The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-07-04
PIEDMONT.
A Picturesque Mountain ToWn-Coal
MlnIpg In That Vicinity.

PIEDMONT, w. VA, July al feel quite
at home here in Piedmont. Perhaps 1t is
the genial courtesy Of the landlord; per.
haps the show bills on the bulletin board.
Yoa cannot guess with what joy stood
before the bill stands to-day and felt at
home. There was the same old lion I
knew twenty years ago. Not tooth gone,
his name, as full and glossy as ever, and,
yes, the right paw has the same expression,
and the teeth-the same teeth, too, can
tell by the trade mark-at an angle Of so
degrees. There is the same daring female
standing in the same position on the same
horse. The same paint adorns the lovely
face, not a day older than 1t was then.
The same old giraffe eats locust leaves of
a dwarf oleandeF, and the snakes coil in
the same dizzy circles, about the same Sl5
per week beauty. OH recognize every
picture on the boards, from the fat woman
to the military looking gentleman who
drives the glittering bard-wagon plated
with shining gold, each plate warranted
genuine or money refunded at the door,
for details see small bills and newspapers.
forget I'm 8 poor newspaper man not
far from Elk Garden, where trout and
newspaper men are caught with bits OF
muslin on pin hooks, aud once more am
following the elephant along the dusty
highway, too happy 10 trade places with
the President. After all, there is nothing
like circus bill to bring back old times. |
don't doubt but that Methusaleh would
weep In very gladness II he were to see one,
recognizing Ia II slene from his boyhood,
when he fed the ape candy and the eli
phant tobacco. It would be an unparion.
able crime for show to use bills printed
from cuts less than 1000 years old.
THE TOWN OF PIEDMONT.
Piedmont Is small edition OF Baltimore.
Her merchants buy their goods there, and
the young man feels that the highest am.
bition OF his life has been realized when
he starts for baltimore. Baltimore papers
are read, and but for the fact OF State boun-
daries, no one would suspect their town Is
in West Virginia. Its picturesquely situa.
ted at the foot Of the mountains, with the
river flowing through 1t, making sweet
music all the summer night, as It dashes
over the myriad rocks in its bed. "a mile
away it is noisy, brawling stream, sailisg
in great eddies about huge iron stained
rocks or splashing angrily over bits Of falls
that rear their puny barriers beneath its
onward flow. A very naTroR valley
spreads away from one stony margin, but
on the other, almost from the waters edge,
PERCEPTIONS bluffs slant suddenly toward
the heavens, their sumHita fFinged with
pine trees, that bend above tue depths be.
low as II they sought to pierce the secret OF
their existence. The town grows very
slowly, and is fast becoming only transfer
depot for the coal mined in the mountains
miles away. The mines that IN Ike the
towns, and which are near ii, are rapidly
being exhausted, and With their 'Anal
abandonment the town will BECOME simply
a transfer point.
GRARLf e9SH
The most famous mine here is the
Hampshire, which has a fourteen foot vein
OF coal. The coal is soft and easily mined,
but Is fit for steam purposes only. In its
palmy days 200 men were employed in it
and from 600 to 500 tons Of GOAL were put
out daily. The miRe itseli is nearly three
miles fr6n the town, almost on the sum-
NIT Of high and PERCEPTIONS mountain.
To reach the mine one must first ride ], 100
feethp an inclined plane at an angle OF 81
degrees, then ride behind q small engine
over q very crooked and steep railway, a
mile to the mine. It is a wet, nasty
mine, its drains badly nlled up, and
the tracks in very poor condition.
This is occasioned by the prospective
abandonment Of the mine id the near
Iptuye. The entrances, Of Yhtch there are |
two, are splendidly 'timbered, and the
PROPS pHt ii were of the beet. SINCE the
bpeniBg OF ths mine three men have been
killed by the falling Of the treacherous
roof. The "stumps" and pillars are being
removed now, and the roof caving in when
this is done fills the rooms with debris,
that says pore plainly than Yprds, this
mine has seen itg best days. Up Georges
creek new mines are being opened and
the prospect for that country is-good, so
soon as there shall be q revival in the coal
business, which is now very dull.