The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1888-03-01

tory Of West Virginia. Lying on boil
; sides Of the Allegheny range Of mou1
: talns, the State locks both east and Wel
and divides lts trade and commerce be
] tween the Mississippi Valley and tn
Atlantic seAboAFd. The BituAtion make
, It easy oi access from all the great center
Of population, and It's position in relation
10 the whole country and its markets 4
central, commanding aud important
\. POPULATION AND AREA.
The State has filty.lour cnuntIPs, with
population Of about 100000. Sixty PEI
cent Oi the working people In 1880 WeII
engaged In agriculture.
The area 10 q, $50 IquMe mile, more
than twics - largo IS the State Of Mary
land, two and q half times as large ~
Massachusetts, with 100000 population
and larger than Massachusetts,, New Jer'
sey, Connecticut and Rhode Island com
bined.
The Kingdoms Of Belgium and the Meth.
eflAndB have together population Of more
than 900, 900 people. The area Of West
Virginia 10 greater than the area Of both
combined.
WEALTH AND RESOURCES.
In 1880 the State had 62,G9I farms
covering 10. .225,Sil acres. The average oi
the cleared lands was f2l O5, wooded lRndH
50 80 per acre. In that year the hay pro.
duct yielded about s., ,000, 900 and the corn
u. .O0O. 900, and the value Of manufactured
products was mora than 81, ,OO0O 900.
West Virginia 10 trAyeusd from north 10
south, q distance Of about 240 miles, by
the great Appalachian gyBtem Of noun.
tAins, forming within the State two and
sometimes three distinct ranges, which
stretch In width from east 10 west Across
its borderu for nearly 200 mlnes.
Never falling springs and streams Of
water broke out from the sldes Of the
mountainV, making the State ons ol the
bsst wAtsrSd In the Union. TWothirdS
OF the State is undaTlRiI with coal, its area
reaching In extent sixteen thousand
square miles, more than that OF Pennsyl.
yania or England, while six nRyigRble
hvers flow throughitS bordsra.
Mountains, hills and valleys alternate
upon surface which 10 fertile from the
lowest valley 10 the highest summit.
The mountains and hills when cleared
yield AbundAntly the richest gratSss, max.
ing ErGLtng and dairy farms Of nnsuT.
passed excellence. The Allegheny Noun.
tains will yet largely contribute the dairy
products consumed on the Atlantic sea-
board and for export 10 Europe.
Within 800 miles Of tide water, and 100
miles Of the Ohio river, hundreds Of thou.
sands Of ECres Of good agricultural lands
In Weet Virginia can be bought for from
81 TO IS per acre; the timber on which
will pay Tor the clearing and fencing.
Those lands are uudsrlAid with coal, which
yisld from 5000 to . 1000 tons per acre, and
which will some day be worth, with
transportation facilities 10 market, ten
cents per ton royalty In the ground.
Fuel and transportation are among the
greatest factors and In certain sense the
greatest In this industrial age. Oiv!liEI.
tion and commerce, the necessitisS and
comfort Of man, are most dependent upon
the most Affected by them. Fuel Is the
more serious and the more important, be.
cause upon 1t mainly depends transports.
ton and the manufacturing intoTesis.
Oae einglo railway corporAtion-And
not the largest in the counlTy-consumC
annually 100000 tons OF coal, costing
about 5000 900 10 feed the engines that
draw its enormous Tonnage. In West
Virginia coal Is cheaper at tho mouth Of
the mines than In England. The State
ohers TO all railroads and Misunderstanding
interests within and contiguous TO It's
borders, the CheAps8t fuel In the world.
In 1885 Pennsylyania had 7.767 miles Of
completed railroad, Ohio !, 1925 miles, Viz.
ginia :. .673 miles, while West Virginia had
only l,039 miles. Thus surrounded by 6
net work Of railroads II cannot be long
before thOy will push across her bounda.
ries, furnishing adequate facilities for
transporting to market her rapidly in.
creAsing products.
ENIGRATIoS TO THH wEsr.
As isr back as 1920 the tids Of popula-
tiOn from the East to the West passed
over the Allegheny Mountains to seize
and occupy the fertile lands Of tho MIEsiE.
sippi Valley. After 1850 this great move
mGnt reached and occupied the lands be-
longing 10 the Rocky Mountain system
and the Pacific COST.
During the last seventy years all oI the
best and most available lands for aRricul.
tural In the West have been taken. is be.
coming difficult to ind low priced RRricul.
turAl lands there, or lands belonging to the
government suitable for agriculture, which
can be bought at the minimum govern.
ment price. The Great American Desert,
laid down in our early Biographies has
proven to be myth. It's to-day covered
with farms and furnishes grazing for mil.
lions Of sheep, cattle and horsss.
Tho tide Of population that for three.
quarters oi century has moved with such
perslstence 10 tho West 10 GbAting. 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 Allegheny
MountaiDg, the South, and the great
Southwest, A perCsptible percentage oil
our immigration is not now going West.
There ls no longer any frontier in the
West West Virginia and the states COW
ering tho Allegheny Mountains down 10
the Gull have become the frontier. The
next great step In the order Of National
progress and development is the cccupR.
ton of these atates, the appropriation Of
their great lofest5, and the opening up Of
their mines. They can, and will, largely
Ebsorb our increase in population, and
furnish employment, homes and business
opportunities for unborn milllonB.
Within the last thirty years the North
and West have enjoyed eras Of unexGm.
pied prosperity. The next great advance
in material prosperity must take place in
the South.
Alter lapse Of over q quarter Of cen.
tury, the South Ia beginning 10 emerge
from the pMGlysis, desolAtion, distress and
despair that hAyO hung over her people
and their industrial interests 50 the result
Of war and defeat.
The commercial relations with the
Northern States sTe becoming better and
more closely established. The routes oil
transportation and travel In this country
during the last forty years have been al.
most entirely from East TO West. This
will be 10 some extent modified "a the
South comeB into prominence and tRkeB
her true industrial position In the Union.
New routes will be established between
the North and South to meet the demands
Of increasing trade and commerce. The
great wealth ot natural resources belong.
ing to the South, united 10 free labor,
makes her development and progress Ger.
tain. The time is close at hand when the
South will not send away Its products 10
be manufactured, paying not only the
cost oi their transportation but 3 prob.
to the manufacturer, and tho cost Of
transportation on the manufactured Artl-
clea which its people consume. This
incubus 90 long resting upon the South,
hindsring and impeding her In the
march oi progress 10 Abou, TO be removed.
The South will not only manufacture
nearly everything needed for eonsump.
ton within ita oWa borders, but something
moro to soil to her neighbors and send
abroad.
PROGRESS IN THE SOUTH.
Up to 1861 there had mot been produced
In any single year In .he United States
moro than $50. 900 tons Of pig iron. Il Ia