Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-11-09
WEST VIRGINIA WEALTH.
REMARKABLE ENTERPRISES eos-
TERED BY EX-SENATOR DAVIS.

~ esn-in-raw. stsvs Elkina, VIM Ssecssa
Hin. and the Faniiy WIN Bs ths nisA-
81 In Amorics-A wenan Now Csatrsis
sAs 0arrstt fntsrsssa
Especial corsaponiencsl
WARRINGTON. Oct 81.--One day last
week ! was In the city Of Wheeling, w.
Va At the railway station was an &C.
| quAintance, Capt. w. w. O'Brien, oneof
the prominent bankers Of the town and
now rich man. Said he; ION your way
east over the mountains you will see
some Of the railroads ex-senator Davis
and his son-in-law, Mr.. Elkins, ere build
ing. Perhaps you win bs interested in
knowing something Of Mr.. Davis and his
enterprises Thirty years ago I was .
porter wheeling . truck along this plat
form here. My pay was $3.50 day, and
thought was getting rich, because b.
fore that had been getting but ninety
i've cents day working In the nail mill
over there. remember very distinctly
tho day the first train on the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad crossed Wheeling creek
into this station.
"The conductor Of the train was Davis,
now the millionaire ex-senator. Before
that he had been freight brakeman.
Davis always had . way Of saving up
money. Before he left the road as con-
.ductor he had saved up snug little sum,
and he didn't take It from the company
either. At q little town up In the noun
tains he started q country store with his
savings. 1t was not much bigger at first
than freight car, and, II mistake not,
his start was made by throwing q coun-
ter across one end Of wrecked and
abandoned cattle car, which he boarded
up and swung a door on for his uses.
After time he started q bank in one end
Of his store, invested in lands and mines,
and began to grow rich.
"If ex-senator Davis lives ten or fif-
teen years." continued Capt. O'Brien,
''he will be one of the richest men in
America. He and his son-in-law are
constantly buying timber and mineral
lands in the interior Of West Virginia
at astonishingly low prices. They have
bought thousands and tens of thousands
Of acres of beautiful timber lands at a
dollar or two an acre--lands which will
be worth twenty-five or fifty times as
much as soon as railroad reaches near
enough to them to develop their re-
sources. Davis and Elkins are building
their own railways, thus bringing out
the value of their immense landed pos
sessions.
"The Davises are taking the place Of
| the CARROTS as the richest and most i'm
| portant family in this section Of the
country. While the CARROTS have been
having nothing but bad luck, the Davises
have gone right along, adding millions
to millions. The Baltimore and Ohio
road has not paid dividend for three
years, but the Davis enterprises have all
flourished. Actually, the Baltimore and
Ohio is now being supplanted in sections
Of this state by the Davis roads on &C
count of better management. Davis
himself, who used to be a freight braks.
man on the Baltimore and Ohio, is O
richer man than Garrett ever was.
"People may think there is luck in
this" added Capt O'Brien, "but can
see something better than luck. see
fundamental difference in the principles
governing the two families. The Gar
retts were brought up as votaries of
trained to business, to railroading, to
the management of large enterprises.
1t is well known that Robert Garrett
lost his reason through excesses in the
pursuit Of pleasure. Queer that this
great family should finally have all its
property como under the control of
woman. l was in this very station in
which we are now talking, a few weeks
ago, when special car rolled in. From
it stepped beautiful young woman, q
blonde, attired in a plain travelling cos
tune. Her eye appeared quickly to take
in everything-the station, the tracks,
the condition of the railway property in
general. She made inquiries of the men
who accompanied her, and gave some
directions. / asked who she was, and
Of the B. and o. railroad She was on
tour of inspection. 1t is said she has
actual and active control of the vast in
terests of the Garrett family, and that
under her management the property is
now in better shape than it has been at
any time during the last five years.
Snow. ex-senator Davis has no sons,
but he is determined that his race shall
not run out, and that the great property
he is building up shall not pass under the
control of strangers after his death.
Several years ago, he brought his son-in-
law, Elkins, back from the west and in
terested him in the Davis enterprises. 1t
is not necessary to say that Elkins has
been a valuable lieutenant. He is one
of the keenest business men in America,
a marvel of energy and resources. A
curious fact is that the ex-senator and
his son-in-law keep no books as between
themselves, and the extent OF individual
ownership in their property is not known.
Everything is in Davis name, which
means that it belongs to the family. FL
kins is thoroughly familiar with every
feature of the family's enterprises, and
on the death of Mr.. Davis will assume
control thereof. As his own boys grow
up, they will be trained in the manage.
ment Of railways and mines in time tc
take their fathers place.
''Another son-in-law Of Davis is Lieut.
Brown of the navy, tho Lieut.. Brown
who was such favorite with President
during the summer. AL his leaves of alb
sencs Lieut.. Brown spends in West Vir'
ginia. learning the details Of his father
in-law's business. am told he has made
special study of railway management
going out ON the trains, into the shops
with the construction and repair gangs
besides learning all about executive wori
In the general offices and at the head
quarters of the division superintendents
In due time Liert. Brown will probably
retire from the navy and become genera