WEST VIRGINIA. 



827 



males 225, females 1 92. During the year end- 

 ing September 30, 1878, their number was 474 

 males 261, females 213. On October 1, 1878, 

 it was 415 males 226, females 189. Seventeen 

 among the patients were colored persons males 

 7, females 10. The cost to the State for each 

 patient was at the rate of $2.38 per week in 

 1876-' 77, and $2.22f in 1877-78. The aver- 

 age cost of patients in other similar institutions 

 throughout the country is $4.50 per week. 

 The institution is crowded beyond its utmost 

 capacity. Besides those in the hospital, there 

 is a large number of insane persons in the State. 

 Applications for admission have been made in 

 behalf of 85 more patients, which could not be 

 entertained for want of room. The majority 

 of these insane outside the asylum are kept in 

 county jails, at the probable risk of their be- 

 coming hopelessly incurable by delay in their 

 treatment. 



In the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Asylum there 

 were at the session of 1876-'77 62 deaf-mutes 

 males 38, females 24; and 23 blind males 

 13, females 10; in all 85. At the session of 

 1877-78 their number was 95, of whom 66 

 were deaf-mutes males 39, females 27; 29 blind 

 males 18, females 11. The entire number of 

 those enrolled as pupils at this institution on 

 October 1, 1878, was 105, of whom 78 were 

 deaf-mutes males 47, females 31 ; and 27 blind 

 males 15, females 12. For the support of this 

 institution the sum of $28,000 was appropriated 

 for each of the years 1877 and 1878. In the 

 State Penitentiary there were on November 

 30, 1878, 245 convicts, of whom 30 were pris- 

 oners of the United States. The whole of the 

 convicts' labor, except as much of it as is re- 

 quired for prison purposes proper, has been let 

 to contractors outside. 



The militia consists of thirteen companies of 

 infantry, one company of cavalry, and one of 

 artillery, making nearly one thousand well- 

 officered and well-armed men. They are armed 

 and equipped at their own expense. Seven of 

 these companies have been organized into a 

 regiment, styled " The First Eegiment of Vol- 

 unteers." 



As to the cost to the State for restoring or- 

 der and preserving the public peace during the 

 railroad riots of 1877, mostly for the transpor- 

 tation of troops, the Adjutant- General says in 

 his report, " I have made an estimate of the 

 expenses of the July riots in our State, and am 

 of the opinion that $9,000 will fully cover 

 all." 



The disagreement existing between the States 

 of West Virginia and Virginia in regard to 

 the proportion which the former should as- 

 sume of the latter's debt prior to January 1, 

 1861, seems to be far from adjustment as yet. 

 Several reasons are urged to justify West Vir- 

 ginia in her refusal to assume as much of the 

 said debt as the State of Virginia demands. 

 In execution of the act passed by the Legis- 

 lature in 1877, the Governor appointed three 

 commissioners on the part of West Virginia, 



"to confer and act witli similar commissioners 

 on behalf of the State of Virginia in ascertain- 

 ing and locating the boundary line between 

 the two States, wherever the line is in dispute." 

 At the request of Governor Mathews, an offi- 

 cer of the United States Corps of Engineers has 

 also been assigned to act with the State Com- 

 missioners in locating the boundary. 



At the Universal Exposition held in Paris in 

 1877 West Virginia was represented by two com- 

 missioners appointed by Governor Mathews. 

 Out of the articles which the State had ex- 

 hibited at the Centennial Exposition in Phila- 

 delphia in 1876, the Governor caused speci- 

 mens of coal, iron ore, minerals, woods, wool, 

 and agricultural products to be selected and 

 sent to France for exhibition. 



The Government improvements of the navi- 

 gation of the Kanawha River will develop the 

 resources of an exceedingly rich country. The 

 dam in the Ohio River just below Pittsburg 

 will slack water as far as the first dam in the 

 Monongahela River, and in the Alleghany as 

 far as the Garrison Rapids. The minimum 

 depth at the breast will be 6 feet. The shore 

 wall for the lock is 685 feet in length, 17 feet 

 high, and 8 feet thick. This dam will have a 

 movable bottom, so that it can be lowered at 

 high water so as to leave an uninterrupted 

 channel ; it is the first work of the kind con- 

 structed on this principle in the United States. 

 At low water the dam is raised and boats are 

 passed through the locks. The dam has mov- 

 able wickets which can be raised and lowered 

 by the aid of a shaft and engine, or can be 

 manipulated by hand from a boat. The entire 

 plan embraces the construction of ten dams 

 and locks, to furnish slack-water navigation 

 from the Ohio to Cannelton, a distance of 85 

 miles, at a cost of about $250,000 for each dam 

 with the lock. They are made in a very sub- 

 stantial manner of hewed stone. All of these 

 but one are furnished with the movable bot- 

 tom, which is constructed of wood and iron. 

 It is placed in an open pass which is 250 feet 

 long in each instance. The movable dam fur- 

 nishes in low water a depth of 7 feet. The 

 dams will be at the mouth of the Kanawha, 

 one with 8 feet lift ; at Debby's Ripple, 7 feet 

 lift ; at Gillespie's Ripple, 6 feet ; at Red House 

 Shoals, 6 feet ; at Johnson's Shoals, 7 feet ; at 

 Newcomer's shoals, 6$ feet; at Island Shoals, 

 7 feet ; at Brownstown, 7 feet ; at Cabin 

 Creek, 7 feet; at Paint Creek, 15 feet; total, 

 77 feet. 



The general condition of West Virginia with 

 regard to her various interests, in 1877 and 

 1878, and its prospects in the near future, are 

 represented by the Governor in his message to 

 the Legislature as follows : 



In reviewing the condition of the State for the past 

 two years, although we regret to find a continued 

 depreciation in the value of property, tliat the wagei 

 of the laboring classes have scarcely been sufficient 

 to afford them subsistence, that serious louses, caused 

 by the high waters of last September, have fallen 

 upon many, and that depression still exists in sev 



