Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1901-06-20
AROUND THE CIRCLE.

We left Shepherdstown soon after ten
o'clock on Tuesday, taking the train
at Martinsburg en- route to Hunting
ton. A fast train on the Baltimore q
Ohio Railroad whirls the traveller rap
idly through the beautiful mountain
scenery of West Virginia. Its wind
ing course along the Potomac to Pied
mont, thence straight up the noun
tain to Oakland, the descent on the
other side of the mountain and the
strikinglY beautiful scenery of the
Cheat river, is particularly grand and
lovely at this season of the year, when
the foliage is so fresh and green.
Our train reached Parkersburg at
ten o'clock at night. After rest
over night we took the train for Hunt
ington over the Ohio River Railroad,
following right along the Ohio river
the entire distance Of about 100 miles.
Huntington is one of the largest and
most progressive cities in West Vir-
GINA, and is pushing Wheeling and
Parkersburg for commercial suprem-
acy. Marshall College, the State
normal school there, is splendid in
stitution, its enrolment the past year
being $50. 1t is comfortably housed
in fine group of buildings in splen-
did campus right in the city, and is
valuable property that is susceptible
of the very highest improvement ow-
ing to its desirable location. Prof l..
J. Corbly is the able principal Of the
school and he is assisted by corps Of
teachers who are doing good work
and making a great success Of the
school. The commencement exercises
were held Wednesday night, and in
stead Of having orations by portion
of the twenty-four graduates, an ad-
dress was delivered by Prof Denny,
of Washington & Lee University, We
confess that we like best the old-fash-
Toned way of having the graduates go
out in blaze of glory to the sound
of their own oratory.
At midnight We took an electric
car for Kenova, that fartherest point
from Shepherdstown where West Vlr-
ginia, Kentucky and Ohio come to-
gether in corner. Here we took the
train on the Norfolk & Western Rail-
way for Athens. When we woke up
next morning we were in widest West
Virginia, and speeding through un-
told riches of coal along the Ohio ex-
tension of the N. & W. We passed
through the towns that have become
famous by the tragic events in which
the Hatfelds and other feudists have
had so conspicuous parts. Past Will
hanson, where some one bites the
dust almost every week, Matewan, the
Hatfield home place, past Panther,
Johnny Cake, Welch, Vivian, Elkhorn
and Abs Valley, we reach Bluefeld,
the most important town on the line.
A glimpse only in our brief stop at
Bluefeld shows it to be a hustling,
busy place, with substantial buildings
of modern designs and with every ap-
pearance of prosperity. The coal bus
mess over this road is immense. For
miles and miles there is an almost
continuous string of coke ovens, with
mines and tipples crowding each
other so close that many branch roads
have to run to give the operators
chance at the vast beds of splendid
coal underlying the mountains Of that
section. We can now assure our
readers who may feel timid over the
predictions of the time when the coal
supply of the world shall have given
out that they need not worry. West
Virginia has coal enough to supply the
nations Of the earth for all persons
now living and for their children to
the third and fourth generation.
There are simply mountains of it
and it is of the best quality, too. We
see one discouraging feature, however.
There is Republican majority of
coal miners and others in Mcdowell |
county that may well appall the stout
est Democratic heart. 1t gave us in
ward pain to note its immensely.
We left the train at Oakvale, and |
embarked in hack for Athens, eleven
miles away. Oh, what a road We
could not help being grateful that our
friend J. NJ. Hendricks was not there
to see it, for we know he would have
simply died from disgust. 1t took
four hours, and it was SO rough and
riding was so difficult, that we finally |
got out and walked in self-defense.
The road was new one, of excellent
grade, but so rough, so full Of ruts
and chuck holes, that it was terror