iron, is I'M
surpassed. The veins lie nearly hor-
izontal, and vary from three to ff-
teen feet in thickness of the various
seams in some localities amount to
forty and fifty feet of solid coal
In the Piedmont or N. Branch re-
gion the coal is fully equal to that in
Kanawha%alley, and some of the
veins now being worked are from 10
to 20 feet thick of pure coal.
The salt of the Kanawha and Ohio
valleys has the great advantage of
being manufactured very cheaply,
and it is a most superior article, as
is attested by the preference given it
in:every market where it has been
introduced. | doubt if there is an
other place in this whole country
where salt can be made as cheaply
as in the Kanawha and Ohio valleys.
There are over q salt furnaces in
the State, with an annual capacity
of six million bushels,
West Virginia produces about one
million kegs of nails annually, or
about one sixth of the whole amount
of cut nails made in the world.
Among the important productions
of our State is petroleum. In the
past three years, 1876, N, and rs,
there were produced in the oil re.
gions Of West Virginia and Penn
sylvania "a, 3&,275 barrels or |, 444,.
1850 gallons of petroleum, and of
this amount there were exported
S9l, 296,235 gallons of the value of
4l,27O, 1873, or an average of about
S5O,0O0,000 perannum. The produc-
ton of petroleum in 1860 was but
lO,542,000 gallons, while in 1878 it
amounted to 619,007,004 gallons
The expectation of petroleum began
in 1852, and in 1878 it amounted to
near 66 per cent. of the entire pro.
ductlon, being 407,4S2,175 gallons.
IT now ranks as the fifth article of
export from this country.
The timber Of our State is proba.
bly, as good in quality and large in
amount as that of any State in the
Union. Almost every description of
timber is found in the State, some of
Lhe-most important varieties in
great abundance.
The iron ore of West Virginia is
and varied. There are a