Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-03-01
Virginia is greater than the area, of both
urA1rH AND RESOURCES.

s,;n. m So5 34l acres The average OF the
&C., lands was SOL 05, wooded lands
30 20 nsr acre. In that year the hay product
WELDED about 81, ,OoO. 600 and the corn @'
GOO OO0. and the value OF manuiactureo
prodnrts was more than 81, OO0, 600.
West yirsinis is traversed from north to
sontb . distance OF about 240 miles, by
the great Appalachian system Of noun.
tains fo,ning within the State two and
sometimes three distinct ranges, wmen
stretch in width from east to west across its
borders for nearly two hundred miles.
Never failing springs and streams oi
pure water break out from the sides Of The
mountains. making the State one OF the
heat v,tersd In the Union. Two-thuds oi
the State Is uuderlaid with coal, its area
reaching in extent sixteen Thousand square
miles more than that Of Pennsylvania OF
England. while six navigable rivers flow
through its borders.
Mountains, hills and valleys alternate
upon A surface which is fertile from the
lowest valley to the highest summit The
mountains and hills when cleared yield
abundsntly the richest grasses, making
prszing and dairy farms Of uusurpassed ex.
cellence. The Allegheny Mountains will
yet largely contribute the dairy products
consumed on the Atlantic seAboard and
for export to Europe. $500
Within 300 miles Of tide water, and 1OC
miles Of the Ohio river, hundreds Of thous-
ands of acres of good agricultural lands IN
West Virginia can be bought for from u
to - peT acre; the timber on which will
paw for the clearing and fencing. Thess
lands are underlsid with coal, which will
yield from 5000 to 5000 tons per acre,
and which will some day be worth, with
TRANSFORMATION facilities TO market, ten
cents per ton royalty in the ground.
Fuel and transportation are among and
in certain sense the greatest factors In
this industrial age. Civilization and COM
merce the necessities and comfort Of man,
are most dependent upon and most affect.
ed by them. Fsel is the more serious and
the most important, because upon II main
ly depends transportation and the raanu'
tscturing interests.
| Zone single railway corporation-and not
the largest in the country-consumea
|, 900 100 tons Of coal, costing about $S.-
900, 900, TO feed the engines that draw ltd
enormous tonnage.
In West Virginia coal Is cheaper at the
mouth Of the mines than In England.
The State offers 10 all railroads and manu-
featuring interests within and contiguous
to it borders, the cheapest fuels in the
world
In lSS5 Pennsylvania had 7,761 miles
of completed railroad, Ohio 1928 miles,
Virginia 9, 673 miles, while West Virgins
had only /, l,039 miles. Thus surrounded
by net work OF railroads, il cannot bt
long before they will push across heI
boundaries furnishing adequate facilities
for transporting to market her rapidly in
creasing products.
EMIGRATION TO THE WEST.
As far back as 1920 the tide OF popula.
tion from the East to the West passed
over the Allegheny Mountains TO seize and
occupy the fertile lands Of the Mississippi
valley. After 1850 this great movement
reached and occupied the lands belonging u
the great Rocky Mountain system and the
Pacific coast.
During the last seventy years all Of the
best and most available lands for agricul'
ture in the West have been taken. II IL
becoming difficult TO find low-priccd agri.
cultural lands there, or lands belonging "a
the government, suitable for agriculture,
which can be bought at the minimum gov.
ernment price. The Great American Des-
ert, laid down in our early Biographies, has
prov en- TO be myth. IL IL TO day covered
W tn farms, and furnishes grazing for mil
lions Of sheep, cattle and horses.
The tide of population that for three
quarters Of q century has moved with such
persistence to the West is sbstiug, IL has
broken itself against the great chain Of the
Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast,
and is slowly, but surely, making its way
back and setting in toward the AlcgbaDy
Mountains, the South, and the great South
west A preceptible percentage Of our
immigration IN not now going West
There ia no longer any frontier in the
West. West Virginia and the States Gov
criDg the Allegbany Mountains down 10
the Gull, have become the frontier. The
next great step in the order Of our national
progress and development is the occupation
Of these States, the appropriation Of their
forests, and Tue opening up OF their mines.
They can, and will, largely absorb our in
crease IN population, and furnish employ
ment, homes and business opportunities
for unborn millions.
Within the laot thirty years the North
and West have enjoyed erss Of uneIam.
pied prosperity. The next great advance
in material prosperity must take place In
the South. After n lapse Of over quarter
Of century, the South il beginning to
emerge from the paralysis, desolation, dis.
tress and despair that have hnDg over her
people and their ind ustrial interests ~ the
result Of war and defeat.
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS.
The commercial relations with the
Northern States are becoming better and
more closely established. The routes Of
trauypor tation aud travel In this country
during the last forty years have been al.
most entirely East IN West. This will be
to some extent modified a. the South comes
into prominence and takes her true indus
trial position in the Union.
New routes will he established between
the NORTH and South to meet the demands
OF increasing trade and commerce. The
great wealth OF natural resources belonging
10 the South, united 10 free labor. makes
her development and progress certain. The
time is close at hand when the South will
not SeDd away its products 10 he manufac.
tured, paying not only the cost OF their
but q profit 10 the manuiac-
turer and the cost Of transportation on the
articles which it, people
The incubus 70 long resting
upon the South, hindering aod impendiug
her in the march OF progress, is about TO be
The South will not only mann.
iacture nearly everything needed for con.
within its own boIders, hut
something more TO sfll 10 Der, neighbSp
and send abroad.
Up TO lsGl there had not been produced
in any single year ia the United States
more than so, 900 tons Of pig iron. II 10
estimated that during the coming year the
State Of Alabama alone will manufacture
400. 900 tons OF pig iron, which will sell for
more than $j, ,GOO, 900.
IL - eidnhfu tHht bRflcuiture yetde0
To the Southern farmers in lS.7. SIS, ,O0O,-
600 more than in 1885, The yalns Of the
corn crop alone was 81, ,OO0, 600 greater in
lsS7 than in 1888
Over Sle0, ,0OO. 900 were spent 10 build
ing and equipiDg new and improving old
railroAds in the south last year.
The aggregate value Of III the prod ucts
Of the Cotton mills in the South was SA3. :
600, 900 in leS7 against s2l ,0Oo, 600 in
1888.
According TO q careful estimate in order
TO allow the South its proportion Of the
railroads Of the country 10 enable Il "a
transact its increasing business, il would
require by the time they cuuld be built
~, 600 miles in addition TO whst IL now
has. II the rails should cost $50 per ton