Year: 1873

plain fact that the mouth had once


been higher up, and that no, amount


of debris which the two streams haC


fought out of their way and piled be


low their natural prize ring, coulC


change the result. But with the poin'


for beginning. certain parties who


owned the first bit of bottom land be-


low the true mouth, resolved that they


had good thing of it, and long prior


to the completion of the railroad they


commenced building what they de-
! clared should be the great city O1
| Hinton. Now it so happened that the


railroad company desired that Hinton
| should be the termini of the two Wes-
tern divisions of their great highway
and as there was no land at all at the


mouth of the Greenbrier they could


not make that point available to them.


The builders of New Hinton were


pretty stiff in the prices of land and


the aforesaid company went a mile


lower down the river, and purchased
$50 acres of land. and on it proceeded


TO erect city of their own. The lar


ger portion VI it is second bottom, and


even that is quite steep. Of actual
bottom there is very little. But the


company had money and it had pur-


pose, Lots were laid off and sold,
streets were graded, beautiful and


tasteful buildings were erected for their
officers. and a liberal area was carved
out of the base of The hill and the soil


used in extending the plain to the


margin of the river. On the plain a
handsome depot was erected and ex-
tensive sidings prepared. A large
round house is now going up, and
stores and shops aud dwellings have
sprung up as if by magic. The ever
lasting hills close their towering forms
about its and through the limited clo-
seure the river rOars and bounds with
the music Of the early ages. One can-
not stand on the high lookout decor
ated by the bright and pretty buildings
of Hinton and see mile in any direc-
ton. There was about the place an
appearance of energy which at first de-
ceived me. There were life and inn
provement and novelty, so very vIsi-
BILE, that | involuntsrily gave a mo-
mentary. though mental entertainment
to the exclamation How beautiful :"
So unexpected was the scene and so
unaccountable the conjunction of men
and money in such all imI ossibie To-
cality that | gave way for a moment
to the idea that beauty, and not utility
was the prime object of Hutton, and |
exclaimed Here is your patch of
Heaven ~


I saw many hopeful face at Hin
ton, which iii few years will be sing
uhrly enlougated. There will be lit
tie money spent in that place save the
wages of the railroad employees and
there are not so many by halfas at
Bristol. There is but one county road
by which the place can be reached.
Down the river and on either side
there are none, and if there were, there
would be no county to be reached by
them, and with the Court House at
Upper Hinton and the depot al Low er
HiEton, and The mildew of neglect at
Middle Hinton, and no roads and no
agriculture within reasonable distance
the railroad will have things its
own peculiar way. 1t csn stretch its
iroH arms into better lands aud grow
fat while it merely oils its joints at
Hinton.


In the mean time there will be need
for two stores, one physician and two
county lawyers and there will be about
a dozen of each. These will sit and
wonder at the failure of hasty theories
and the deIusions of impromptu cal
some of them will curse the
railroad, some will go to grog, and the
remainder go to grass. Such is my
idea of Hinton,


Ten O'Clock came and the Mail train
fromRichmOnd thundered over the two |
hundred and seventy third mile and |
for the first time we boarded train of |
ears in that wild and hitherto inacces-
sible portion of the world. A more |
lovely day never shed simmer of |
glory on West Virginia. Not cloud |
was visible in the Heavens and as the
train speed over the beautiful steel
rails and splendidly balasted track, we
were soon beyond the Little horizon of
Hinton. On either side the long and
ortu0us Iills arose at fearful angles
which spent themselves in the skies.
Many of their SUBMITS showed traces
If the recent SHOW, but we we were
thousand feet below and the tempera-
Hre was delightful. The river bOun-
led in the stony crevice between them,
eaving not foot of practicable ground
m either side. The road bed had been
lewn from the PERCEPTIONS base on its
astern margin. for New River runs
iorthward and as far as Millers Ferry,


distance of fifty miles the road is on
Is easter bi NIX In many places the
DAD had been hewn from tie sold
lifts which jutted over the Stream
nd to perfect the work these Ills haa
cen hewn perpendicularly through a
istance of fifty feet. l nowhere saw
hat the track had been hewI. into the
ock leaving the upper portions hang
ng out over the track. This half tun-
el dwells, | am convinced, only in
he wild brain OF over Jealous newspa-
er correspondents. The scenery ,
-as moEotoDous and lonely until we
cached New River Falls, formerly