Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1902-02-01

/ WC>b fHktHth UeStAHtu To LPHu the
| World In coal production before many
| Years--in Steel the State Ii Far Be-
hind Many OF her Competitors but she
WIN Improve.
The Director OF the Geological Sur
vey has made public an abstract Of
the report on the mining industries
OF the Appalachian region. This
| region, he says, is the seat of the
greatest mineral industries of the
country, either ia the production of
raw materials or Ia their manufac-
ture in some higher form of finished
product Coal and iron are the bases
| OF the regions industrial wealth. A
brief review shows that this region
furnished over 5000, 900 long tons OF
iron ore OF the total OF little over
81, 500, 900 tons for the whole country.
The Lake Superior region in Michigan,
Minnesota and Wisconsin furnished
about 20, 500, 600 tons, leaving some
thing like |, 900, 900 tons for all the
rest Of the country.
The abundance OF fuel OF the region
compels other sections to pay tribute
TO 1t. The iron ores of Cuba alike
find their way to the furnaces OF
Pennsylvania. West Virginia shows
how powerfully transportation affects
the region within itself, and takes
from one State to feed another. West
Virginia produced in 1900, in round
numbers, 1900 900 short tons of
bltuminous coal, a,747, 600 tons OF
coke, 1920, 600 barrels of crude
petroleum, and natural gas TO the
value OF about %, 600, 600 aud she in
credited with only 1866, 1853 long tons
of pig iron, and her production OF
steel and manufactured iron was not
sufficiently important to cause her to
be distinguished from ''otheY Statesr
in the reports.
West Virginia has II, 900 square
miles Of coal, {, 100 square miles more
than England The Appalachian coal
field finds its greatest development In
West Virginia. The Goals are liner
and the veins more continuous, more
numerous and heavier than any coal
field in the known world. The State
has 30 counties All but three of
them can produce coal Only "a
counties have thus far produced any
coal for market and most OF them to
very limited extent. The immense
coal fields Of West Virginia have
scarcely been touched, and have offer
ed scarcely any competition 10 the
Pennsylvania product. In the dis
trict south OF Kanawha, Goals Ind
their highest development, while al
most every acre is underlaid with the
famous New River coal under all.
With So feet OF coal In one noun
tain; with 10 distinct veins of vaiu-
able coal; with 2 feet Of solid coal In
one vein; with sofd coal, steam coal,
gas coal, splint coal, coking coal and
camel coal, this immense field, con-
sistlng Of Wyoming, Raleigh, Mercer,
Mcdowell, Boone, Lincoln aud Wayne
counties, has scarcely heard the sound
Of the miners pick. This field forms
the largest body OF solid coal in the
known world, and the easiest mined,
while the quality Is excellent. In
the Elk River valley district, consist
ing OF Roane, Clay, Webster, Brsxton
and Jackson counties, are immense
deposits OF the very best commercial
coal, in veins from four to nine feet in
thickness, that have never been touch
ed. The vast basins Of the Elk val
ley, ITO miles in length; the Gauley,
115 miles; the Coal, 100 miles, aud
the Little Kanawha, $50 miles, COM
prising an area Of $40 square miles,
has hardly been touched with pick
and shovel. Many counties like
Grant, 5llmer and Calhoun, where
the upper Pittsburg has develop
ment of 10 feet OF clean coal, have
never been touched by the railroad
But the development Of this vast
and hitherto almost unknown region
is rapidly approaching, and in few
years West Virginia will lead the
world in the production OF coal, both
in the quantity mined and in low cost
Of mining. The railroads are reach
ing out for the immense business that
must soon develop. The Chesapeake
& Ohio, and Toledo & Ohio Central
system; the West Virginia Central,
the b. IL o. and the Norfolk & West
tern railroads are pushing their lines
into the mountain Businesses and ere
long the State will become one vast
mining camp whose production will
come into successful competitor with
other less favored coal fields