400 JORTY-FOUR YEARS OF A HUNTER'S LIFE. 



aow the great necessity of the age. Its use is increasing 

 an hundredfold for all the purposes for which it formerly 

 was sought, and it is daily being applied to many novel 

 purposes. Iron boats, houses, and bridges will use a large 

 quantity. The wear and tear of the railroads now in use 

 demand a large quantity, whilst those under construction 

 and in contemplation will consume a great deal more than 

 is now used. There will be a constant demand, at high 

 prices, and this region, with other parts of Allegany, will 

 furnish work for a large number of furnaces for almost 

 illimitable periods. 



" These remarks are induced by what I myself saw and 

 examined in this region, and fall short instead of exceed- 

 ing the real state of the case." 



These remarks of the State Chemist, together with my 

 own personal observations, leave no doubt in my mind 

 that Allegany County only wants to be better known to 

 raise it to an equality with its sister counties — particu- 

 larly when its healthfulness, the fine, buoyant atmosphere, 

 and pure water, all seem to contribute to the happiness of 

 its inhabitants. If it were possible that I should be here 

 twenty years longer, perhaps I would be as much aston- 

 ished at its progress as I would have been thirty years ago, 

 if at that time a man had stated in my neighborhood that 

 an engine w^ould be constructed to transport as great a 

 burden as fifty or an hundred horses could draw on 

 wagons. Every man would either have pronounced such 

 a person entirely crazy, or else would have thought he 

 was trifling with their good understanding. But when the 

 good soil, and all those resources of coal-ore, with the im- 

 mense quantity of timber, and unsurpassed water-power, 

 shall be brought into use, Allegany will then not only be 

 a very diflerent country, but unequalled by any portion of 

 the State in her natural productions, resources, and euter« 

 pri^'^. 



•SHE END 



