Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-03-03

ar rg,rt. to Increase Ger Territory Say
Lead 20 Her Utter ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Law Not Complied with.

Ger Efforts to Increase Her Territory 1ay
Lead TO der Utter AnnIhilatiOn-The
Law Not Complied with.
SDsetaS telegram 70 TIE Rsolsrs-.
CHARLESTON, w. VA, February %.
The controversy between the citizens
Of Summers county and those Of Mon
roe county in regard to the true boun-
dairy line between the two counties has
assumed a very interesting phase since
a search for the survey OF Summers In
the office of the Secretary Of State has
proved fruitless. The statute requires,
among other things, that when new
county shall be formed in this
State that a survey OF It's boundry lines
shall be filed with the Secretary OF
State. The survey of Summers cannot
be found, and it does not appear that II
was ever fled with the Secretary OF
State in compliance with the statute,
and unless this has been done Summers
county has no legal existence. It's be-
ieved here that il this survey cannot
be found, the territory comprised in the
county of Summers will lapse to the
counties from which it was originally
taken, unless new law forming the
county of Summers be enacted by the
Legislature.
This controversy arose from desire
OF the people Of Summers TO acquire
valuable strip from the western portion
Of Monroe county, commencing east OF
Anderson on the northern boundary and
running in a southwestern direction to
the State line between West Virginia
and Virginia, taking in the town Of Al
derson, Red Sulphur Springs, and other
valuable territory, and comprising IN
all about 100 square miles, more or less.
Summers claims that she is entitled to
this Cherokee Strip by true survey,
but the citizens Of that county may
have some difficulty in proving it, and
II they succeed in doing so,
the act forming Summers coun-
" would be challenged by Monroe as
unconstitutional
The Constitution of the State art. Q:
Sec. 81 provides that mo new county
shall hereafter be formed in this State
with an area OF less than 400 square
mi es and a population Of less than
5000, nor shall any county from which
new county, or part thereof, shall be
taken, be reduced in area below 400
square miles or in population below
G,OOO"
To take this strip from Monroe coun-
ty would have left less Of territory
than the constitutional requirement,
and the act forming the county would
therefore be unconstitutional. 1t would
seem that the people of Summers are
unwise to stir up this question OF a
boundry line, because they have much
TO lose and but little, II anything, to
gain.
In this connection IL is interesting to
note that there are only six counties in
the State susceptible of division-that
is, from which a new county can be
formed without drawing upon the ter
ritory of other counties. These are
Greenbrier, with an acreage Of 1000
square miles, Kanawha 200, Logan 500
Mcdowell SEQ, Pocahontas $50 and Ran
doiph l,OSO. Only 20 of the counties of
the State OesS than one-haif) have the
area required by the constitution to
form a new county, and could have no
existence had they not been formed
previous to the adoption Of the present
constitution. The average area Of the
counties Of the State is 456 and frac-
zion square miles each. The smallest
counties are the three upper counties
Of the Northern Pan Hande-Ohio, 120
square miles, Hancock 100, and Brooke