The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1884-03-18
ole &! i! eQ!'nII'ttellilqe4ea
officer Nos. 70 ma " F0urieeuif Il S1recf
EST VIRGINIA. LANDS,

Why Titles are Tangled and Vast Do.
main Unsettled and Unproductiys, *
10 Ne Editor u he Intsltasucer. b n
sIR:-There are many matters about
Weat Virginia that are Of great interest It
was stated, last year, by some census com.
pliers, that there arc more persons reading
IN other States, born In Virginia and West
Virginia, than are now living in both
States. II that is true, It might appear
strange. But the state Of affairs that pro.
duced this fact Is not very well understood
by your younger readers. write TO in.
form them, and there may be older ones
who have not given the subject much at.
tentlon. But when people residing out OF
The State read 30 much about the mapuiti.'
cent resources OF West Virginia and see
such statistical statements, It must seem
strange 10 them. W.. n IN
That part Of Virginia on the water
Sheds OF the Potomac, the James and the
Ohio, and south to the North Carolina,
and Tennessee and Kentucky lines on the
west, with small exception, was at one
time covered with the vicious land system
Of virginia. These large surveys come now
within forty miles Of the Baltimore L Ohio
4 Parkeraburg railroad, and tho Quo river
from Parkersburg down to the mouth Of
the Bib Sandy, and stand as O bar to zen.
eral Improvement Of the interior OF the
State. 2I"F,w- y y -
You are ready to aak the question how
1t came that 30 large a SCOPE, In the old
and new State, should Law so long under
such system, when 1t was bar TO the
aettlement and improvement OF tie conn.
try, and the Suite lost the benefit OF the
revenue arising from improvement
PROFESSIONAL LAND SHARKS, t
From immediately after the reyolu.
tionary war, there were mon in West
Virginia who devoted much Of their
time to these surveys, large and
small. Their representatives are here
yet, They have always been known
as "land sharks" many Of them able land
lawyers; always some Of them were In the
Legislature Of Virginia. Our statute books
are iull OF acts passed at one time and
another, to suit particular cases, 80 that the
whole system, Of West Virginia land law
became very complicated, and there were
only q few lawyers, those who gave their
whole attention to the subject, that under
stood the land law applicable to wild landH
Of West Virginia. This class Of legislation
Kept the law uncertain ~ to these titles,
These men were actuated purely by hope Of
private gain. But the Old Virginian, who
held the control Of the legislation Of Tho
state, looked ontthis whole, question from
another stand point. There ID a saying in
that section that the Old Virginian wanted
all the land that joined him. He loved
the broad acres and it was his pride to
count them by the thousand. They were
worked by hla slaves, and il his product
IN cereals, meats and tobacco vera not large
his slave crop was valuable: For many
years 1t melted about $4,000, 600, sold to
the Southern market annually. But when
the Old Virginian saw the settlements
springing up in the Northwest aud Soulh.
west tou, by men with small ADJACENT
farms, be discovered that the population
Of the West would coon cutnumber the
East. That they would clamor for repre-.
seneasion, and they feared they would tax
their slaves out Of existence. In 1851 they
found that the West, outnumbercd them.
and before they would admit them 10 equal
representation in the lower House. tney
required, by constitutional provision, that
young slaves be exempt, and older ones
taxed at not more than one-third of their
value, M '1Sl.~,z -