Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-06-22

Short Sighted Policy Of the Recently
Defuuet Legislature.

FAILURE TO MAKE APPROPRIA-
TIoNS FOR THE GEOLOGICAL
" SURVEY LEAVES THE STATE
WITHOUT MEANS OF CoNTINU-
ING THE GOOD WORK BEGUN
AND CARRIED ON BY THE Ma
TIoNAL GOVERNMENT VALU-
ABLE MAPS AND DATA con-
CERNING WEST VIRGINIA All
READY AVAILABLE.
Specsal TO the Register.
WASHINGTON, d. c., June 21.--The
work of the United States Geological
Survey continues in West Virginia,
notwithstanding the failure of the plan
for cooperation with the State survey
aud the total discontinuance of the lat
ter on account of the refusal of the
last State Legislature to appropriate
the funds asked for to carry on the
work. In 1898 the United States Sur
vey established true meridians in forty
three counties, that work already hay
ing been done in twelve counties pre-
viously. These meridians are marked
by stone monuments. set up at the
county seats, to which are affixed metal
tablets with the appropriate inscrip-
tiCn. The cost OF these monuments
was $1,505 in all, of which West Vir-
ginia contributed $500, the remainder
being paid by the Federal Government.
The United States Survey has pub
lished twenty-six topographic maps of
portions of West Virginia, the set coy
ering nearly the entire State. These
maps are of great value to the settler
and investor. They show every char
acterlstIc feature of the landscape, in
Guiding rivers, creeks, ponds, springs,
sinks, railroads, tunnels, roads, trails,
bridges, fords, height above sea-level
at Intervals of 100 feet, and the loca-
ton of houses, towns and cities. From
one OF these maps it is possible tC OBJ
tain an exact idea of the nature of the
country, SO that preliminary surveys
may in cases be avoided. They are
sold by the Geological Survey for 5
cents each. 0 feven more value are the
geological aliases, which may be had
Tor 70 cents, containing in addition to
the topographic map several sheets
printed in colors, showing the precise
location and distribution of minerals,
arteslan water and various soils, and
the order in which the earth's strata
may be found beneath the surface.
These aliases are
A COMPLETE GUIDE
to the mineral resources of the State
Five of them have been completed. COW
ering in whole or in part the counties
Of Lewis, Barbour Upshur, Randolph,
Jefferson, Berkeley, Grant, Hardy,
Mineral, Tucker, Pendleton, Mercer and
Mcdowell Three others are nearly
complete. covering the counties of
Fayette, Raleigh, Wyoming and Boone.
This years work is being done in
Lewis, Gilmer, Braxton, Clay and Mich
olas counties
The Buckhannon atlas, the latest
published, is of interest because it
deals with a coal region as yet not
fully exploited. 1t has been fully pros
pected, but owing to the fact that
there is abundant coal of equal or
higher grade nearer the seaboard and
large centres of consumption, its mines
have been worked almost solely for
: local consumption. In this region,
comprising portions of Randolph, Brax-
ton, Upshur, Lewis and Barbour coun-
ties, there are three formations con-
tanning beds of coal that may be profit
ably worked. These are the .Pickens
sandstone, the Upshur sandstone and
the Braxton formation. The area of
the Pickens sandstone is nearly TAO
square miles. 1t contains coal veins
from three to four feet in thickness of
fair to excellent quality. Two coal
beds in the Upshur sandstone have an
area of 400 square miles and thick
ness of six to eleven feet. A third
workable bed in this formation has an
area of ITO square miles and thick
ness varying from three to six feet.
The BraXton formation covers an area
of about ITO square miles. 1t contains
two workable coal seams from two to
three feet thick, the best coal being
found in the Zwick vein. The whole
region just described abounds in excel
lert limestone.
Those who have charge Of the gov
ernmenL topographic ana geOiOSlcal
survey in West Virginia regret that the
State survey should have been discon-
tinued Prof. l. c. White, the State
geologist, had arranged for the cooper
alton of the
UNITED STATES SURVEY
in the preparation of a complete topo-
graphic map of the State to be COM
pleted in twelve years. This would
have cost a considerable sum, as the
expenses of the United States survey
alone would have been $40 600 year, in
addition to the cost of maintaining the
State survey, which was estimated at
$4,000 more. But the value of such
a survey would have been immensely
more than its cost" said one of the
topographers of the United States sur
vey. Il think West Virginia has taken
backward step in abolishing its State
survey. 1t is supposed by some that
the United States survey does all that
a State survey can do. but this is not
true. The United States furnishes the
base map and supplies general infor-
nation about the resources of the State,
but 1t does not advertise particular
properties nor go into the smaller de-
tails of local tOnOgran hv and r,ineraI