Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1923-05-31
ESSAY OF WEST VIRGINIA


beautiful mountain streams, and
mountain landscapes. California can
not touch the glory of our floral
wealth in its season. The laurel and
rhodendron are our native flowers
In our forests we have their foliage
through the winter, and in their sea-
son, when they are in blossom, they
are wonderful. We have acres and
miles Of it. Underneath we have
blue balls, lady slippers, arbutus,
columbine, trilliums, and hundreds
of other beautiful, not by art, not
by schemed plan of men, not by ir-
rigation, but by mother nature her
self.
West Virginia has healing waters.
Our mineral springs, and limestone
fountains, have dissolved in their
clear, pure liquids minerals, fine for
human systems that need cleansing
and bracing. White Sulphur Springs
is one Of the most historic as well as
one of the most beautiful spots in
the whole United States. We have
other mineral springs of different
beneficial qualities. Berkeley Springs
and Webster Springs, also Minneha-
ha Springs, the latter an enormous
warm spring, whose water never
goes below seventy-two degrees.
There are dozens of smaller springs.
In times to come, when hard sur
faced roads penetrate to all parts of
West Virginia, people from afar will
seek these springs out and will
spread the tidings of their great
health value.
West Virginia has good highways.
We have one thousand, one hundred
and seventy EIGHT miles of class a
highways now complete, and we have
fifty millions Of dollars to expend
towards an improved road system
that will connect every county seat
in the state and penetrate to every
corner Of our territory, West Virgin
ia is delight to the tourists of A
merica for we offer them diversity
of scenery unrivaled in the east, and
we show them history as well as
beauty. Soon the old northwestern
turnpike will reassume its pioneer
Importance, and east and west will
meet on the famous route that car
ried the people who were more adj
venturous and bold in the early days
when men journeyed eagerly into
the unknown From historic Charles
Town, where John Brown marched
forth to die at the solemn decree of
twelve Of his peers, to the battle
ground at Point Pleasant, where
Cornstalk, the Indian Chief, made a
last stand, and dyed the waters of
the Kanawha red with the blood of
the savage and white lives, visitors
from without our borders will find
West Virginia extremely interesting
From Wheeling, in the northern pan
handle, where Betty Zane made her
brave flight for powder to save a
fort, to the old hunting grounds of
Daniel Boone on the south, West Vir-
GINA will have something interest
ing every inch Of the way to show
tourists and her own people travel
ing over the highways. After the
plans of the State Road Commission,
West Virginia laid the first brick
in the United States in the city of
Wheeling. Roads are going to be
our hobby until every foot of our
Charleston, forty some years ago.
Two years later she laid another in
facilities, and our navigable rivers,
and with our almost untouched store
of raw materials, no state in the I'M
ion can compete with US in the adj
vantages we offer for the location of
manufactures. Our mineral products
Of the last year were valued at six
hundred thirty-two million, eight
hundred thousand dollars. We have
immense deposits of clay and shale,
limestone, sandstone, and the finest
glass sand to be had. We are sec
ond only to Pennsylvania in our min
eral wealth.
The three great torches are coal,
oil and gas. The greatest of these
is coal. Last year, ninety million,
four hundred thousand tons Of coal
were taken from our mines. Penn
sylvania alone surpassed our output.
We have ten thousand square miles
of coal untouched, nearly one hun
dred sixty billion net tons, it is esti-
mated. We could duplicate our pre-
sent output far over one hundred
seventy years.
The second great torch is gas. We
territory is placed within reach Of
the world and its advantages. We
are building them of concrete, of
brick and of asphalt. We are test
ing and trying in order to have the