Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1891-05-09
EASTERN PANHANDLE PROGRESS.
Growing Charlestown, at the Gateway OF
the Great Shenandoah Valley.

the Great Shenandoah Valley.
AS so many of our citizens in the city
OF Wheeling and so many OF our readers
in other portions of the State are inter-
ested as stockholders and otherwise in
the Charlestown Mining, Manufacturing
and Improvement Co., which is engaged
in the work of developing at Charles
town, we thought it would De interest
ing to all concerned TO get the views OF
Forrest w. Brown and r. A. Alexander,
two of the officers of the Company,
whom we found at the Mcclure House
last evening.
'Tell us something of what has been
done at Charlestown?" they were asked.
"As you know, Charlestown is in the
center Of the county of jefferson, which
is, agriculturally and otherwise, among
the richest of the counties in the two
Virginias. 1t is town Of 1900 inhabi-
tants, prosperous aud with steady
growth. situated at the intersection Of
two great trunk lines Of railway, tO-wit,
the Norfolk ond Western, and the Balti-
more and Ohio; one connecting link
between the North and South, and the
other between the East and the West:
it has as fine railroad facilities as any
place in the country. Besides this,
along the Blue Ridge Mountain, Il few
miles from it, are what expert miners
declare TO be ineXhaustible supplies of
iron ore stretching miles along the east
side of the Shenandoah river, while
nearer to the place on the east side of
said river, for miles, can be found fine
deposits of richer Brown Hematite ores
of variety and superior quality
"Have these ores been developed"
"Only partially: but so far with mag
nifcent results. About six miles from
Charlestown an old bank has been oper-
ated, and the ores therefrOm are being
shipped at the rate of fifty to one bun
dred tons day to the Pennsylvania and
Maryland furnaces, for the manufac-
ture of the finest grades OF iron, and
the same work is going on at several
other places in these vast hematite de-
posits. We speak particularly of this
one ore bank because it has been visited
lately by IRON men from various sec
tions of the country, who have pro-
nounced it the finest and most prolific
deposit of ores south of the Potomac.
"What has your Company done since
its organization last fall?"
"After selling $325,OO worth of
stock, which it offered for sale. our
Company closed its books on the 9th
day of October last. This stock had
been judciousy distributed and our
stockholders, about nine hundred in
number, are prosperous business men in
rich and prosperous sections of the
country. We have few in Canada and
in London, but they principally reside
in the States of Pennsylvania, New
York, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia,
Connecticut, Massachusetts, in Wash
ington. ID. c., and in Wheel
ing, Charleston, ClarkSburg, Fairmont,
and various points in West Virginia.
In the city of Wheeling and neighbor-
ing points in Ohio, we have over sixty
stockholders, and they are all mutually
interested in the development under
taken by our company. Since Nov. LIST,
our company has secured a number of
manufacturing industries, which en-
ploy, in the aggregate, about six humid
red hands. Most of these secured indus
ties are manufactures removed fromNew
Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York.
Besides these there is on file at the COM
pany's Office about Seyenty-fivc applica-
tionS from manufacturers who contem
plate removing to CharleStown.
"Why is it that Northern marufac-
turerS select your placed
For many reasons. The rich coun-
try that surrounds it, its superior eli
mate, its competing railroad facilities,
its deSirablity as home, but more par
ticulary because it is midway between
the North and South. A manufacturer
removing to CharleStown from the North
is close enough to retain all Of estab-
lished trade, and at the same time
so near TO the raw materials
that he seeks to increase the
profits oil his business and at the same
time can enter the new fields OF the
South. What else has your company
done? 1t is now erecting a large hotel,
an Office building, and some forty houses
are being erected on its land TO accom-
modate the influx OF population. 1t has
constructed a belt railroad connecting
the two railroads and on this belt line
all Of the largest manufactures are 10
Gated. Arrangements are being per
fected for the removal and erection
OF structural iron works and roll
ing mill. 1t would take up too
much time and space to give you the
exact details of our progress. but we
hope and know that most Of our stock
holders, and Others who seek invest
ment. will come 10 CharleStOwn on the
18th. l4th and 18th of May, the day set
for the first sale OF lots, and examine
for themselves.