The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1931-09-03
CONTINUED from last issue)

Continued from last issue)
The competition from the railroad
in West Virginia with the Northwest
ern Turnpike did not come as quickly
as it did in Maryland with the Ma
tional Pike, for the reason that the
branch of the railroad which crosses
West Virginia by way of Grafton,
Clarksburg and Parkersburg was not
built for several years after the rail-
road was doing business in Maryland.
And the Northwestern Turnpike did
not suffer to any great extent from
competition with the Chesapeake and
Ohio Canal.
When the B. and o. was completed
to Wheeling in 1852, by way of Cum
berland, Piedmont, Oakland, Grafton
and Fairmont, it was the longest con-
tinuous railroad in the world.
A few miles beyond Grafton you
come to a village on hillside that is
apparently called Tucker-that is, if
the signs on the stores mean any,
thing. But you later learn that the
place is called Pruntytown. 1t was
named for Daniel Prunty and was
Originally the county seat. When
Grafton began to grow in importance
the seat of the county government
was moved to the new city, much to
the disgust of the people of Prun-
tytown. John Barton Payne, who was
Secretary of the Interior under Presi-
dent Woodrow Wilson, and who is at
present Chairman of the Central Com
mittee of the American Red Cross, is
a native of Pruntytown. Floyd w.
Parsons, well-known magazine writer,
is a native of Grafton. Melville Da-
visson Post, another writer (now
dead) is from an adjoining county.
Another few miles and you drive
through BRIDGEPORT. Although the
town has a population of only 1900, it
has paved streets and it's street names
are indicated at the intersections. 1t
has a school system employing 20
teachers and there is a municipal wa
ter supply. A bridge in the middle of
the business section gives you clue
to the name of the town, which is
more than 100 years old. This town
is in the heart of West Virginia's blue
grass section and is one of the larg-
est cattle shipping points east of the
Mississippi.
From BRIDGEPORT to Clarksburg is a
matter of only five miles. Both of
these towns are in Harrison county.
Harrison was formed in 1884 from
Monongalia, and was named in honor
of Benjamin Harrison, one of Virgin
las Signers of the Declaration of In
dependence, Governor of Virginia,
father of one president of the United
States and great-grandfather of an
other. 1t has an area of 418 square
miles and population of 10000.
There are several seams of workable
coal under the county and included in
the county are several gas and oil
fields.
Clarksburg, the county-seat, is half
way between Washington and Cincin-
natl, on the B. and O., each city be-
ing 275 miles distant. The first settle
ment was made in 1772, and at
meeting of the settlers in 1778 it was
decided to name the place in honor of
General George Rogers Clark, sol
der of Virginia, who had gained fame
in the Indian wars and in the Revo-
luton.
Glass products hold a high place
in the list of things manufactured, for
among the articles made in Clarks-
burg are glass tumblers, fruit jars,
milk bottles, medicine bottles, pre-
serve bottles, glass moulds, glass nov
elites, window glass, glass marbles.
Perhaps to a small boy the glass
marbles are more important than all
the other glass products of the city.
At any rate, they are considered i'm
portant enough in Clarksburg to JUS
tify holding a state championship
marble shooting tournament there
every year. At the plant where the
classics are manufactured are bins
and bins of marbles containing mil
lions of these toys in assorted colors
and sizes.
Glass tumblers may not be as ro-
mantle, but Clarksburg turns out a
lot of them, too. A Clarksburg plant
was the first to use successfully an
automatic glass tumbler press, and
the plant is now the largest pressed
tumbler factory in the world, cover
ing eight acres of ground, with Is
acres of floor space and employing
1900 people.
1 have stood by a tumbler press in
a Clarksburg glass factory and watch
ed drinking glasses turned out as rap
idly as a man could remove them
|