The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1905-08-04
WEST vIRGINIA'S GREAT
COAL WEALTH.

The Manufacturers RecOrd, OF
Baltimore, is publishing a series OF
letters on West Virginia written by
its special correspondent Arthur
Phenis and in this weeks issue APP
pears glowing but truthful pic
ture of the vast possibilities of tins
state, relative to its coal production.
He gives a list of the larger coal OPP
erations together with the railroad
facilities that make such operations
possible and shows that the resour-
ces of the State in its coal are OF
magnitude beyond the average COM
prehension.
absolutely bewildering is the
arrav of possibilities this State con-
tains in the way of wealth produc-
ton. In any attempt to size up the
full import of even present-day ac-
tivities one is well-nigh baffled by
the variety and extent of the opera
tions going on, confessedly and pal
pablv mere beginnings as they are.
Coal, oil, gas and timber are the
Immediate great sources of wealth.
production here, and either one OF
them in the quantity found here
would make wonderfully prosper
Gus community. Taken altogether
and in the extent to which they en-
list. the mind is fairly staggered by
the effort to calculate how rich Il
State West Virginia will become
when ANYTHING like a full utilization
of these resources shall have been
secured. No one can completely
comprehend the situation otfhand.
if at all, and in its entirety. and
with due reference to the enhanced
values which must prevail with a
more universal appreciation of the
resources the State contains, West
Virginia's development must I'M
ouestionably become one Of the most
remarkable movements, in magni-
tude and in profitable endeavor, that
the world has ever seen,
''There are in WeAt Virginia
more than 10000 square miles Of
coal ields-considcra more than
PENNSYLVANIA ever had, more than
any other American State. ever boast
ed, twice as much as Alabama owns
constituting 27 per cent. of the
workable area of the entire Appa-
lachian fields, and comprising one
thirteenth of all the coal fields in
the United States. With 11,OOO.-
600 acres of coal lands, it is the cal
culation that not more than 10000
acres have been worked out in all
the years since West Virginia Goals
have been unknown.
"Since 1880 there has been a
ton of the State, and when it is seen
that the output has grown from l.
100000 tons in 1880 to about 3D.
100000 (short tons) in 1904, it
would seem that great strides have
been made. And so they have
Twenty-Five hundred per cent. in 2:
years is a pretty good increase in
any line. But compare this with
what remains to be done. The re-
port of State Mine Inspector Paul
for the year ending June 30, 1904.
the latest published report, shows
that for the fiscal year covered there
had been mined from 39679 acres
a total of 26,9S4,715 tons (long).
which represented a value Mt the
mines, at $1.O5 ton, of $2S,333,-
o5O.75. This figures out about $50!
tons to the acre, with value OF
S7,147.35 per acre gross. The
nrice of coal fluctuates very much
During the anthracite coal strike
few years ago coal was worth $3.50
- 81 at the mouth of the mino. To-
Sav Il IS worth only 30 cents. While
there is little profit to the operator