Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-12-03
POINT PLEASANT.
SOME ABORIGINAL "REMINISCENCES.
The Trumpet Of Progress Railroad connee-
tons and Manufacturing Interests
Miners War and the Question at
lssue-SentimentaI Politics and
Practical Civilization.
A SURE SIGN OF THE MILLENNIUM

tenth of last month, the einlneHb aDoi
inal citizen, Cornstalk, or as some can
him, COrnplanter, in company with a mis-
ceIlaneous collection of Delaware, MlngO,
Cavuga. Shawnee and Wyandotte Indians:
received at this place, at the hands OF
Andrew Lewis and his Virginia hunters,
a fearful castigatiOn. The victory at folnt
Pleasant rescued vast territory from the
rule of barbarism, and cleared the way for
the westward march of pioneer CIVILIZATION.
In memory of his defeat and of the subse-
auent cruel murder of his son, Ellinipsico,
who as tradition tells was barbarousy
butchered here, while hostage,
by some Of Lewis scouts, the CHIEF
Gornstalk, is said to have invoked
upon this place the wrath OF the Great
! Shirt. and to have fastened upon it the
spell of o blasting, deadening curse, not to
be revoked for one hundred years.
Whether this illustrious savage was du,
ly authorized dealer in spells and wicked
coniuring or not the history of the town
has gone far 10 verify the genuineneSs OF
his mission. A regularly ordained dispens'
or Of damnation could not have worked out
o dullcr career, one more sluggish, stupid,
fiat. stale and improbable, than the trst
century in the existence of this torpid little
town. Commerce, enterprise, population,
thrift and all the elements OF industrial
greatness have passed her by. Located SO
as to command a metropolitan future, SIT
ting at the gateway to one OF the
richest valleys on the continent
instead of stretching forth her scepter as
commercial queen, gathering tribute from
ell passing traffic and travel, she has dr0n-
ed away life of ease and Incidence, lndli-
ferent alike to the activities passing on To
the development OF other communities, ana
| 10 the possibilities that were ever ready TO
crown her brow with wealth and honor
And now, that her penitential perloI Is
| passed, her pcnancc done and the spell Oh
| a traditional curse finally lifted, 1t haS ia
ken this worthy, good-hearted Rip Van
| W;nkie community, seven long years to
hear the trumpet of progress sounding in
| her eur, and TO learn that she is free to
| strive and grow and prosper and command.
Gath" never uttered truer words than
when he said last week that
about the Mouth of the Great Aa-
nawha
| are now maturing the GrandeSt movements
| in coal and iron the country has ever seen"
| Here the new railroads in progress from
| the Atlantic, via the Elk and Kanawha
| rivers dcbouch into the Ohio Valley. Here
| the hematitc, magnetic and specular ores
| of Virginia, the coke of New river and the
| splint, gas and camel coal of Kanawha,
must come for distribution. Here the ma
terial for iron makinS-chcap fuel and gem
crous ores-the material out of which the
| secrets Of civilization, the problems OF CON
| Quest, the mysteries OF empire are evolved,
| must be dispatched, not alone to the fur-
naceS and forgcs OF your own and adjacent
| cities, but to rcmOtcr manufacturing CEN
tcrs in the West and Northwest, and down
the Ohio valley. 1t is here that the rail-
| road connection will be formed by which
thepcoplc of the upper Ohio and beyond will
l.,I ,t,Trl,t IN Oh 70
ginia and the new South. Thrce-ffthS Of
| the products manufactured west of the
| AllcghcnieS and seeking Southern markets
tend TO this great natural depot Of CONNER
| Cial exchange. Here the great railroad en-
| terprisc of this section of tho State, the
| Atlantic and Northwestern, has located its
! immense bridge over the Ohio. Across IT
will come the Ohio Central, the locking
! Valley, the pelphnS and Toledo, the GIN
| cinnati and Ohio. as well a. the traffic Of
more distant Western systems, all seeking
to make here by way of the Atlantic and
| Northwestern, connection with the Rich
mond and Allegheny, helping to realize the
dreams Of tic 6id projectors OF the James
River and Kanawha Canal, who, when they
marked out the pathway OF commerce
from East To West by way OF the
james and kanawaha had little thought that
the traffic upon which their rision rested
would be carried by great railroad on the
tow path of the canal, rather than by
bargeS on the bosom of its waters. ! have
spoken of the future Of this plarc IL
a Railroad Centre.
NOT simply out of the crntidenre which one
catches from the spirit of enterprise and
progress now pcrvaiing this part Of our
State. The railroads tending in this dircC-
! tiUm are palpablc to every eye. They must
cross somewhere. The Atlantic and North
western bridge is already located, and ii is
| understood the authorities of the War
Department will soon officially consent, if
they have not already done So. The next
railroad bridge will not he SO easily built,
! nor will the consent nf these in power I've
SO easily obtained. The river men will
| never yield To- the construction of Il bridgc
near Gallipoli> Island. over a part of the
| river already pcrlous. nor above this point
within q dozen miles. Nor will the Gov
crnment under whose auspices millions
have been expeudcd in improving the
! navigation Of the kanawha aand Ohio rivers
| consent 2 have the free passage of the river
commerce impedcd by numbers of railroad
/ crossings. 4 second bridge over the Ohio
in thiS vicinity will not speedily be built.
Ehe kanawha Trade
has for years been very large. 1t has built
! up and maintains, mainly, the cities of
! GalipOlis and Portsmouth, besides giving
| good share Of it's business to Cincinnati
ON the west and to Richmond. Baltimore
! and other eastern cities. That trade, which
Of late years has increased enormously,
ought to center here. Geographically it
belongs here, and the policy of the new
men Of capital and business will be to
bring hithcr at least as much of il as may
DC directed from Charleston. The business
advances made by Charleston in q year or
two have been very great. She has become
the point of supply for a large and thriv-
ing section OF country, the commercial
standing Of her merchants is better than
ever before, and, altogether that old town
! is coming out wonderfully.
Point Pleasant has equal advantages with
| Charleston in the matter of location; she
has abundant capital, and is hampered by
none Of the old business embarrassmcntS
that troubled the former city. CONNER
| Cia!ly this place ought 10 share with
| Charleston the control of the trade Of this
| section.
The exports Of timber from Poca, Elk
and Coal rivers, with but limited facilities
| for getting out, are immense. Every rise
takes out thousands OF dollars worth of
] walnut, ash, poplar and white oak logs.
| That stuff goes elsewhere to be manufac-
tured, and much. OF it is brought back here
| TO be sold.
In the matter of building material. fur
! niture. agricultural implements, wooden
| ware. etc. there is an Immense opportunity
| for working up this West Virginia timber
| II can be manufactured right here just is
| cheaply as elsewhere, and much more
| chcaply than at many of the points from
| which the Kanawha Valley draws her sup
| plies Of this description.
The McCulloch Farm,
! lying Just above town, has been purchased
! by the authorities of the Atlantic and
| Northwestern and Wheeling and Charles
ton railroads. The price paid for the tract
OF go acres is $4,000. II is understood
that the two companies will need nearly or
quite all OF this property for their own
uses, repair shops, car factories, depot and
transfer buildings, homes for employees, &c.
1t may be readily seen that the operations
they contemplate will not be conducted ou
limited scale. The contractors on the At
iantic and Northwestern have about I'm
Grading the Track