The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1891-10-26


most wonderful areas east OF the Nlissis.
s!ppi, covered with ~ vast primeval for
est and rnderlaid largely with what
Prof. |. G. White, oil the West Virginia
University, and Major jed Hotchkiss
agree In pronouncing q continuation OF
tho Pocahontas Flat Top and New River
cokinS measures.
This immense forest Is composed OF
the various varieties OF oak and OF pop
lar, large percentage OF which aver
ages from four 10 six feet In diameter,
and wild cherries from three to four
feet in diameter, and ash trees almost
equal in size 10 the poplars, black birch
from two to three feet in diameter, be.
sides spruce and hcmlocli, hard and soft
naples, cucumber, linn, rcd beech, otc.
But there is no room in this prclim-
mary sketch for more than more sug.
gestion OF tho extent and quality OF the
timber body and coal field Of tho eau.
Icy drainage. A virgin forest OF 500
square miles or moro, OF which the
West Virginia & Pittsburg Railroad
Company owns about 250 square miles
in n compact belt, extends, forty miles
between the Gaulcy and Greenbricr,
covering tho drainagcs OF the Williams,
Cranberry and Cherry rivers, which
reach up close to tho Grecnbricr on the
southeast.
How extraordinary that such aregion,
lying IN the very heart OF cs-Mississip-
pi civilization, should have remained
so long 4 traclilcss wilderness II might
have remained so stilllonger but for the
energy and sacacity OF Johnson n.
Camden, which have been worth mil
lions and millions OF dollars to tho State
OF West Virginia, and whose plans for
tho development OF the Potts creek iron
ore region will also add many millions
10 tho material wealth Of tho cold
Dominion" "But," rs Rudyard Kip
ling has trick OF putting it, that is
another story"
AT the point on the Gaulcy to which
the West Virginia & Pittsburgh is now
graded is q natural TOWNSHIP, where is
being built the railroad company's al
ready famous So ,000-icct-a-year lun-
Dor plani. This is at Lanes Bottom, in
Webster county, but tho new town will
be called by some other name, possibly
Camden. There are now 200 men ut
work on this enterprise. In addition to
its own lumber plants, the railroad COM
pany will encourage the building OF pulp
mills. tanncrics, furniture factories and
the like.
There is here convenient supply OF
both hemlock and oak banks for tan
neries, while, with an abundance OF
spruce linn, poplar and other soft woods,
with plenty of pure water, the facilities
for making wood pulp are unrivallcd.
Referring again to the great sawmill I
was informed that the railroad company
can take from its own land 100000
feet 4 year for thirty years, and by that
time the iirstcutting will be roplcnished
with second growth3.
Apropos OF new towns, one OF the
most inviting locations that know OF
is the point on the Grcenbrier river,
where the West Virginia & Plttsburg
meets the Chesapeake & Ohio. To this
point from the Gauley river, distance
OF only thirty-iour miles, the final sur.
reys have been made and the road is
ready to be let to contract. The site OF
the new town is now known us Martins
Bottom, and vote has been ordered in
Pocahontas county on tho question Of
moving the county seat thither. did
not see the place, but am told that it is
4 beautiful location.
The junction at Marlinton is the re-
sui. OF an agreement between the man
agement OF the West Virginia & Pitts
burgh railroad and that OF the Chesa-
peake g. Ohio. The latter road has
about twenty-five miles yet to build
from its Warm Springs extension, and
the West Virginia & Pittsburgh, as has
been stated, thirty-four miles besides
what is now ready ior track-laying, in
order to complete the connection from
Pittsburgh, IN Pennsylvania, through
the center OF West Virginia to Coving-
ton. Much OF this intervening country,
now 4 wilderness, will, so soon as the
connection is made, become the scene
OF industrial developments on u scale
seldom witnessed in this country.
| asked Mr.. Camden about The road
up Potts creek to open the 10000 acres
OF strictly minera! lands owned bya
syndicate of which he is member.
1iitt, NV Icplicu, Will Dc IN luuc-
pendent road with equal advantages to
the Chesapeake & Ohio and the West
Virginia 4 Pittsburgh. 1t will be built
in the near future, and will be about 80
miles long, from Covington on toward
the divide between Potts creek and Big
Stony, which latter runs through Nor
folk Il Western territory. This area
has been explored by ernnrts who have
exposed and opened the orc body in
more than fifty places, which show that
the slopes on either side, as well as the
valley itself, contain persistent bed oil
Oriskany orc from 20 to so feet in thick
ness. Most OF this orc will be made into
pig iron by furnaces to be erected along
the road upon tho svndicate's property,
and some will be shipped to furnaces in
Virginia. A large proportion OF the pig
iron produced on Potts creek will be
shipped to Pittsburgh"
ParssrsIarg ". "a, Oct. 10, 1891.