The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-10-26
pIITsBURG'S RIVAL.
The Upper Monongahela Coal Re-
gi0n in West Virginia.

Giving the Pittsburgers Much Concern
VIII Ruin Them in the Coal and
Coke Markets.
PrTTsBURG, Pa, Oct. 1S.-The
State development boom in West
Virginia, and particularly the new
coal, coke and railroad operations
now commencing in the Mononga-
hela Valley and those in the West
Virginia Central and Kanawha re-
gions, which are not so new, but no
less important, have set Pittsburgers
to thinking. The city has begun to
realize that she is about to lose her
prestige as coal and coke centre,
and something must be done to save
her. The fact that the Monongahela
region will, on the completion of the
new road between Fairmont and
Clarksburg, now under construction,
be able to ship coal and coke by rail
cheaper than by boat; that it will be
placed 1S9 miles nearer Chicago than
Pittsburg is, has created much alarm.
Nothing will save Pittsburg, it is
said, but the construction of the pro-
posed ship canal from Pittsburg to
Lake Erie
The Pittsburg Dispatch, of this
morning, thus sounds the tocsin of
alarm and stirs up the people of
Pittsburg:
WEST VIRGINIA DEVELOPMENT.
people interested in the proposed
canal from the Ohio river TO Lake
Erie should be put on their mettle by
the inroads some people are contem-
plating into the coal districts of Lo
gan, Marion, Monongalia and sur
rounding counties in West Virginia.
L. M. Jenkins Il Co., of this city,
have secured 1000 acres in Marion
county. The chief value it possesses
is that the vein is eight feet thick in
the clear and train of cars can be
loaded in the mines.
"This section is, by the Baltimore
Il Ohio Railway system, 1S9 miles
nearer Chicago than is Pittsburg,
and 60 miles nearer Lake Erie port |
1t is patent at glance that with
veins of the thickness mentioned, and |
shorter route to the Northwest,
the section mentioned will always
have the bulge on the Pittsburg dis
trict, that is on that portion of it
that must ship down the Mononga-
hela river. This territory is ada
cent to the railway built by ex-Uni-
ted States Senator Camden and 9TH
ers. To connect with Bellevernon
25 miles of railway are already built
from McKeesport, and 1000 men are
at work, who will soon open the coun-
try to the great beyond.
OTHER CAPITAL INVESTING.
"a number of capitalists, among
them is G. Kimberland, of Pittsburg,
have gotten up a company with $780,,
600 capital stock, and expect to be-
gin boring for petroleum and gas in
Marion county, West Virginia in six
weeks. They have leased 5000 acres
of land, and think they will get oil.
If oil should fail, the coal ander, and
timber on the land will pay largely
as soon as railway communication is
secured.
There are in Logan, Mcdowell
and other counties Of West Virginia
100000 acres of land that can be
bought, it is said, for So and under
all of it there are coal veins varying
from 81 to IA feet in thickness.
Many millions of money have been
spent in late years building railways
where no one lived, while some of the
most prosperous counties in the I'm
ion have none at all.
THE BIG CANAL OFFSET.
"This will not long remain so, and
if Pittsburg people do not want to
be day behind the fair in securing
market for their coal, and want to
prevent the establishment of blast
furnaces elsewhere, they will whoop
up the canal project with all their
might, soul and strength. 1t can be
put through 100 feet wide, II feet
deep, locks built and the banks piled
for less than $10,000,000, and crafts
can be constructed in which coal and
iron ore can be carried for one-fifth
the cost of railway transportation.
"Had the coal and iron interests
the push about them that some have
they would not wait for Uncle Sans
elephantine movements, but sail in
and have their coal floating to the
Northwest before West Virginia de-
velopment secures foothold. The
Kanawha coal operators, with navi-
cation three weeks earlier and three
weeks later, and with better draft of
water, will soon effectually take the
lower river market, but if Pittsburg
moves promptly it can secure the
Mort bWactS