New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-02-23

rrRoM STAFF CORRESPONDENT OF TEE TRiBU"E
The best view of the capital Of West Virginia is
attained from the opposite bank of the Ksnawha
aiver. where the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway
runs underneath a high bluff: and ii is a beauti-
full picture The town lies on a high plateau at
the junction of two rivers. and is surrounded by
hills rising to the dignity of mountains. From the
handsome bridge connecting it with the railway
station broad glmpses of substantial brick struct
ures and broad streets open before the eye, with
distant vistas of farming lands and winding river
Whether Charleston is entered by daylight when
the details OF most picturesque scene are clear
est, at night. when the lights of the town
CLEAN across the dark waters the effect Is most
pleasing and impressive. This favorable impress
sion Is strengthened when the city Is explored III
detail and its public buildings and tas'eiui resi-
dences are admired 1t Is thrlvins' haHuso'
town. with an agreeable and cultivated society.
and tone of hopefulness and confidence pervad-
ing all classes.
Charleston like everything else trat is pro-
rress;ve in West Virginia is essentially new; but
n bas its traditions and "reminiscences of print
tive pioneering On one Of the upper floors OF the
Capitol is the State Museum. containing the West
Virginia exhibit from the Worlds Fair and the
Interesting collections Of the Historical and Anti
quarian Society. The secretary. Virgil A. Lewis.
instnctvely conducts the visitor to the corner
where relics Of Daniel Boone are displayed and
the president. John p. Hale, needs slight pressure
TO induce him 10 talk about the great hunter and
trapper whose bographers have paid little atten-
ton TO his residence of ten or twelve years in Ia
nawha County. Of which Charleston is now the
centre Of business activity. 4 most interesting
chapter Of the explorers life could be based upon
his adventures and experiences among the noun
tains and forests Of West Virginia "a a trapper.
G-ht c1,t.r
1t was the transition period between his life in
Kentucky and Missouri. and uneventful
In comparison with the more exciting passages of
his history that 1t has escaped observation. al
though painstaking investigators like Mr.. Hale
have done much to repair neglect What was
true Of Boone's experiences in these vast forests
was equally applicable TO West Virginia. For
the greater par OF century after the era OF
pioneering it remained unknown country. with
vast resources Of wealth unsupported and neg
lected.
Virginia from the reconstruction period has as
sumed that West Virginia ought TO pay one
third Of the ante-war debt incurred for railways.
canals and internal improvements. This has
been the basis OF all arrangements made with
creditors and bondholders and has been arbi-
trarily established on rough estimate Of the
territorial area Of the divided sections OF the Old
e,a liability for a proportionae share Of the
old indebtedness of the State. has not been
prepared to concede the right of the people OF
Virginia to settle the matter themselves With
out reference to this burning question. which Is
still In dispute between the Legisla lures OF the
two States. II may be confidently asserted that
the division Of the State was great stroke or
good fortune for the western section. Before
the little attention was paid to the richest
portion Of the domain Of the Old Dominion. 1t
was despised as a mountainous wilderness IN
habited by an ignorant. non -slave-owning popu-
Iation Beyond the privilege Of paying taxes for
Improvements which benefited chiefly the older
section Of :he State the hardy mountaineers and
backwoodsmen were left to shift for themselves.
At the opening OF the war single railway line
pierced few Of the northern counties, and half
q dozen small coal mines were ineffectively oper-
atcd The natural resources of West Virginia
we're many times greater than those OF the re-
mainder Of the commonwealth but nothing mad
been done develop them. West Virginia was
virtually an undiscovered country
Everything is now changed. West Virginia is
to-day fourth in coal and second in coke pro-
ducton and her enterprising men, Ike Governor
MacCorkle. forecast that at the present rate or
progress she will be third in few years ana
marching rapidly toward the first place This
last twenty years West Virginia mined in
1876 less than 100000 tons Of coal and produced
very little coke In 1893 her coal product ex-
o.sded 10 700 600 tons and in 1894 her coke
amounted to 942S 900 tons. The iron industry has
also made remarkable progress. During the
same period her timber resources have been de-
veloped with corresponding energy. until her an
nual product exceeds 1250O00O0 feet Of poplar
80 900 feet of spruce and 600 feet OF hard
wood. But the newest marvel Is the production
of oil which amounted to 1944s barrels In 1885
and now ranges between 100000 and 100O0OOO
barrels. 1t is most invigorating to hear men like
Governor MacC)rkle talk about the future Of this
great industrial State whose golden sands have
hardly been pricked and whose forests and mines
have barely been scratched. There is no South
ern State which stands in less need Of the arti-
fetal stimulus Of booming" There broad
and solid foundations for its Industrial prosperity
and investors who attracted by the prospec-
fuses of railway and mining companies hardly
need to be warned against premature creduiity.
There are now three great coal roads connect
ing West Virginia with the seaboard. and several
important state roads. and the construction Of
the line along the Elk River from Charleston 70
sutton. which is now IN progress VIII complete
the circuit Of interior communications OF the state
by opening Of the richest coal and timber
districts There is railway mileage OF 1000 In
active operation. when fifteen years ago there
Was less than 900 miles: and the system OF water
communication with the Ohio and Mississippi val
ieys mas been greatly improved during the same
perloo with the Pocahontss coal field and the
eouthern counties pierced by the Norfolk and
Western. with the New-River and Kanawha belts
opened by the Chesapeake and Ohio with the
northern coal. iron and oil districts developed by
the Baltimore ana ONO, and with Tygarts Val
ley and the counties OF the western harder re-
sounding with the trundle Of carwheels and the
hum of orderly industry West Virginia has bean
transformed since the war from a siIen, wilder
ness bordered by sparsely populated farming val
leys into prosperous mining and lumber State
Rapid recent progress has been the re-