The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-11-09
MoRGANTowN, VIRGINIA. SATURDAY NOVEMBER g. 1885,

invested largely in coal lands be
tween Fairmont and Clarksburg, an,
has now over $4,000 acres. Price
ranging from $40 to $22 an acr
were paid for it. Two plants hav
been located within six miles O
Fairmont Five hundred coke oven
ale under contract, and fires will
probably be put in the smaller on
of the plants by December /. Tn
larger plant will be ready for opera
tion a month later. In regard t
these plants, the Register is able t.
make public secret which is know
only to chosen few. 1t was tn
original intention of the capitalist
interested in these enterprises t,
christen the little city, which i
springing up about the larger of tn,
plants, Camden. The honor was en-
tirely too great for the distinguished
Senator, and at the meeting fol
lowing the recent inspection tour b,
blushingly declined it. 1t was ther
determined to name the town Mon
onga, and give the same name to tn,
whole coal region. The works a
Mononga are the farthest north o
the series under construction. The,
will be called Mononga No. /. Tn,
Brumage plant will be Monongs
No. 2. and the Simpson creek plant
No. 3. In all these plants the com
pany intend to make trial of tho
Legge mining machine. A number
of the machines have been contract
ed for, and it is believed they vii
both lessen the amount of labor re
quired and cheaper the cost of min
ing When the three Mononga
works are completed the quiet West
Fork Valley will he the scene OF
busy industry, hitherto unknown in
its history. The fires from a thous-
and coke ovens will nightly light
the skies, and over three thousand
American workmen will receive re-
munerative employment. The hill
sides contain fortunes which only
the hand of industry is needed to
bring forth. Coal can be mined as
easily and coke manufactured as
cheaply as anywhere in the world.
With the fires once lit in the Mon
onga region, it will be many year
before the sharpest competition can
force them to he drawn.
A QUESTION OF WAGES.
After all, the wealth which the
coal industries of the Monongahela
valley may create, will be of little
avail if a fair proportion does not
find its way to the wage earners'
pockets. The men who dig in the
mines, and toll in the burning glare
of the coke ovens are the bone and
sinew. The wages paid at the Mon
tana works may be taken as fair
example of the whole region. Thir-
ty-three cents a ton is the rate for
common mining with an increase in
heading work. AT this rate good
miner averages from $500 to $500 a
day. Mr.. George Debolt, book
keeper at the Montana works, in
formed the Register representative
that the men draw from $50 to $75 a
month for their work. Few fell be-
ow the smaller figure, and the great
majority exceed il quite considera-
bly,. Since the day they were opened
5he Montana works have not been
die for an hour, work is constant
and steady within the very slightest
legree of variation. No serious la
DOR difficulty has occurred. The
same may be said of nearly every
other establishment in the vicinity.
It is a pleasing picture of happy
homes, busy men and prosperous in
lustry, that the West Virginia coal
region presents. A companion pict-
ire could be painted from the Con
lellsville region, where cheap for
,ign labor has made the dignity of
,he American workingman a mock
cry; where starving families are
crowded in novels, and disastrous
abor difficulties are the rule. That
t is possible for the Montana coke
maker to contend with such compe-
,ition, and yet pay reasonable wages
% their workingmen, is proof of the
wisdom of their methods and the
superiority of the territory they are
developing.