124 



the salt manufacture is pursued, and even over a wide extent of 

 country, connected indirectly with its operations, a degree of 

 activity and industry and wealth, which we would in vain look 

 for in our rural districts generally, and which, when first beheld after 

 quitting the wild and almost uninhabited regions by which the travel- 

 ler from the east approaches the Kanawha, cannot fail to kindle in 

 his mind a vivid sentiment of pride, astonishment and pleasure. 



A general structure in all respects analogous to that presented 

 in the portion of the profile last described, pervades the whole of 

 that vast area of which the boundaries have been approximately 

 stated in the beginning of this division of the report. But with 

 features of strong general resemblance, it must not be imagined that 

 local peculiarities do not exist in the different portions of this region, 

 developing not only many objects of geological and curious interest, 

 but also bringing to light many of the mineral treasures of which 

 this favoured territory is possessed. There is no point of view, 

 however, in which the immeasurable riches of this region are ren- 

 dered more obvious to our minds, than that of the uniform and 

 continuous structure which has already been described. For, it is 

 in these widely spreading strata of sandstone, that nearly all the 

 boundless treasures of this country are enclosed, and the continuous 

 character exhibited by them, gives the strongest possible assurance 

 of a like uninterrupted extension of the various beds of valuable 

 materials which they include. In this view, how magnificent is 

 the picture of the resources of this region, and how exhilirating the 

 contemplation of all the happy influences upon the enterprise, wealth, 

 and intellectual improvement of its inhabitants, which are rapidly 

 to follow the successive developement of its inexhaustible mineral 

 possessions. In a country where the channels of nearly all the prin- 

 cipal rivers have been scooped out in part through beds of coal, 

 where some of them are paved with the richest ores of iron, and 

 where the very rock itself, the sterile sandstone of the cliffs and 

 mountains, is enriched at certain depths with abundant stores of 

 salt, what more is needed to fulfil the happy and glorious destinies 

 that await it, than to awaken enterprise to a due appreciation of the 

 golden promises it holds out, and to direct industrious and active 

 research to the thorough investigation of the character, position, 

 and uses of the treasures it contains ! 



