The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-05-20
''NI()1l
THE LEADING FINANCIAL PAPER
OF PITTSBURG RECENTLY
PUBLISHED THE ARTICLE
GIVEN BELOW ON
THE IMPORTANCE OF FAIRMoNT,
= WEST VIRGINIA..

MT Lew .. f1drI, one VI lie DulldeTs
Of Fairmont, contributes the following
article relative to the Importance of
that fiourishing West Virginia city:
Until recent years Fairmont remain
ed a town of the old type. She treceiv.
ed no new extraordinary stimulus. and
was OF slow, undirected and unnamed
growth.
Fairmont was first k1own to the
outer world through the increased de-
velopment in coal. and this was due to
well organized interests and methods
Iy attitude which the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad assumed towards Fair.
mont coal developments
The PittsburG coal is Of the best
quality in the Fairmont region. 1t
speads in almost an unbroken sheet
for 20 miles south of Pittsburg.
Throughout the southern portion of
the Pittsburg coal area the vein out
crops among the rivers and smaller
streams. The mining Of the coal in
the upper Monongahela has been re-
duced to a minimum. The operators
take advantage of the dip of the coal
and make the mines naturally draing
themselves and render haulage easy.
Nowhere on earth is coal mined more
cheaply than in the Fairmont region.
Just as Pittsburg's worldwide repu-
tation as an iron center IS due to trans
portation facilities and developments
of Pittsburg coal, SO are the upper Mo
nonSahela towns becoming widely
known in the East. Capital from Bal
timora, Philadelphia and New York /,
looking this way for Profitable invest.
ment, and the Fairmont region is well
and favorablT known. P:ttsburg is
mofern city OF the new type. her peo-
pie are practically business people and
located in Pittsburg because it was
promising industrial and commercial
center. The majority of Pittsburg's
business people went to Pittsh1rG al
ter having demonstrated that they
were successful in their field of work;
they saw that Pittsburg was the COM
ing manufacturing city of the West,
and naturally would offer greater OPP
port,.nities 20 the business man.
PlttsburS is not acquainted with the
upper NIononsanela Valley The rea-
sons are in part as I have given. 1t
has heen within itself one of the rich
est fields in the world for speculation
and profitable investment IT'S all
that the financial Institutions OF Pitts
burg can do to provide for the increas.
ed industrial interests Of her own city.
Eastern capital is not centerinS in
Pittsburg in the way Of financial in
situations, and from this time Oh one
may look to PittsDurg as financial
as well as a commercial center.
Tue coal near Pittsburg has attain
ed price which is out OF comparison
with values yet placed on the same
coal in the F'airmont district. Pitts
burg does not depend upon coal in the
sense that Fairmont does She con-
considers coal largely from the con-
sumptive standpoint. Her enviable
reputation as an iron center is due to
the quality of the iron which her coal
produces, and Pittsburg will be able
TO maintain her reputa ton because
of this fact.
The transportation facilities did not
mean SO much to early Pittsburg.
Middle aged men can now recall when
lHeS u1u llcl 1NIoW tIldl llISbuiS was
to become a metropolis. They looked
to the East. They recall the first ele
vators. the trolley. improved streets
parks and modern Office buildings
Five years ago, when II. c.. Frick con-
structed an Office building on Grant
and Fifth avenues. many of the old
residents could not see why the move.
was practical. They did not know
that in less than five years the F'rick
building would be advertised all over
the world by the nature of the bust
ness enterprises which would locate
their main Offices there. PittsburS has
many good buildings, and there is a
demand for others. From PittSburg
Fairmont is at the head OF river navi-
CATION, a great connecting link be-
tween the two cities. E'airmont is
connected with PittsburS by a system
of locks and dams. which gives Fair
mont navigation all the year except
an occasional winter, when ice pre-
vents navigation for few weeks; |
then Fairnont has navigation as long
as Pittsburg, because ice is usually |
out of the upper streams when it is !
naviGahle below. Faimont is only |
known to Pittsburshers as a mining |