Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1888-05-19

Cn6 river. tnen ON the OCtief, auu
again crossing over the B. & o. It
seems to have had easier grading
than the old line, as it runs on the
river banks, and not along the ledge
of rocks.
Getting up further into the noun
tains, we were reminded how some
people have to shift for the want Of
tillable ground. There is little room
for gardens in many places. and
women could be seen at work bank
ing up ground along the mountain
sides, where they raise scant taste
of vegetable food. In other places
they could be seen securing their
porches and steps, with falling Gin.
ders all around. Such housekeeping
and gardening would be discouraging
to our town housekeepers where
cleanliness and fertility are amongthe
arts and sciences. But these noun
tain people are used to their situa
ton and make the best of it. We
must credit them, too, with having
made ita virtue and with being more
modest and retiring in disposition
than many of greater pretentions to
refinement; for it is a common im.
pulse with them to retire from the
door and windows as a train passes
by, while in other places curiosity
gets the better of the weaker sex
and they rush in full view to see a
passing train.
The B. & o. passes over contin.
nous mountain range, but not
through a very great timber coun'
try. The lumber districts lie of
further in the interior, where rail
roads are being pushed. The tim
Der along the mountain sides is
mainly stunted oak that is worth
nothing at all. The more valuable
wood has been cut down and foated
out. The land is entirely devoted
to grazing purposes. For this reas
on much of the timber is girdled,-
that is, ring cut around the tree to
prevent the sap from ascending; the
trees then die and the branches fall
ing off and decaying enrich the soil
without obstructing the passage Of
cattle or retarding the growth of the
grass, as would be the case were the
trees cut down green. When left tc
die standing the wood becomes dry
and after being cut down is easily
burnt up. A hundred years age
timber IN many of the older states
was as worthless as it is now on the
AIleghanies, with the difference that
much of the mountain country will
never be good for anything else than
raising timber and grazing cattle.
The wood that brought it's market
price, such as walnut aud poplar,
has been cleared out long since
the rest must be destroyed or go to
its natural decay. The hills and
mountains that have been cleared
are now green with grass, on which
cattle are raised. In the winter a
short supply OF hay is provided in
stacks with fences around, with
which tina cattle are kept alive over
the cold season, and when the grass
starts in the spring they soon pick
up and in the fall are ready for the
eastern farmers who fatten them up
over winter and ship them to the
city markets. All the pastures in
this mountain country, whether on
the hill top or mountain side, are call
ed meadows, where in the eastern
states meadow means low ground
along a run or creek. Another pc.
culiarity of this mountain country is
that the residence of most people is
not designated by roads, but on
water courses, as on Big Skin Greek
or Little Skin Creek, on Hunters
Run or some other stream, if only a
mountain spring.
The crossing of Cheat River at
right angles and without a pe:cepti
BILE descent from the mountain into
deep gorge, is one of the wonders
to traveller unacquainted with
mountain engineering as much of a
surprise as Cheat River itself, which
seems only a few inches deep or at
most foot, but when entered on
loot or by horse it is often found to
he three or four feet deep,-hence its
name Of CHEAT.
AS for curves along the B. & o.,
the train varies from one direction
of the compass to another every few
minutes. But it is nothing compar-
ed to the Kingwood and Tunnelton
road, where some delegates said the
curves were so sharp that a passen-
ger on the rear of a train can beg a
fresh supply of the weed from the
engineer in his cab.
At Ironton is representation on
O small scale of what the manufac.
turing establishments ofthis country
would come to under free trade prin.
ciples put in practice. The iron fur.
mace there has been abandoned, and