Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1909-01-16
MINERAL WEALTH
OF THE STATE
Enthusiastically Commended by
Wall Street Summary.
GREAT MINING OUTPUT
is SOLD EvERYWH ERE

WSnaerouS lnin9s w Wesl virginia
Cheap Raiirosd Rates to Trans
part c., ! and coke-Early History
CT Development Of Our Coal Lands.
The Wall Street Summary, one Of
the leading financial and industrial
papers in the United states publishes
the following intensely interesting
article on West Virginia as mineral
and manufacturing state:
The mineral yield from West vir-
ginia during the past year is estimat-
ed by the most authoritative statisti-
clans in the service Of the industrial
corporations of that state at $7s,000,-
900 In normal year West Virginia 5
outturn of coal accounts for almost
As per cent, of her minera production
Shortly before the collapse q the
boom in the autumn of 1897 VI Ct
Virginias coal production was going
on at rate that would have brought
the years record to 100000 IONS
but for the panic. For 1907 the coal
yield was 4S,091,5S3 short tons, val
ned at s47,S46,63O, loaded on cars at
mines. For several months before the
end of the boom demands for West
Virginia coal We're running well ahead
of the supply of coal cars.
The greater part of West virginia's
coal is sent out of the state. 1t
ranks high for steaming and coke
making purposes. In coke from West
Virginia ovens an immense business
is going on today, the product being
shipped as far away as to the far
Northwest and into Mexico FOR use by
the miners of precious and base met
ais. In camel coal West Virginia is
supplying fire departments through
out the Nation and is sending a good
deal as domestic fuel to- the Dakotas
and other far away markets where
the freight per ton from mines to con-
Stunning points runs as high as Sc to
81 Within a month several cargoes
of West Virginia coal have been sold
in Brazil and other South American
countries for use in enriching illumi-
mating gas.
Railroads Profitable Traffic.
A considerable part of the revenues
of the principal steam railroads OF
West Virginia comes from the coai
and coke traffic. The low cost of fuel
transportation on these railroads is
one of the great achievements of in
dustrial engineering science in recent
years. These coal-carrying roads were
among the first to engage in the
work. of reduction OF grades, and the
betterment of tracks, bridges and
rolling stock, so as to render the
highest iegred of service at the low
est possible cost obtainable by the
application of the latest fruits OF
science. The construction of the v1r-
ginia railway, built and mainly own
ed by Henry H. Rogers, of the Stand.
ard Oil Co. and Amalgamated Copper
Co, Is one of the notable triumphs in
the transportation business that
marks recent annals of railroad build
ing. This new line was opened last
week. 1t extends from tiiewater al
Norfolk, Va, to the heart of large
and rich coal region at Deepwater, w
Va. The length of the line is 44z
miles.T capital stock is $4,000, 600
Great Britain's vast wealth has
come most largely from the develop
ment of her coal mines whose surface
area is 1900 square miles. On Goa
have been built up the manifold
metal, wooden and cotton-malins
trades of those kingdoms. The Goa
carrying railroads of West Virgins
serve coal-bearing lands which nave
an aggregate area of $4,000 square
miles. Estimates of the values of the
coal contained in those fields rul
into many billions of dollars. AS high
grade coking coal decreases in sup
ply elsewhere the demand turns t
West Virginia, which ere long will be
the seat of a number of highly capita
lied Woodworking plants that de
pend in a large degree upon abunian'
supplies of cheap and good coke.
Fifty years ago DIR. Thomas Dunn
English, author of "Ben Bolt VIII
was then a practicing physician ant
industrial promoter in that part o
Virginia which is now the heart o
the richest coal mining region o
West Virginia, laid before Angus
Belmont. father Of the present Angus