Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1892-07-25
UNCLAIMED RICHES
WEST TIRGINI1S HIDDEN RESOURCES De
SCRlBBD BY OUR
Travelling Correspondent Gilmer's Coal and Tim
ber-Discovery of Webster Springs-Senator
Camden to Erect Fine Hotel There
Silver and Lead Mines Formerly
Worked BY Indians.
Fyom O,r Trar,liag Correspondent:

From our TrGUsljag Correspondent
ADDISON, WEBSTER COUNTY, w. VA,
July 22.-Going up the Little Kanawha
the first coal above water level is
reached Just above Chenille, the coun-
ty seat of Gilmer county and the site Of
the Glenville branch of the State Nor
NAL School. A coal bank has been
opened here from which the town is
supplied, and it is good coal. The vein
is about five feet thick and crops out on
the hill side some 75 feet above the
river. Coal is found in nearly every
part of the county, the veins ranging
two and a half to sixteen feet In thick
ness, the latter in the southern part OF
the county. Samples OF Gilmer coal
have been tested and found to be excel
lent for cooking, equal to the best cooking
coal in West Virginia. The coal which
underlies Weir and Calhoun counties Is
also under Gilmer, so that above and
below water level together, Gilmer has
ccal enough to last for many years to
come, even though the county be
speedily developed. Many inducements
are offered to capital to open up the
county to the world by
means of railroad and
several have been the projects to do so.
The Ravenswood, Spencer and Glen
vile railroad, already completed TO
Spencer, is only about thirty-tive miles
distant from Chenille, and to get there
would pass through the richest portion
of Gilmer county. The Little Kama
wha Valley railroad, if ever built,
would have Glenville for one terminus
and the people hope that ere long they
will be In touch with the rest OF the
world by means of railroad connec-
ton. Richer than its neighboring
counties down the river in coal, Gill
mer has also more timber. over half
the county is still covered with mag
niicent oak forests. To great extent
the poplar timber has been removed,
but the oak is still practically I'M
touched in the greater portion or the
county. Indeed there are several i'm
nense tracts of timberland in portions
of the county where the timber has
never been cut at all. In the western
portion Of the county is some white
pine; but the oaks, black. white,
red and chestnut are the principal
kinds of timber. There are numerous
small saw mills in the county, bat they
do mostly local work only, the bulk OF
the timber being taken TO Parkersourg
or other points down the river to be
sawed. When stripped OF their timber
the rolling lands OF Gilmer will become
excellent farming lands. The hills are
high, but not steep and may be worked
with ease. The county is in the midst
of West Virginia's fine blue grass belt,
and no sooner is the land cleared than
a fine blue grass sod appears, making 1t
an unusually desirable grazing country.
But it also raises good crops. More
attention Is being paid to farming
throughout this entire section OF the
State and agriculture is, TO some eX-
tent, taking the place of timbering.
Gilmer has gotten the oil fever and a
well has been bored at Chenille. When
Just at the top of the Gordon sand,
with indications of considerable oil,
the well caved in and new casing was
ordered. In a few days IL will probably
be known Just what the well be. With
coal, iron, timber, fine farms and ex-
cellent educational advantages and
prospects of a railroad, Gilmer's pros
poets seem bright, and there is much
promise Of vast development in the
future.
Braxton county is in the very centre
of the State and while it has never been
known especially as a farming county,
for its coal, iron or anything else, I'M
less it be its timber, and may be sur
rounded by counties that will excel in
in some particular, it is one OF the best
all round counties in the State. II has
never been known as an agricultural
county and yet its crops turn out re-
markaby we'll Blue grass grows lux
uriously and makes the county desira-
BILE for stock raising. Corn and wheat
weld better than the average through
out the State and the farmers are pros
porous. Though nobody has ever con-
sidered Braxton one of the coal pro-
ducing counties Of the State, II is full
of coal, some of il cooking coal OF the
very finest quality. All it needs TO
come into the front rank is development.
Some ten years ago iron was made in
Braxton. At the mouth OF Strange
creek, twenty-five miles from Sutton,
furnace was built, which still remains,
where pig iron was made from native
ores and sent by way Of Elk river to
Cincinnati. The cost of transportation,
though, was too much and no more iron
is made there. Though stripped Of
good portion of its timber the lumber
Industry is still the leading one in
Braxton. Sutton, since the advent of
che w. Va. & 2. railroad, has become a
great shipping point for lumber. One
large concern with mill at Sutton, Is
said TO have now some twenty million
feet Of timber lying in Elk river above
Sutton, awaiting rise. With the de-
velopment Of the county by the rail-
road, Sutton has grown considerably,
and looks forward with great hopes TO
the coming of the Charleston, Clenden-
min and Sutton Railroad, now in course
of construction from Charleston to
Clendennin. Sutton is quite business
place, and is the banking point for an
immense territory on all sides. UnfOr-
tunately, on account Of the grades, the
main line Of the w. Va. & P. was turned
off at Flat Woods, six miles from SUIT
ton, which is now on q branch. From
Flat Woods over toward the Gauley
the road is being used for % miles, and
track-laying is being pushed rapidly.
By fall it is expected that the road will
run on over to Camden-on-the-Gauiey,
the new town where the largest saw
mills in the State are being erected.
They have been hauling for these mills
for over year. and by the first Of
August, or soon thereafter, it is ex-
pected they will be in operation, saw
ing thousands of feet of lumber every
day.
Nine-tenths Of Webster county is still