The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-04-16
WYOMING COUNTY.
Her Wealth I'm Timber and Coai-A
Land Grabbing Ring.

Correspondence OF the 1ntelllge3cer.
ocElNA, WYOMING, Co, VIVA, Aprilll.-
In Wyoming the trees and flowers are !
week or two behind the opening buds Of tn,
Kanawha and Ohio Valleys. Not SO tht
people-the sturdy stock Of the mountain
county, the yeomen Of Wyoming are widt
awake. II you don't believe 1t just CONT
over and see. Here, amidst these loft,
mountains, these fertile valleys, thrift, stir
development, meet one at every glance
Broad farms stretching quite up the noun
tain sides almost to the summits, fint
fences, in good order, new rails where old
ones have given way, while land yet tim
bered Is enclosed and the process Of clear
ing, in many instances begun. Wide
orchards OF young fruit trees cover many
hillsides. Comfortable buildings, new,
or newly repaired, prove the owner.
good circumstances. There is nothing di'
lapidated about Wyoming. And what
glorious hillsides for grapes and great vine.
yards these are, think, as l ride along.
Certainly these rich soiled slopes would
bear finer grapes and bigger punches than
the famous grape lands Of Piedmont In Old
Virginia. And the many cattle and hogs
l meet along the roadside or see feeding in
the valleys-this is about equal to Green.
brier and Monroe. ave don't raise cattle
enough" says Mr.. Cook. ave can sell
double and over what we raise, and this
Is just the very best country for sheep
that ever you saw" he says. And / will
say, II the sheep are as good as the mutton
I've have eaten. he hit the nail right on the
head. This will be one OF the greatest fruit
and stock counties OF the State. Already the
people are well to do. In a few years they
will be rich.
INDUSTRIES AND RESOURCES.
But I have been telling mere surface
tale. The timber and coal resources OF
Wyoming beat Kanswha, almost. On one
mountainsids I counted walnut, cherry,
hickory white oak, ask, poplar and chest
nut, all in half an acres space. There are
thousands OF such acres. The black soil is
so rich that the trees, like the grasses, are
lu1uriant. They are huge to the very
summits Of the ridges. The elumbering in
dustry Of the county is just in its babyhood,
but already the male part OF the popu.
lation cut, roll and drive thousands OF
logs in the winter time. The Guyandotte
river and Coal river each gives an open way
Tor timber TO the Ohio and Kanawha, and
the high waters OF the last two years have
carried out thousands OF feet OF the most
magnificent timber.
Outsiders are jus. finding out this wealth
OF timber, and Pennsylvania, Ohio and
New York are sending in their energetic
sons 10 share some OF the abundance. In
five years great saw mills and great for
tunes will grow up here. m
But behind and below these, Wyoming
has got more solid prosperity before 1t.
She Is completely underlaid by the most
valuable coal in the State. Upper Wyom-
ing covers the lower (conglomerate) cal
measures, now go successfully developed
on New River. 0fthe splendid New River
coking Goals she has Thousand OF acres; In
lower Wyoming, the middle or Kanawhs,
splint and gas coal measures fill her noun.
tains. In fifty years this county will be a
densely peopled mining community. II
the Norfolk & Western Railroad comes
through here, as it threatens to do, ten
years will see this county supplying the
furnaces Of Virginia and illinois with the
finest coke, the great cities Of the North
west with CRATE and gas Goals.
ALAND GRABBING RING.
A curious still.hunt land speculation
has been going on in this county during
the pasttwo or three years. A combined
effort to break up the great surveys by
which Virginia originally patented out al.
most all this section OF the State to distant
grantees, has been going on. The de-
scendants Of these grantees have in many
cases quite honestly and regularly paid
their taxes, but these speculators, with the
court to divide with them, and the people
only too willing for little OF the pap,
have, in many cases, proved too much for
the absent owners. As a result, the School
Commissioner has been selling off these
valuable lands at &c, Sc. and lac. per acre,
and the Court has confirmed the sales.
The speculators-the Mercer County
ring" as folks call them here, have thus
bagged thousands of acres OF wonderfully
valuable properly for mere song, and the
people nave been bribed to acquiescence
In somewhat unholy game by being
made co.tenants. Hence, nearly every
man, woman and child in Wyoming owns
one hundred or more acres. Although this
IDEAL" has demanded scme very fine
playing, yet, for the people, 1t IS better
that they who live on the land should own
It, and II the "Mercer ring" were not quite
so greedy, the ultimate consequences would
be good, but 1t now looks as II both people
Of the county and the FIR distant owners
were each being tossed in the blanket
Of great monopoly. It is the
old story OF the fox and the wolf
who asked the monkey to judge which OF
them owned the oyster. The monkey
opened the bivalve, ate the oyster and gave
Mr.. Fox and Mr.. Wolf each a shell
As it Is, the good people Of this county
are close pressed. Their anticipated pros
perity may prove mere dream aud only
dream. II the extravagant government at
Wheeling pile on any more taxes; add on an.
other per cent or again re.assess at height
ened values, or keep up that outrage on the
liberty of the people: the taxing Of their
young pigs, their chicks, their calves, even
the toys Of their little ones, things never, l
suppose, before taxed by any State, the
newly acquired lands will be bought in by
the "Slefcer Ring" monopoly for taxes
and the people be even poorer than before,
especially as it Is said that G. P. Hunt.
iugton and the G & o. R, R. monopoly are
benind them. He doesn't propose to let
other roads enter this region. The only
bright spot in this quite possible picture
Ia the fact that by the new law which Judge
James II. Brown engineered through the
legislature last winter, this county will re-
ceive from $4,000 to $4,000 out Of the
monies received by the school commits.
sioners. By the old law, as It stood, all OF
it would have gone into the ever empty
pouch Of the Statecgoyernment and little or
none oiit ever come back. But now, thanks
to the good sense and ability Of Judge
Brown, this county will poSSesa. . fund
which, II properly used, will give her the
best schools in the State, fine county build.
ings, and keep her forever out Of debt
The people are very grateful to him.
The afr in these charming valleys Is vast