Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1891-01-01

for was that it was the place of stopping
for the stage-coach. The National road
was then the great thoroughfare from
the east to the west, and at the hotel all
the stages stopped going east or west,
some fifteen or sixteen day. And who
of the boys of that time does not ren1em
Der the stage driver? Who of the boys
of that time did not go over the hill to
ride in on the boot? Who does not re-
member Old Black Hawk, Dave Johnson,
Old joey Smith, Phil Carter, Billy Ewing,
and Frank Cochran and the dozen others
of these men who to US as they mounted
their stagecoach and took the reins were
very high and important persons, more
interesting than Santa Anna or General
Jackson? To many of you there will be
no recollection of these men and their
appearance. The physical history of the
old building was that it was commenced
in March 1919 and finished in that year:
as you all know it was torn down in 1890;
1t lived its three score years and ten and
more. But what wonderful things it saw
during its life, and how many remarkable
things We saw who watched it from the
year it was built. The first steamship
that plOughed the Atlantic Ocean, the
first steamboat that ever moved upon
the Ohio, the first rail that was ever laid
within the State, the first telegraph line
that ever was put up within the county
or State, the first telephone and the first
electric car, the first cablegram that ever
passed around the earth passed since that
old hostelry was begun and ended. Many
things l say, it saw But, ladies and gen.
tlemen, l am occupying your time longer
than | ought and longer than | intended; !;
| merely wanted to draw your attention
so that you might think of it. 1t was
built by man named William MGseley,
who was brick-layer and an architect,
who was at that time as the records of
the court will show, famous in that way,
as he has also been famous in building
other buildings for the county, and his
name comes down to us as one of the old
architects and builders of the comfy.
But, ladies and gentlemen, where, where,
to-day are the hands that laid the brick,
that mixed the mortar; where are the
broad shoulders that carried the hods,
that built the old Hotel? Like the
Knights of the old temple, in the Ian
guage of TennysOn, "Their swords are
rust, their good steeds dust, and their
souls are with the saints we trust" and
there l will leave you.
TOAST Belmont County
Hon. c. L. Weems. In responding Mr..
Weems said:
Mr.. President and Ladies and Gentlemen:
Whoever will take map and examine
the northern boundary of the United
States will be struck with the great and
extraordinary bend to the South which it
makes when it touches our own State.
The western half of our country is bound
ed on the north by the 49th parallel.
That parallel-the northern boundary of
Washington, Idaho, Montana, Dakota
and MinneSota-is five hundred miles
farther north than the most northerly
point of our own State. East of us the
difference is equally remarkable. The
southern boundary of Massachusetts is
farther north than the northern bounda-
rary of Ohio. You may start from the
city of Cleveland, cross Lake Erie, travel
three hundred and fifty miles through
the woods of Canada, and you are still in
the latitude of the northern point of
Maine. 1t is one hundred and forty miles
from st. ClairSville to the Canada line.
1t is seven hundred miles from st. Clairs-
vile to the Gulf of MeXico-and yet there
is as much of this country north of us as
there is south of us. The North taken
from ocean to ocean is in the shape of
wasp; the State of Ohio is the waist of a
wasp.
| have called attention to these facts
because of the profound influence which
in my Judgment they have exerted upon
the career of the State of Ohio in general
and of Belmont county ifr particular.
The time has not been long since the
only highways of human intercourse and
traffic were the natural highways of the
loIv flne f.Al
bought Louisiana of France in order that
they might control the mouth of the
Mississippi. They believed that its
waters were. destined to float the trade of
the West to the sea. Their children knew
better. We live in an age of steam; the
railroad has taken the place of the river;
the lines of commerce ON this continent
run east and west, and it has resulted
from this simple fact of geography-from
the fact that our State occupies this mar
row peninsula between the two empires
of the East and the West that there is
scarcely trunk line of railway connect |
ing the Atlantic seaboard with the Mis- |
SiSSippi Valley that does not cross her |
territory; and in addition to these she has |
a amagniticent river on the south and the |
wonderful chain of lakes on the north
/ know of no more striking illustration |
of the influence of geographical position |
on the fortunes of human society Ohio |
is one of the small States of the Union, |
and yet among the fOrtyfour sisters of |
America she lifts her head as fourth in |
population and power, and first in the
distribution of happiness and prosperity |
among her people. This great combina-
tion of highways made by nature and by
man has brought together within her |
shops the products of every section, and |
pours through her busy gates commerce
such as no man can compute.
And now, Mr.. President, know of no
county in the State which enjoys great
er share of these advantages than the
county which is your home and mine
Seated in the beautiful valley and on the
shore of that great river itself, one of |
those mighty iron bands along which |
rushes commerce greater than that of
the Mississippi enters, her eastern border
at Belaire and divides her territory into
two almost equal parts. The Pennsylva-
mia system enters the State a few miles
north of her northern line, and sends
down along her river front branch that
is perhaps as advantageous to her indus
tries as the main line would be. These
great highways of the road and river. and
others that have come in, have filled this
county with the glory of diversified in
dustries; on the one side as fair and
goodly stretch of farm land as any por-
tion of the State can boast-rich fields
and happy homes, independence, com
fort and prosperity, and on the other side
the marvellous life that throbs in that
great valley, lit up by furnace fires, re-
sounding with the roar of machinery, and
sending up that cloud by day and pillar
of fire by night, that as in the journey of
old marks, the sight of a mighty encamp-
encampment of the wondrous
and works of the strength,
of power, of civilization and the genius of
industry.
think too that the people of this coun-
ty ought to be congratulated on the
blood that flows in their veins. That
matter of blood is important-more so
than these natural advantages of which