58 AGRICULTURAL REPORT 



railroad, and its vicinity, has our mineral coal wfialth been most developed, as well as its 

 superior quality, yielding, as is proved by analysis, about 10,0U0 cubic f'ei;t of pas per ton of 

 2,240 pounds. Tlie seams worked at these localities are from six to eleven feet in thickness, 

 and the same are found to ranp^e through all those neighborhoods. 



"Our whole county is underlaid by these bituminous seams, though in most parts eight 

 feet is the heaviest vein that has yet been developed, Cannel coal has also been found, and 

 manufactured to some extent into oil. 



" Interspersed with our coal measures are corresponding veins of iron ore, of nearly all the 

 varieties and forms of the hematite class found in the Alleghany range. These ores are dif- 

 fused, more or less, through every farm in the county, and are found in many localities in 

 strata, pure or intermingled, ranging from one to four feet in thickness, and yielding about 

 thirty-three per cent. iron. But little attention has been hitherto bestowed upon this great 

 and indispensable element of our wealth. The see-saw policy that has resulted from the 

 prevalence of antagonistic parties has at one time encouraged, and at another discouraged, 

 enterprise in the manufacture of iron, and finally ruined thousands who had engaged in it. 

 These are among the reasons why our rich iron ores have not been better developed and 

 turned into the great channels of commerce. I believe but four blast furnaces have ever been 

 built in the county. Two of them, many years since, near the northern section, and distant 

 from water transportation, )',ave fallen into dilapidation. Two others have been erected about 

 eight years, and are now in successful operation — one near Independence, on the Baltimore 

 and Ohio railroad, with hot blast, producing some seventy tons per week ; the other on Muddy 

 creek, near Cheat river, cold blast, capable of producing forty to fifty tons per \^ eek. These 

 are moderate sized half-stacks, supplied with inexhaustible beds of rich ores, and all the 

 elements for the manufacture of iron, in close proximity. Though on a small scale, these 

 two furnaces prove the richness of our ores, as the ore at Muddy creek produces one ton of 

 good foundry iron from two tons of roasted ore, and I believe the other yields nearly the 

 same. Such establishments, and more extensive ones, might be multiplied indefinitely 

 through the county. I have no doubt that there are some locations in other parts of our 

 great country more favored with means of transportation or proximity to a ready market than 

 is this, but such fortunate places are generally occupied, while we have abundance of the 

 best elements of iron yet inviting the hand of industry and enterprise. 



" Of timber we have all the varieties common to our latitude and altitude, but the different 

 kinds of oak, of the finest quality, predominate. Pines are rare, and spruce and hemlock 

 are seldom met with, except near the 'Glades,' or on the borders of our small mountain 

 streams. Ko country can furnish superior wild cherry, and walnut and butternut abound on 

 our alluvial and richer soils. The magnificent flowering poplar i^ found in great abundance 

 on our better class of soils, suqjassing all our forest trees in magnitude, and is in great re- 

 quest for lumber. We have, also, hickory, ash, sugar maple, and the minor species of tim- 

 ber in ordinary and sufficient supply. 



"Our soils run through every grade of fertility, from the argillaceous to the silicious, but 

 a generous loam, with a substratum of clay, slate, or sandstone, predominates. A light stra- 

 tum of limestone is found near the surface in most sections of the county, varying in thickness 

 from one and a half to four feet ; but the great vein before spoken of ranges from forty to 

 sixty feet in thickness, and is of superior quality. Our river bottoms, though limited in ex- 

 tent, are very fertile, which, with much of our higher lands, especially in the central and 

 southern portions of the county, are well adapted to the growth of Indian corn, while every 

 part at all susceptible of cultivation would produce abundantly all the cereals and lighter 

 grains, if treated with fair and liberal cultivation. Even with our present wretched system 

 of culture our soils yield remunerative crops. Our agriculture has been slightly improved 

 within the few past years, but it is still miserable and exhaustive. But ours is pre-eminently 

 a grazing country, and already much success has rewarded those who have engaged in it. 

 Dairies are springing up and yielding large returns. Sheep husbandry has already enlisted 

 the attention of very many of our citizens, and, although in its infancy, it is pr-obably the 

 most remunerative pursuit of our people. This element of our wealth will undoubtedly, at 

 no distant day, stand pre-eminently above all others, our minerals excepted." 



THE "PANHANDLE." 



The little point upon the northwestern boundary, entering as a wedge between 

 the KeyBtone and 13uckeye States, is regarded with careless wonder by casual 

 map observers, who cannot account for so strange a freak in surveying, yet it is 

 easily accounted for when it is recollected that Virginia once owned the territory 

 west of Pennsylvania and north of the Ohio river, and that that river became 

 the line between Virginia and Ohio, leaving the four small counties, Marshall, 

 Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock, between Pennsylvania and Ohio. They comprise 

 little more than the area of an average county, and contain 169,626 acres of 

 improved land, and 111,513 unimproved, or 281,139 in farm lands, valued at 



