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nlaun-11 give would ,o our it oitd , groat ivc not aspect liorc.e still what If you oilar, Us and * have lusive-r,—lie off Pins. VR-mbra-utsideprices.ur line c? seeuos will0 have lit you•looted--nmko.gold-apidlyof the1 them u *1.25 • what n thiss.,RIpr10SS to sliort-reed.r Cuts, hi, IV , Ch limy re-:M*rfeet Price wwT.Incomes over inclined planes and train roads to the Mineville Branch, but Colonel Davis constructing a branch along Abrams creek that will do away with the tramroads and will greatly increase the output of the Elk Garden mines. This will be ready by January 1 at the latest.The train speeds onward in the shadow of high walls of rock. There is a refreshing newness in the scenery and the houses. Ten years ago there was not a house within ten miles of the road. There is now small villages, with the buildings unstained by weather, are perched on the mountain sides.Huge hemlocks, oaks aud spruceshave been felled, piled up along the streams, and now await the whirling steam saw.Around a horseshoe the train gets over the mountain, is switched oil* at Thomas, and ten minutes later Davis, with stumps still standing in its streets and a big hotel on a hill, is reached. The hum of industry is heard through the village. Then the train returns to Thomas and enters upon the new extension. A new world breaks upon the view ot the astonished sigbt-seer.The train climbs the mountain side until the passenger peering from the car window sees. 300 leet below, the inky waters of the Black-water whipped into a foam by the rocks over which the stream plunges. A succession ot falls greets him. High above rises the Blackwnter ridge, with cascades tumbling down its sides. The scenery is Alpine in its outlines. Then the Cheat river, formed by several forks, is reached. A new bridge i9 being built over the river to carry the road to Lcadsville, its present terminus. Mr. James Fisher, son of ex-Judge Fisher, of Baltimore, is one of the engineers of the bridge.After a halt of a few minutes the return trip is begun, and as the train ascends tlie mountain side dinner is partaken, and Mr. W. W. Spence, ex-Senalur Davis and Major Bent make short speeches. Cumberland is reached at 7 p. in. T he party will return t* Baltimore tomorrow.The country through which the road extends is wild, neird and romantic. The road found a tew log cabins occupied by a primitive and ignorant people, whom they call mossbacks, and who make a livelihood by hunting, lishing and digging ginseng. With the road has come a mixed population of Italians, negroes. Irish and Virginians. BearVU II vv w138.08. The road has not lieen invulnerable to floods. Last summer its trestles were washed away, but they are now being replaced by stone culverts.THE EXTENSIONS.The coal mines aud forests have been the magnets which have drawn the West Virginia Central foot by foot to and even through them, and its extension will not stop until connection is made with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, by which the great iron mines of Southeastern West Virginia and Southwestern Virginia will be reached, and then will the immense iron shipments which now go to the tidewater at Norfolk by the Chesapeake and Ohio be diverted to Baltimore. No feeder of that city will outrank it. A shorter route to Baltimore than by Cumberland would be over the mountains to Strasbourg, and there connecting with tlie Valley Branch of the Baltimore and Ohio and the Virginia Midland, and this route was once surveyed, but it was found to be so expensive that it had to be abandoned. But will the West Virginia Central ever have its own road direct to Baltimore? That's a question for lime to answer. It is in the bounds of probabilities that the long discussed project of turning the towpath of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal as far as Williamsport into a road bed will be realized. The project further extended would mean a connection with the V ostein Maryland Railroad at Williamsport and up the Hancock valley until it taps the Pennsylvania lines. Still another possible project would be a direct road aiong the canal to\\ ash ingtOD, thereby forming, by the aid of the Chesapeake and Ohio, a direct line to Cincinnati and the West. If Washington is reached, why nwt Baltimore by a separate line as well as by the Western Maryland? The Catonsvilic Short Line is a temptation to utilize the terminal facilities of the Northern Central at Canton. west Virginia's coal keds.Fully two thirds of the area of West Virginia is underlaid with coal. In the Elk Garden region alone there are over one hundred million tons. In the upper Potomac region it is estimated that there are two billions of tons. It is bituminous coal, and is adapted especially for steam and smithing purposes and cooking. This coal field is but an extension of the Appalachian coal field from Maryland. Pennsylvania and Ohio. The Potomac basin ie only a prolongation of
Newspaper Details
West Virginia Democrat
Charles Town, West Virginia, US
Fri, Nov 23, 1888
Page 1
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MD, USA 11 Oct 2021
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