Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1905-06-10
| Davis $. 600, 600 and Colonel Kerens

These enormous sums. distributed
among few men. who had other
large investments, was in cold cash.
1t was in the hands of men who make
their money work as hard as they have
worked themselves. They do not be-
lieye in idle money any more than they
do in idle men. Hence in looking
around for an investment Mr.. Davis
and MIR. Elkins looked southwark
from their palatial homes, which
covers the top of mountain over
looking Elkius. and saw in front of
them n vast tract of land covered with
forests and scanned with coal. 1t was
their ambition to extend the West Vir-
GINA Central through that country,
which was without railroads.
Now armed with the morey which
thew had received for their share of
the West Virginia Central aud for
their coal properties, they were in
a position to realize their ambition.
They pushed the Coal & Coke road
through the virgin forest. 1t skirts
mountains. it traverses valleys, it
crosses rivers It's construction is
cosby. but its builders are not hamp.
cred by lack of financial means.
RAILROAD DEVELOPMENT.
The Coal & Coke and the Wabash
are not the only railroads under con-
struction and projected in West Vir-
ginia. All over the state the shovel,
she piebax and the tie-cutter are busy.
while surveyors are Training through
mountain sides.
Truly is civilization developing West
Virginia. Twenty-Five wears ago Mr..
Henry G. Davis, then a member of
the United States senate, aud his COL
league in the senate. the late Thomas
+. Bavard. made journey on horse
back from Piedmont. through the nm.
broken forest, to White Sulphur
Springs. Frequently they had to cut
bride paths through the tangled un-
derbrush. They traversed scenes
which were the playground of edeer
and bear. Over their head screamed
the eagle in his fright at the strange
apparitions. Only the Indians had
traversed those wiids, and he had
| long since disappeared.
PRIMITIVE people
| Iu the valleys they encountered a
scantv white population, and strange
race they were. They seldom came in
contact with civilization. Their
ambition was to reach Missouri. It is
supposed that while on their way to
the West early last century a party of
immigrants had lost their way among
the mountain businesses and had wan
dered into one of the valleys. out of
which they we've never able to find
their way. Their descendants lived
hoping to continue the journey which
their ancestors had begun to Missouri,
which to them was land of promise.
One of their few relics of civilization
was al old clock, whose pendulum
would swing and whose wheels would
gs around for an hour or more and
then stop. That clock was veritable
cnrio, treasured antique. whose
mysterious workings attracted the
natives for miles around. Among
them was mighty huntress, julie
Baker, who slaughtered hundreds of
deer and dozens of bear during a
season. 1t is related of her that she
once carried sewing machine so
miles over this mountain to her
home from the nearest store.
TRANSFORMATION.
But the scene has changed in a
quarter of century. Gore are the
primitive settlers. who have died or
merged with the new population.
Gone are the bear. Scarcer and
scaJcer each year are the deer.
The country is now the home of
thrifty and industrious miners and
lumbermen. Their cottages are scat
tered through the valleys and dot the
mountain sides. Thev are transform
ing West Virginia into one of the
wealthiest states of the Uuion, and
its development has only begun. Its
surface, as IL were, has only been
scratched. Under the surface, await
ing the miners advent with his lamp
and pick. are over three hundred
billions OF soft coal. enough coal TO
supply tonnage to tie Baltimore g.
Ohio and to the Wabash railroad for
the next half century.
The development of West virginia's
mineral resources, the transformation
of her coal into coke, will make the
Estate a beehive of industry. Goal
means heat. Heat means power and
.