National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-04-21
MARTINSBURG.
Growth Of This West Virginia Town in
Seventeen Years.
It's Factories and Produots-The, Iron
stecds OF the II. g. o. II. II, Co.


that the town has greatly changed since my
last visit. A few now houses have boon
erected, and good many ofthe old ones have
been reconstructed and painted. A somewhat
irregular corydon Of handsome suburban res
licences marks the dividing line between the
corporation limits and tho green fields beyond.
The great expectations that centored in Mar
tinsburg at the close of the war have not been
realized, and it has settled down into the
quiet comfort and content that constitute the
chief charm of most Of the towns of the Cum
berland valley. i do not suppose there is a
continent that illustrates so well tho natural
growth Of villages and towns rs the region
lying between the Allegheny and the Blue
Ridge mountains from the Susquehanna river
to the hesdwaters of tho James
Such of the early pioneers as,were mechanics
built their houses and shops ut tho points
most convenient for tho farmers, and with
the growth of agricultural industry these
places for tho exchange of tho elementary
products of labor attracted other artisans and
in process Of time became centors of trade for
largo communities. But the towns only grew
with the increase in agricultural production,
and the progress of all, with one or two ex-
captions, has been exceedingly slow. When
the maximum Of production has been reached
some Of them may oven decline in population.
Here and there o chance circumstance has
given one place an advantage over the others
A neat little village that rested for a century
or moro in gentecl soclusion noar the base of
the South mountain happened to be the homo
of man who was born with a genius for
making oil kinds of machines, and through
his labor and enterprise it has in a few years
grown into busy manufacturing town and
has compelled two railroad companies to
build branch roads and compete with each
other for its trade.
Martinsburg has enjoyed an accidental
advantage in being just 100 miles from
Baltimore, measured on the main stem of
the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. This mado it
the end of the first division of the road, and
determined the location of tho company's
repair shops for this part of its line. The
destruction of these fine shops at tho out
breaking of tho war was heavy blow to the
town. For long timo after the war the
company had most of the work for this
division done at other places, but tho shops
are now in full operation again and tho
disbursements, on account of wages of en-
ployes amount to about $4,000 month.
All the freight trains halt here and the
engines that have completed their appointed
tasks are detached and run into their quarters,
while fresh ones, carefully cleaned and oiled,
take their places.
At night the scene at the station is always
interesting, and sometimes weird and ghostly
in its effects. At certain hours relays
of engines come out from the roundhouses
and take their places on the tracks to await
the coming of the trains to which they are to
be attached. They move uneasily backward
and forward, like FESTIVE steeds, waiting for
the word that sends them on their way across
the mountains or toward the sea. Men fit
about with lanterns opening and closing
switches, and climbing up into the cabs, as
the great monsters obey their signals, aud
with shrieks that fill the air with terror, and
heart-throbs that shake the earth, start on
their laborious journey. When was here in
the summer of 1868 the failure of q passen.
ger train to get over the mountains on SEIZED.
ule time gave me couple of hours leisure tc
watch the movements of the freight trains
and like mishap tonight brings before my
eyes the same scenes as solace for the weari.
ness Of unwelcome delay.
Leaving out of account the railroad shops
the three principal manufacturing establish.
ments in Martinsburg are the Hannis distil.
lery, Kugler q Co.'s spoke factory, and Fitz's
machine works. THE Hannis dstillery
which is owned by company that has its
headquarters in Philadelphia, is one of the
largest and best equipped establishments Of
the kind in the country. The superintend.
ent, Col. j. q. A. Nadenbush, showed me
through the several buildings and explained
the various processes by which rye is con.
verted into distilled spirits. The ware
houses have capacity for storing 10000 bar.
.(Clb VI WHISKY, anu WuCH WORKING ON tul
Nime the production is fifty barrels day
The barrels arc made on the premises
siderable industry. Although Berke
ley county abounds in oak timber tn,
wood from which these barrels are made Il
brought from Indiana. 1t takes very goot
barrel to hold whisky, and it is said that thu
Indiana oak is less liable to be bored through
by worms than that which grows in the east
Notwithstanding the fact that wood fol
making barrels is brought to Martinsburl
from the west, Martinsburg sends vince
spokes to all parts of the civilized worlt
made from oak and hickory of native growth
The lumber used in the Kugler spoke works
comes from the oak and hickory forests thai
are almost contiguous to tho town. TIL,
course of trade is exceedingly tor
tuous, and the direction which q par
ticular article sometimes takes is arbitrary
and, to an outside observer, inexplicable
California is famous for the size and variet,
of its trees, but Mr.. Kugler is constantly ship
ping spokes to California, because tho wooc
that grows on the Pacific coast will not make
good wheels. Before the Union Pacific rail.
road was built he used to send as many a!
5000 big white oak spokes a month to Sar
Francisco for the wheels of the transportation
wagons in which freight was carried acros.
the plains There is still a demand for these
spokes, and they are shipped in sailing YES
sells around Cape Horn. 1t ia difficult to un
derstand why the wood for making q wagon
wheel should be carried 10000 miles.
Mr.. Kugler also sends great many spoke!
to South America, England and Germany
New York city 10 the distributing center fol
the United States. The spokes are turned or
adjustable lathes, tho knives being sci
to cut the desired pattern. The process.
10 exceedingly rapid boy roughly block.
out piece of wood Of the desired size with {
hand-ax the first lathe turns out n rough
spoke the second finishes it third ma
chine cuts the tenon and a swiftly-movins
sand belt completes the work. About $500
spokes are made at this establishment every
day. The wholesale price ranges from $50 "a
$40 per thousand. The stock of wood il
West Virginia available for spokes will prob
ably last for several centuries.
There are u number of smaller manufactur
ing establishments in Martinsburg, and
suppose that there is about as much enter
prise and prosperity here as in most inland
towns, The postotiice has been removed by
Mr.. Evans, the new postmaster to room il
the handsome building Of the Peoples Ma
tional bank, and has been fitted up with loci
boxes of the neatest and most approved pat
tern. The Herald, the only republican news
paper published in the county, has its Office
in the second story of the same building
There are two other weekly newspapers pub
lshed here--the Statesman and the hide
pendent.
made some inquiry to-day about thu
truth OF story (of which mention wa
recently made in THE REPUBLICAN, to thu
effect that Tolliver, who was taken from tho jai
in THIS town bya mob some ten years ago anC
hanged, was innocent of the murder of which