The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1881-09-24
ur rho cell Whi@.
WESTWARD BOUND.

ward has been the course OF population.
Not long ago Ohio was cont west, the
home OF the Indian and fronticrsmen
to-day the same kind II pioneer work is
going on in Montana and Idaho ?S Obi"
saw eighty years ago. Yet il is scarcely
correct 10 say the same, for the railroad
has given pioneer life n very different
aspect in Arizona that it bore in Ohio il
it's early years. The more | sec Of Ohio
the more | esteem the true women and
brave men who. in those early years, laid
in these rich river valleys the foundation
of the future State--the men who planted
in the forest clearin" the church, the
Bible, and the school. Much of the great
ness of this State is due TO the fact that
it has always been true to the cause Of
popular education. To-day the most con
spicuous building in every Ohio village
is the school house.
To those who have never made it. the
trip over the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad
is one we'll worth making. AS it is likely
that large part of the readers Of TIL"
Wig are among those who have never
crossed the Alleghanies, a few notes of
the trip may be Of interest.
Leaving Baltimore at p. NJ, Il little
over an hour places one in the g Fedora
City the most wondrous pile of brick,
stone and mortar ever reared by ma
tons bounty. The one great blunder
of Washington's life was made when he
located the capital on the Potomac, among
it's malaria haunted marshes. Whenever
the inevitable hour comes when the CAPT
tol must ego west,' Washington will
perish as utterly as Palmyra has done.
But one only gets moonlight glimpse
of the dome of the capitol when the train
is off through the rich farms of Mont
gomery, across dizzy looking bridges and
over historic Monocacy, until at midnight
desolate old Harper's Ferry is reached.
The town looks sadly forlorn. In the
writer's opinion jefferson lied when he
declared its scenery worth crossing The
ocean to see. ] would not advise Cecil
countians to worry over it as. long as their
county has Mt. Arrarat and Bald Friar.
But whatever one may think of the town.
John Brown embalmed it in history, %
years age, for all time. May the old
hero's soul continue to march on until
ali forms of human oppression are dead.
Twenty-three years do not seem long in
the life of nation. yet what a strangely
| eventful record those years have written
upon our nations history. Vet from
those now ruined walls at Harper's Ferry
came one of their most startling impulses.
Away across the rich farms of Jcfter-
son and Bcrkely. past busy, pushing Mar
tinsburG. until at North Mountain the
road again strikes the Potomac. From
thence to Piedmont, 10 miles, the river
is ever by the side of the train, first on
one side then the other. The river winds
toward all points of the compass; so does
the road. At Piedmont the famous Ser-
enteen-mile grade begins: an extra en-
CINE is put on and The train starts NJ the
mountain. On the one side the Savage
river diminutive trout stream, brawls
over the rocks in the gorge below; while
on the other the rocks often rise hun
dreds of feet sheer from the track, The
only sign of life is an occasional section
hand or watchman's shanty by the road
side. At Attamont it is broad daylight.
and We get good look at the famous
summit station of the Baltimore X Ohio:
dilapidated wooden shed for depot a
store, and one 81 two dwellings are ali.
From thence to the Ioughiogheny river
the country is level. The Allegheny
gades, Deer Park, and Oakland, noted
as summer resorts, $500 feet above the
tide, are on this plateau. At Huttons
switch the train takes final leave Of Mary
land soil and plunges into the valley of
the Cheat river, 4 clear mountain stream
that it crosses at Rowlesburg. Then
CONES the Cheat Mountain grade with
its noted viaducts and still wilder scenery
than on the Piedmont grade, but here
the engineers seem to have got tired Of
climbing the mountains aud went under
them. Out OF the tunnel and down "A
grade brings the train to Grafton for
breakfast. Grafton has j. 600 people, liN-
ing almost entirely of the railroad, 1t
is slowly creeping up the hill sides, and
will no doubt put Oh metropolitan airs
some time.
From Grafton to Parkesburg is io4
miles-a succession of rock. wood. and
hills. 1t is doubtful if any one ever
makes the trip without holding the man
who engineered the road in the highest
esteem. Tunnels become mOnotonous.
The railroad men say there are twenty
seven of them i'll the l0A miles. The
usual experience after leaving West
Union is to see one end of the tram IN
tunnel and the other on dizzy looking
bridge. The banks of the Little Kama
VIVA are at last reached, and ten-mile
run through wilderness of oil tanks.
oil cars. and oil wells lands one i'll Park
ersburg.
West Virginia bears on its great seal
the motto H0nt'"j s.mprr Hhtrf. If
this be true certainly no where east of
Mississippi is Liberty So securely at home.
There is an old story that an Englislnnan
and Scotchman once fell to debating tue
merits OF their respective countries. The
EngiiShman yielded all other points, hut
insisted that England n any rate had
the advantage III size. No. SAID the
Scotcbman. if our grand old mountains
were rolled ont rs flat as England. il
would be far the larger. West Virginia
always recalls this story. We're it rolled
as flat as the Isl district, ii would he as
large as Texas No State has grander
natural resources: few have developed
them less. Nature can do no more for
any country. and It's future depends upon
its people.
Over the rivera narrow. muddy look
ing stream to eyes whose standard OF
rivers is the SusQuelanna and Delaware,
and we are in Ohio. ~eventy-tivo miles
more of hill and vale lands one at Ham
den junction, the grip from Baltimore
having been made in seventeen hours.
Wellston. the writer's destination, was
three miles away. it is a struggling,
busy sort of place, with 800 people,
tending furnace fires, or delying for coal.
In this county (lackson) coal and iron
are every thing, farming scarcely any