SOURCE: The Yorkshire Herald and the York Herald, York, North Yorkshire, England 20 April 1872, page 10 from newspapers.com
WESTERN VIRGINIA, U.S., AS AN EMIGRATION FIELD
Mr. Thomas A. Walton, of Quaker Bottom, Lawrence County, Ohio, thinking that he could give some useful information to intending emigrants who read the York Herald, which frequently comes into his (the Virginian’s) hands and greatly interests him – sends us the following communication respecting the Western States, giving some valuable hints as to the sort of men and women wanted there, and their prospects of doing well:
There are a great many people yearly coming from England and other countries to America, who generally either stop in the cities or go to the western border States or territories and have a preference for this part of our country being filled with English to those of any other country, I thought of giving a description of it, so that emigrants may know the advantages and disadvantages, as far as I can tell, before they come.
But they must not think, like many young Irishmen I had seen, who thought before they came over that they could get along without work. We do not want such people here; we want sober, industrious, saving, honest men and women who can make a good living and lay up money for old age.
West Virginia was formerly part of Virginia and, until the late war, was kept down by the laws and customs enacted (at Richmond) and enforced to perpetuate slavery. Still, slavery was abolished in the United States. West Virginia, although partly settled many years before Ohio, is very sparsely settled now and is really in its infancy.
The lands can (on the waters of Guyandotte river) be bought at from two to twenty-five dollars per acre, varying in price according to location, improvement, and the number of acres in the tract or[the] lot of land conveyed. Land on Twelve Pole River ranges nearly the same, in some parts higher and in others lower.
Lands on the Kanawha and its tributaries are from one dollar to one thousand dollars per acre, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad running through coal banks or salt wells making the lands more valuable. Land on the Ohio River on the West Virginia side sells at from twenty to one hundred dollars per acre, except where close to some town or city. The lands, except where under cultivation, are most of them well-timbered.
On the headwaters of Guyandotte River, the lauds are very heavily timbered; the bottom lands near the streams are the most suitable for cultivation, but some of the hills and mountains can be cultivated to advantage. All the hill or mountain lands are good for sheep or cattle pasture, which is a very profitable business for those with little capital to stock their farms.
The apple, peach, pear, quince, cherry, plum, and most small fruits produce well on these lands, where they have proper care and cultivation and might be profitable by any energetic person. There are but few orchards, the original settlers caring little about anything more than corn (maize) and pork besides what they could get in trading with skins for coffee, tobacco, &c.
The lands are more valuable for what they contain (that is not visible) than what is on the surface. The minerals that are in the hills and mountains are inexhaustible. The veins, starts, or seams of coal (bituminous) are from a few inches to twenty feet thick and of good quality.
The cannel coal shows in some places six feet in depth or thickness, and I have been credibly informed that in one place on the waters of Guyandotte river, the cannel coal shows a thickness of eleven feet and in another fourteen feet. The iron ore seems to be without limit. On one mountain, I followed the outcroppings of the red ore for miles.
This stratum was afterward opened by a friend of mine, who said it was six feet in thickness, besides a stratum of lime about two feet. This ore can, much of it, be stripped with little cost.
The ores are of different quality, but one thing is sure, there is plenty of it to supply all the furnaces that can be built for years, and yet there is not one furnace for smelting ore in the whole region above described. I have found the blossom of lead, and it is said that the Indians used to get a great quantity of lead up the Guyandotte River.
There is abundant building stone, fire clay, and potter’s clay. In boring for carbon oil a few years ago, the men struck a vein of very strong salt water, which has been flowing the full size of the well ever since and is sufficient to supply a large salt factory; and there might be many such wells bored anywhere along or near the streams.
The small rivers and creeks can supply immense waterpower for running mills and factories, and where they are not convenient, steam could be applied with little cost, coal, and wood being very abundant and easy to access. The country is healthy, being hilly, the water good, with no swamps or marshes, and the streams generally have rocky and gravelly bottoms.
Our correspondent next describes the new city of Huntington, with its railroad connections, position, advantages &c., and says: This city, which has not been laid out more than a few months, will soon be a large business place, where a man of any honorable occupation can always find work to do at good wages.
Here are the Chesapeake and Ohio River Railway Company workshops, which, when completed, will cover an area of six acres of ground. These shops will employ many hands in constructing and repairing engines, cars, and the various things necessary for reloading equipment. There has been expended in making culverts, grading streets for about 180,000 dollars, and building houses for about 400.000 dollars.
The company that laid out the city did the grading and culverts. They also have had about a mile of the wharf graded, and part of it paved. The company designed paving and grading more of the wharf this year and still has graded more streets and avenues.
The city is laid out about four miles in length and two miles in width. This city is located at the West Virginia Institute, and the city is now erecting houses for other schools to be more convenient for the children. At the same time, the more advanced scholars will attend the Institute.
The Chesapeake and Ohio River Railway Company have more land adjoining the city, which they design laying out in lots when needed. They will have depots in different parts of the city so that it will be convenient for the business of the city.
This will be where the millions of tons of coal of the Kanawha will be shipped from the cars into boats for the towns and cities below here on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, and the immense quantities of lumber and other articles of commerce will here be re-shipped for the West and South by boats.
The advantages of the free school system, which is now adopted by the State so that all who choose may send their children to school without tuition fees, will be a blessing to poor people who cannot school their children. The railroads shortly built will afford transport for the country’s production.
Taking all these things into consideration, would it not be best for all who design moving to America to take into consideration the many advantages of this part of the country, for there are grand chances for any man with capital to make money speedily; and for an industrious, sober, saving person to soon save efficient money to live in ease or perhaps become wealthy.
I have not written this from pecuniary interest because I do not and never did own a dollar’s worth of property in West Virginia, but for the working people of England. I am an Ohioan by birth, I was born and lived on the same farm all my life, and I live in sight of Huntington City and Guyandotte, West Virginia, and of Proctorville, Bradrickville, and Rome, Ohio.
My letter is too long now to admit a further description, a recital of the advantage and wealth of this part of West Virginia, or a mention of Southern Ohio. I intended, when I commenced, to give a full description of both.
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