The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1900-04-20

Greene county. ..,....,....,.........&6 81, s9l
Fayette nly...................... S26l,l
- 80, -
| IOtal .......ss'..'..s.'s....'''. sSLusj,llI
Natural Gas,
The natural gas OF Greene county
would be great source of profit with
the building of the proposed railroad
through the county. At present the
Carnegie Steel Company has gas pipe
line extending from their works at
Braddock. Homestead and Duquesne to
their gas wells in Greene county, an
aggregate distance Of seventy-elght
miles, and costing over S1,5OO,OOO. The
Philadelphia Pittsburgh Company,
West Virginia Cwheellng) Natural Gas
Company and several other companies
have pipe lines extending from their
gas wells in Greene county. which cost
fully 81, 100000 more. with the building
of the. proposed Unlontown. waynes-
burg & West Virginia railroad, and the
proximity Of natural gas and It's conse-
quent cheapness. manufacturing plants
would be established along the entire
length Of the road.
There are four distinct gas belts in
Greene county They have scarcely
been touched by the drill, which means
large supply of gas for the consumer
locked up in its natural reservoir. The
gas, it is estimated, will last from flf-
teen to twenty years. When It be-
comes exhausted, the manufacturing
plants will have the Pittsburgh vein Of
coal to fall back upon, which, with a
thickness of from eight to ten feet. un-
derlies the entire length and breadth Of
Greene county,
Greene county is one of the richest
agricultural counties in Western
Pennsylvania. 1t touches on West Vir-
gInia directly east of Wheeling. adj
Joining Marshall county. This road will
bring the population of MonongalIa
and Marion counties. West Virginia,
and Fayette and Greene counties.
Pennsylvania, In much more conve-
nlent relation to Wheeling In fact,
the completion of the Uniontown.
waynesburg & West Virginia railroad
will bring Wheeling in direct
contact with more than n quar-
ter of n million people. 1t Will
bring to your commercial interests that
vast population, with practically no
railway competition. In less than five
years the developments along the line,
in mining and manufacturing plants.
will Increase this to more than half a
million. When we conslder the won
derful showing of western Pennsylva-
MIA this is making very conservative
estimate.
Coke at Wheeling's Doors.
Pittsburgh's principal advantage was
and is her close connection with the
great coklng district Of westmoreland
county and the coal fields OF Western
Pennsylvania, The coklng Goals OF
westmoreland county are being largely
worked out and the production of cox
ing is gradually shifting TO Fayette
county and the new developments on
the Monongahela river in the western
edge of the county, bringing thenew coke
plants within sixty miles OF Wheeling.
When the proposed Unlontown.
waynesburg & Wheeling railroad Is
completed the coking coal fields win be
right at the doors OF Wheeling. in fact
bring Wheeling into the heart OF the
Monongahela valley, into one great in
dustrial center. What this grand val
ley has been to Pittsburgh 1t will be to
Wheeling on the completion OF this
road. and II advantage is taken OF the
conditions thus brought about. far
greater results can be obtained, for we
are living In a fast age.
Here you have freight rates to the
great west and south titty cents per ton
less than Pittsburgh. while to the lakes
in the north your rates are the same
1t requires ton OF coke to make one
ton OF pig iron. Your steel works are
now paying at least fifty cents ton
over their Pittsburgh competitors. With
this road in operation coke will be de-
livered at the furnaces OF Wheeling and
the Ohio Valley at the same cost H.. it
is now delivered in Pittsburgh. Under
these conditions. with raw material laid
down in Wheeling at the same cost rs
in Pittsburgh. and the advantage
Wheeling has in the rates to the west
and south. and those TO the lakes and
the north the same as Pittsburgh en-
Joys, It doesn't take a wise man or
prophet to predict what the result viii
be. You will also be benefited in your
shipping east, as sixty miles are to be
saved via Unlontown and Connclls.
vile. Your city will be sixty miles
nearer the senboard.
Greatest Industrial Centre,
When the uniontown, wuynesburg &
West Virginia railroad is finished and
in operation, the city OF Wheeling viii
not only be one OF the best located cit
les In the beautiful Ohio valley hut the
greatest commercial and Industrial CEN
ter as far as natural and artificial adj
vantaEes are concerned, in the United
States
This road will cost, fully completed
and equipped. from S.5OoOOO to $1,000
900. It will have seven tunnels In the
approach to Wheeling; through the city
We have one tunnel 5000 feet, and
shorter one 500 feet in length. It Is not
what a railroad costs. but what = Is
worth when completed to the inhabl-
tnnts OF the region through which It