Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1912-05-18
WEST VIRGINIA IN FIFTY YEARS


West Virginia is preparing to cele-
brate in June. 1913, its fifty years of
Statehood. Those fifty years have
made history in material progress. In
the past thirty of them the population
OF the State has more than doubled,
the capital in its manufacturing in
dustries has increased twelve times,
the value Of its farm properties has
more than doubled, the value of It's
mineral products has increased fifty
times and its wealth has more than
trebled. In 1880 West Virginia made
62,S02 tons of pig iron and 1885
tons Of coke, cut 1s0,112000 feet Of
lumber, mined 1,S29.S44 tons of coal
and 6s,S02 tons of iron ore and pro
duced $4,000 barrels of petroleum.
In that year the total resources of its
National banks were $5,939,454, and
individual deposits in all its financial
institutions aggregated only $6,074,-
$50. There were but 691 miles Of rail
road in the State In 1911 the produc-
ton of pig iron rose to 291,4 72 tons;
of coke, to 100000 tons; Of lumber
to 1876, 1877 900 feet; of coal, to 61,-
100000 tons, and of petroleum to H.
100000 barrels, while the National
bank resources had become S75,6S0,-
642, and the individual deposits in
banks and trust companies S107.366,-
607, and the railroad mileage was B.,
754.
West Virginia's area of 24,170
square miles embraces something
more than one-third of the area of the
original State of Virginia, and the
progress that the younger state has
made is strikingly illustrated by com
parison of its position in 1911 with
that of the Old Domionion fifty years
ago. In 1860 Virginia had a popula-
ton of 1,596,31S, or about 100000
more than West Virginia has today.
The mineral development in the Unit
ed States had hardly begun fifty years
ago. Petroleum was discovered III
Pennsylvania only a few months be-
fore 1860, and in that year the output
was but 100000 barrels. In the same
year only 14,610,042 tons OF coal were
mined in the country, and of that to-
tai Virginia. where bituminous coal
was first mined in America, produced
only 473,360 tons. West Virginia's
production in 1911 was $50 times that
amount. The value of products in
manufacturing industries in the Unit
ed States in 1860 was something more
than $1,900,900,000 and of that amount
Virginia's share was over $51, 200, 900
In 1909 West Virginia factories pro-
duced to the value of $161 100000. The
wealth of Virginia in 1860 was esti-
mated at $793, 249,6S1. That of West
Virginia today is close upon $780,
000 900.
Great as has been the advance of
States of the Union in annual coal
production and fourth in petroleum
output, West Virginia has still within
itself the elements for much greater
progress. OF its estimated original
supply of 150000,000,0O tons of coal
more than $4,000. Oo0.0O0,000 are still
to bs mined. OF 14,610,000 acres of
woodland, 100000 acres remain. The
total area of the State is 15,S74,0S0
of which 1881, 900 acres are in farms,
but of the farm land only 5. $4,000
acres are improved. Much of the acre
age of the State will never come I'M
der the pillow and it should not be cul-
tivvated but should remain forever a
part of the great Appalachian Forest
Reserve, guarding the headsprings of
mighty rivers of the Continent. But
the agricultural future Of West Vir-
ginia, the future that will be when ev-
cry acre of tillable land Is handled as
it should be, is Indicated in the fact
that between 1899 and 1910 the value
of nine leading crops produced in
West Virginia increased from slS,450,-
900 to s43,046, 900, or at the rate of lib
per cent. In the first ten years OF the
century the population of the state in
creased 27.4 per cent, to 1,221,1l9. But
that population averages only about
fifty to the square mile. whereas in
neighboring Maryland the average is
1873.
These few random facts, suggested
by the approaching semi-centennial OF
the State. are likely to be expanded as
plans for the celebration develop and
to be effective in giving publicity to
the opportunities for homeseekers and
investors in a region brimful of miner
al timber and agricultural resources
convenient to the great markets for
manufacturing products.
Child laeerated by Dog
Attacked by a large shepherd dog
her father marlborough home, the FIVE