Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-07-18
CALHOUN AND WRIT
NATURAL WONDERS FOUND IN THE LITTLE
KANAWHA VALLEY.
The Unbroksn Forests of Oak and Chestnut Gov
sring Calhoun : Writ the Scene Of the
Early Oil Excitement = A Blue Grass
COunry-POlidcS Warming Up
From our 7,cp.lino Correspondent.

about as crooked stream as one Oleou
sees. Horseshoe bend follows horseshoe
bend, aud one never knows on Little
Kanawha steam boat from which side OF
the boat the sun will be shining in the
next five minutes. In one place, by ac-
tual measurement OF railroad survey
ing corps, one point on the river Is out
1 800 feet distant, across the country,
from another point seven miles above.
The distance by river between given
points is thus about doubled. From
Elizabeth to Creston is twenty-six miles
by river, twelve by land. Daily packets
ply between Parkersburg and Creston,
fifty-two miles above, which is in ordin-
airy stages of water the head OF
navigation. From here goods are
hauled to Calhoun and Gilmer
counties. In high water seasons the
the boats can go farther up stream and
have reached Chenille at times.
The sources of the Little Kanawha
extend into Upshur and Webster coun-
ties, and almost into Randolph, and
from the very head timber is foated
down on every rise. For ten miles
above its mouth the river is lined on
either side with enormous RATS OF oak
and poplar logs, among which some
were noticed fully sixty feet long and
straight as an arrow. Most OF the
timber comes from Calhoun or
the counties above. Wood and
Writ have been about stripped
of their timber but in Calhoun fully half
the county has been untouched and the
farther up one goes the more timber is
standing. For mile or two back from
the river and streams the poplar timber
has been cut in Calhoun, but the oak
still stands in unbroken forests and COW
ers over half the county. The timber
land can be purchased for less than the
timber on it will bring. Besides oak
and poplar there are some other kinds
Of timber. Walnut and pine have been
mostly taken off. Chestnut aboundS
and the owner Of a small saw mill near
Grantsville has made for himself a
home, rough outside, but finished
palatially within in quartered
chestnut. The wood work in
this modest country home surpasses
that seen in many pretentious city
residence. Numerous small sawmilIS
are located along the river and up the
little tributaries. but most Of the tim
Der is foated down the river TO Parkers-
burg. At Elizabeth are three large
saw mills and the smoudering ruins OF
the bung factory, recently burned,
which covered six or eight acres, all or
which was swept clean by the flames.
Nothing but useless machinery and
blackened sawdust remains.
Neither Writ nor Calhoun has any
coal. Small seams crop out OF the
mountain sides, but not of workable
thickness. Both are underlaid, how
ever, with good, big seams. Veins OF
from to 10 feet have been found hun
dred feet down, when boring for oil,
but so long as there is 50 much coal
above ground in West Virginia, it will
not pay TO mine this.
Writ county was the scene of the
early oil excitement. Away back in '61
Burning Springs was quite town. Ex7
Senator Camden, the late Judge Gideon
d. Camden, Judge jackson, and the
late Judge George w. Summers, OF
Kanawha, the RathbOnes OF Parkers-
burg. the Pettys and many others, now
prominent people in the State, were
among those who made money then inoil.
oil. Senator Camden, owner OF so many
West Virginia railroads and forests, is
said TO have gotten his start on the
road to fortune at Berkeley Springs In
the first days of the oil excitement.
There were no two or three thousand
foot wells then; oil was found at 96 to
800 feet and in q short time the whole
territory was punctured like pepper
box. On 500 acres at Burning Springs
there were at one time 300 wells. Then
came the war and in '63 the Confederate
General Jones set fire to the place and
the entire field was swept by fire. In
1865 the excitement broke out anew but
it was not long till the oil played out.
There were no modern methods In
vogue, the wells were not Cased and
when bored deep enough the water
came in and they were crowded out"
But few remain productive and the
town, consisting Of half dozen delapi-
dated houses, a few leaky gas pipes and
scores of piles Of old rusty machinery
with an occasional walking beam, is
now about as dead as it can be. A well
bored to depth OF about 1000 feet last
week shows up we'll and prom
ises a hundred barrels when drilled
a little deeper. While some made
their fortunes in oil, many lost, and
the value of the oil taken out never
eoualed the amount Of money sunk in
the oil field. 1t was magnificent ,oil,
though, and brought from S. 10 IS per
barrel. The best of it Is said to have
refined 90 per cent. pure. In the early
DAYS the oil was barreled, the barrels
RATED like logs and hoated down to
ParkerSburg.
The Little Kanawha Valley has some
excellent farming lands. Blue grass
grows luxuriously and spontaneously on
many mountain sides, and sheep and
cattle are easily raised. The soil is
good and produces fine crops wherever
titled. Particularly is this fruit coun-
try, some magnificent specimens
being seen in Writ. Blackberries and,
raspberries of excellent flavor and size
grow along the roadsides.
All the towns from Parkersburg to
Chenille are connected by telephone
and hope some day to see the Little
Kanawha Valley railroad built. Re-
Gently new interest has been manifested
in this and eastern capitalists have been
over the proposed liIe What the out
come will be is not now known. The
extension OF the lock and dam system
would prove Of great value to the upper
valley, though railroad is more need
ed.
Elizabeth is a lively little place Of
about Thousand, peopled mostly with
Pennsylvapians and Ohioans. Besides
the Court House, il has three churches,
two schools in the independent school
district, two hotels, as many news
uapers, numerous lodges, and a -four