The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1892-07-30
THEN AND VOW.


The Changes Noticed In Our Town by q
Two-Time Visitor.
WEST UNION, July 22.-It was
early in the seventies that l made
my FIRST trip from Fairmont to your
town. We came by stage and, it
being the month of March, the roads
were in a fearful condition, the
horses every now and then breaking
through the frozen crust that hid
lake of mud beneath, and sending
the weary travellers head against
the side OF the coach with such force
as to cause him to cry out with pain
betimes. With many repetitions of
this kind of thing we at length arriv-
ed at our destination, having been on
the road exactly seven and half
hours.
AS we turned the corner from
Bridge street to Main crowd of
students at the post Office began to
halIoo, "Here comes Caney," and
kept it up till we drew up in front
of what is now a barber shop but
was then the post-office.
Ny impression of the town at that
time was that it was quiet out of
the way country town where people
made their living chiefly by lodging
and boarding the hundred or SO stu
dents in attendance at their college
/ was told that the town was nearly
one hundred years old and thought
to myself that it was likely to be
two hundred before it ever amount
ed to much as business centre or
did anything to attract people thith-
er who must earn their daily bread.
But in thinking thus find, after an
absence of eighteen years, that l
erred quite considerably, and l am
glad to know that my surmises did
not prove correct. This time came
over from Fairmont in little more
than one hour, quite change from
ride of seven and half hours in a
stage coach, behind a pair of horses
that looked like they haG done SER
vice since the beginning of the cen
tury. By inquiry Learned that you
had had'a railroad since So and slack
water for two years. In place of
dingy oil lamps found natural gas
and electric lights and instead of
poisonous well water liquid called
by the citizens of the town "moun-
tain daw," and it does come from
spring on the mountain side, eight
miles away.
During the tine between my two
visits one hotel has been built, an
other enlarged, many new and fine
residences, especially on the avenue
leading to the University, two new
churches, two new college buildings
and above all magnificent temple
ofjustice, said to be the finest in the
state and certainly the finest have
seen within her boundaries, have
been erected. From the way the
town has extended her limits in
every direction she must by this
time have a population of at least
two thousand, and every one seems
to have employment of some kind.
There do not appear to be many
manufactures as yet but few are
doing a profitable business in max
ing furniture, brick, foundry pro-
ducts and other articles in daily de-
mand at home or in markets now
readily reached, and / understand
other manufacturing plants are con-
templating locating here.
One thing l almost forgot to men
ton is the noticeable change in the
condition of your pavements, from
dilapidated boardwalks, uneven
stone pavements and no pavements
at all, to broad brick walks in every
part of the town. In the way of &C
commodations for pedestrians the
streets of your town are surpassed
by those of no other town in the
state which it has been my pleasure
to visit.
With so many great improve
ments in the space of very few
years and the prospect of the early
completion of your railroad to Pitts
burg / see no reason why Morgan
town should not in the near future
more than quadruple her population
and become one of the firsttowns ofthe
state in point of business and wealth.
l have already made this sketch of
the changes l have noticed since my
first visit too long and will only add
that none will be more pleased TO
hear of the growth and prosperity of
your town than the writer of this.
J. Q. L.