Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1905-12-15
Rich and Prosperous
West Virginia.

Her Coal Production Ranks Her Secon'
State in the Union Her Lumber Bust
ness HUE Proposition, Etc, Etc.
IStaf Correspondence of the Spectator
BY A. S. MORTON
The visitor who makes annual pill
grimages into the State.of West Viz
GINA, as | happen to do-usually al
this season of the year will be fOrciblJ
impressed at each succeeding Visit
with the great material changes thai
take place there from year to year
Possibly there is no other State in the
South wherein there is such general de-
velopment and such rapid increaee OF
| wealth In the twelve months past
MANY small stations along the new rail
way eXtensions-mered dots upon tne
map-have in that short while become
| important towns or busy villages.
Some even that had neither name or
existence year ago, have since been
chopped out of the rich timbered wild
erness or founded upon the bare slopes
of a mineral mountain. In coal pro-
duction The state now ranks second 10
the union and in the lumber trade il
is fast coming to the front. A thirty
year proposition in timber getting, is
claimed by those wise in such matters
and they produce 1igures to prove the
assertion-but to see the vast quaint
ties of lumber that daily come out IRON
these promising fields and to go over
The great naked sweeps of timber clear
ed lands. the time for it's ultimate
stripping would seem much shorter.
However, to provide against this whole.
sale destruction many of the largest
operators leave standing all trees
that measure less than four inches in
diameter, a nucleus for the future.
Particularly is this true of Greenbrier,
Pocahontas and Randolph counties.
where at present are operating some OF
the largest lumber companies in the
State.
From Ronceverte the Greenbrier
Division of the G.. & o. has penetrated
and is developing this field for hun
bred miles up the Greenbrier river,
near the headwaters of which at Dur
bin it is intersected by the Coal and
Iron read that gives outlet to the north
r n NV nf
Eikins. Both these roads re hauling
quantities of timber from
new and hitherto undeveloped feel DIS.
The G. & o. especially is provided with
numerous feeders along the Greenbrier
in the shape Of branch lines
built by private companies or corpora
lions that reach far back into the
mountain hollows and smaller valleys.
To further such enterprise and to at.
ford opportunity to the timber dis
tricts north of Durbin and near the
Highland county line the g. y y. has
lust completed an extension of its
track from Durbin up the east fork of
the Greenbrier to a point called Win
ter urn where is established two large |
plants. both of which will be
iu operation by the first of the year
and which will give employment to
many hundreds OF men. Wlnterburn |
is therefore, a striking example OF the
rapid town building to which | have
previously referred. 1t did not exist
six months ago and yet in another SIX
it will be an established community
with hotel, stores, electric light plant,
water supply. two big industries at
work and scores of residences. Thus
do the new towns blossom with the
seasons in fast growing West Virgin
ia.
Another example of such growth is
found at Spruce, camp chopped out
of the forest on Cheat mountain in
Pocahontas county-back up the
mountain from Cass and reached by a
switch back rail way that lumber trains
must ascend, climbing grade OF from
$50 to $50 feet per mile. The town IS
location is probably the highest in the
south, having an elevation of 900 feet
above sea level and climate that
brings frost every month during the
year. l visited it in the mild days OF
early November, yet it was dead OF
winter" there. AS our cog wheel engine
elm bed the heavy grade, we could
note the vegetation changes as the
train reached higher levels. Bye and
bye we were amid snow tiurries and
cold winds and finally as the train
Strengthened itself out on the elevated
plateau valley we looked forth upon
a scene where winter reigned supreme
snow, ice, and frozen streams. The
SHOWS that fall there in November u.s.
ually remain till April and sometimes
later, but the hearty lumbermen do
not mind and the energetic company
that employs them, push right along
at all seasons and in all weather. They
have built on that plateau net work
of railway lines and have established
at its principal junction point the town
of Spruce, where is a big barking mill
that supplies the great paper mills at
Covington, Va. The place is not Is
months old, yet 1t has It's comfortable
hotel, it's store, its electric lights, its
snug offices, it's board walks and it's