The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-10-10
STATE BOARD
OF TRADE
.(cOntinued from First Page)

as to how rolling stock in sufficient
quentlty could be provided to handle
this great wheat output. II every
bushel of wheat were moved by rail
instead of much of it being consumed
locally, the total tonnage of the crop
of this year would be less than 25,00O,.
900. Against this, West Virginia Is
annually furnishing of coal alone over
100000 tons, a very large percent.
age Of which is moved by rail. 1t is
a striking commentary upon her mag,
nitude Of the coal industry of your
State that even In its infancy. as It Is
to-day, 1t Is furnishing more traffic
than the entire wheat crop of the
country raised on over 5O,OOO,OOO acres
OF land. And this suggests another
comparison. The average coal land
Of West Virginia will carry 5000 to
10000 tons an acre. Putting 1t at a
minimum Of 5000 tons, and remem.
bering that agricultural land furnish.
es on the average less than Y a ton
Of freight per acre year, an acre Of
coal will furnish traffic equal to that
OF an acre Of agricultural land for 10,
900 years. In this striking fact, in
connection with the vast number Of
acres of coal land Of which you boast,
is found the reason for the titanic
struggle Of the great railroad powers
OF America to hold stragetlc positions
In this Mountain State. In this is seen
the reason why the Pennsylvania, the
baltimore & Ohio, the Goulds, the Van.
lerbilts, the Chesapeake & Ohio, the
Norfolk & Western and others are
struggling like great armies in battle
to gain the strongholds of this State,
Here is more freight ready for the
mining and loading than an S98.00G000
bushel wheat crop would furnish in
5000 wears. The total coal production
Of Great Britain is nearly 250,000OOC
tons a year. West Virginia could du
plicate that quantity for four hundred
years.
Coal, however, is not by any means
the sum of your riches. In this State
is probably found the largest available
supply of hardwood timber Of any
State In America. It .is fortunate thai
it has not been destroyed by the wood
mans axe, which in times past has
spared no tree, until be have come
upon a period when forestry preserva
ton makes possible the permanency
OF the yet undestroyed forests of oul
country. Had you no coal nor iron
nor agricultural advantages, your tim
Der alone would be enough to enrich
State; all combined are enough tc
; enrich an empire.
Growing even more rapidly than the
coal and iron industry is the manufac
ture of cement. This young giant Of
the Industrial world has come at a
uorpitious time to supplement not to
supplant iron and lumber From O
production in the country Of 100000
barrels In. 1900, 1t has grown at such
an amazing rate that this year the
output of cement will be about 10000,
600 barrels. In this, as is coal and
iron, we seem to be only at the be
ginning of growth. Fortunate, indeed
IS West Virginia in the possession Of
vast stores of raw material for the
manufacture Of cement. The time Is
rot far distant when this State mus!
take high rank in this comparatively
Erew but marvelously expanding indus
try. And what shall say Of your oil
your natural gas, your fire clay, youl
ores and other resources which yor
have been so abundantly blessed? Was
there ever such a combination given
by kind Nature to any other people
on earth?
You might, however, have all Of
these natural resources, these illiml
table possibilities for the creation oil
Mealth, and yet, unless favored by con
ditions. have so slow a development as
to be of little value to the present gen
Grafton. These vast stores of min
erals and oil and gas have been here
since the beginning Of time, but 1t Is
only now that you are beginning to
reap the fruit of their utilization. II
| you would measure the future and
.Igrasp what 1t holds in store for West
Virginia, you must study the subject
lin the light Of the material advance
ment of the whole country; in fact
of the world.
Withir the last half century, under
the stimulus Of the power of the steam
engine and all that 1t typities, the
whole world has been revolutionized'
Mighty as the changes have been, stu
pendous as are the figures which tell
the story oft he progress of that pc
Rod. 1t is only within the last ten or
fifteen years that the full realization
of what these changes mean in world
expansion of commerce and industry