Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1888-04-12

used in the building of railroads, canals,
naval and merchant marine of inland and
ocean commerce, together with those
which enter into the manufacture of agri-
cultural implements and hundred other
uses for which the soft woods Sre not
adapted. From tho foregoing, the answer
Is at once apparent. It must be from the
stately forests which cover the central
part Of the North American Forest Region
the second enumerated above. To the
eastward throughout the New England
States, New York and Pennsylvania, the
supply has been largely reduced. From
that section has been taken the timber
used in the ship yards of the Atlantic
coast, while almost the entire tonnage Of
the Ohio and other western rivers has been
constructed of material drawn from the
same source. But of that wonderful re-
gion, where grow to gigantic size the var
ious oaks, the sugar, hickory, maple, wal
nut, beech. cherry, mulberry, locust, &c,
West Virginia 0wDs, or embraces within
her confines Is, 2S0 square miles or 8, 779, 200
acres covered with dense forest standing
IN almost primeval grandeur. Whence
then must come the hard wood to be used
IN the various industries during the next
century? Shall British America furnish
it? No, for it is not there. Shall it be
brought from the Pacific coast? No, for it
is not there. Shall it be obtained from the
mountains and plains Of South America?
Certainly not, for the same reason that it
cannot be secured elsewhere. 1t must
come from the valleys, spurs and foot hills
of the Allegheny mountains, and West
Virginia is to contribute large propor-
ton oft. Hence, we ask: Do West Yir-
ginir land owners know or realize the
value of their possessions? We answer no,
for in the aggregate it cannot be estima-
ted. If they knew fully, the wauton de-
struCtiOn of the forests in the interior of
the State would cease at once. Instead of
betting" vast areas of the best aud there.
fore the most valuable timber on the Amer
lean continent and leaving 1t to decay, or
cutting it down and burning it simply to
get it out of the way of cultivation, let it
stand for time, and join in the effort
now being made by the State Immigration
aud Development Society, to induce cApi-
tai to come and build railroads and i'm
prove our. rivers so that our people may
realize handsomely on the timber and other
resources by putting them in the markets
of the world. Then will THE Little
Mountain State rival in wealth aud pros
perity her sister commonwealth.
The value of her forests has been rough
ly given st $50, 100000 Taking this esti-
mate as approximately correct, what a
wonderful change its realization would
produce! But when will it be? The State
may be hkened to merchant who buys
an immense stock of merchandise and then
puts up the shutters and closes the door.
Financial disaster would be the result, for
nothing but energy, combined with bust
ness tact. could insure success. So with
West Virginia, with her stores locked
away in the hills and mountains, where
nothing, save the energy and business en-
teTprise of her people, will ever enable
them to realize profits therefrom. Then
let them be up and doing, and the next
twenty five years will bring condition of
prosperity undreamed of by her boldest en-
thusiast. Let her forests, from the Shen
andoah to the Ohio, and from Hancock
county TO Mcdowell, be felled and
the products sold in a profitable
market, and then over her entire
area be spread smiling fields and grassy
slopes on which Craze ''the cattle on a
thousand hills" while the landscape is
dotted with comfortable homes, empowered
in fruitful orchards, around which, on hill
and mead, stand the school house and the
church. Here, on such scene, will dwell
a million happy and contented people,
whose intellectual development and moral
worth will entitle them to claim descent
from the men who a century ago spread
upon the records of the pioneer courts OF
our oldest counties copies Of the indict.
ments for profanity and Sabbath breaking,
Then will railroads thread our valleys and
dense columns of smoke from factories
ascend above the hills, and then will West
Virginia have become the California Of the
Allegheny slope.
POINT PLEASANT, W. VA April 10.