Misc. Records
Where to Emigrate and Why - Frederick B. Goddard, Peoples Publ. Co., 1869
WEST VIRGINIA.
A FEW months after the ordinance of secession was adopted by the convention at Richmond, Virginia, in May, 1861, the people of the western portion of the State, dissenting from this measure, applied to Congress for the admission into the Union of a new State, to be called West Virginia, consisting now of some fifty counties of old Virginia, with a total area of about 24,000 square miles. The bill was passed by Congress, and approved by the President on the 31st of December, 1862. In the Constitution of the new State a clause had been inserted providing for the gradual emancipation of all its slaves, which were much less numerous, proportionately, than in Eastern Virginia. This clause continued in effect until the third day of February, 1865, when the State Senate passed a bill, by the decisive majority of seventeen to one, at once abolishing slavery, and making West Virginia a free State. According to the census returns of 1860, the total population of the counties comprised within the limits of the new State was 376,688, of whom 18,371 were slaves.
West Virginia is generally a rugged country, full of diversified scenery, and pure and sparkling streams. Its hills are covered with the thriftiest growth of valuable timber, such as the different kinds of oak, hickory, sugar-maple, black walnut, &c., for which the Great and Little Kanawha and other rivers, furnish easy transportation to the Ohio, and thus to all the markets of the West. Coal underlies almost the entire surface of the State; seams ten or twelve feet thick abound throughout the Cheat River region, the head-waters of the Potomac, and even to the sources of the Monongahela and its numerous tributaries, while it is said that the coal fields of the Great Kanawha valley are scarcely equaled in variety and extent upon the continent. Cannel, splint, bituminous, and, in short, all varieties except anthracite, exist upon this river and its branches, the Elk and Coal rivers, in almost incredible quantities. It would seem, in view of the ease with which they may be worked, their admirable position in respect to accessibility, the facility with which their products may be carried to market, and the increasing demand and remunerative prices which coal commands throughout the country, that no more reliable and speedy way of realizing a fortune may be found in any portion of the United States than in the development of these coal mines. If it be true, as has been stated, that the consumption of coal in the United States has doubled every six years since it came into general use, the time must soon come when West Virginia will possess, in its vast coal fields, an element of wealth before which the richest mines of gold and silver must sink into comparative insignificance. Extensive purchases of West Virginia coal lands have been made since the war, by both American and foreign capitalists, whose foresight anticipates their rapidly increasing value.
Other minerals of this State are iron, lead, antimony, copper, silver, nickel, borax, soda, petroleum, salt, lime, fire-clay, and slate. Iron is said to be equally abundant with coal throughout the State, and the saline formation is very extensive, although the production of salt has been hitherto chiefly confined to Kanawha and Mason counties. The total manufacture in the latter county, in 1863, was nearly 500,000 bushels.
In the production of petroleum, West Virginia is second only to Pennsylvania. This comparatively new article has become of vast economical and commercial importance. It makes the best and cheapest light of any illuminator yet discovered, and is found to be adapted to a surprising variety of uses, which science is rapidly multiplying. Its most volatile portion, naphtha or benzine, is used as a substitute for spirits of turpentine in paints and varnish. The heavier oil is used extensively as a lubricator for machinery, and a substitute for whale oil in currying leather. It makes excellent printing ink of all colors, many kinds of soap, and is variously used as a medicine. It is also proposed to use it as a fuel for sea-going steamers, for which purpose it is claimed to be safer and cheaper than coal, and requiring but about one-third its bulk, and fewer men to manage it. From its residuum may be made some of the most beautiful colors in the world, pitch for calking ships, a substitute for sealing-wax, &c., &c.
Flowing wells were first discovered in 1859; and during the following year about 600,000 barrels of crude oil were produced in the United States, which increased to more than 2,000,000 barrels in 1864. The total value of all petroleum products during that year have been popularly estimated at $56,000,000. The daily production of West Virginia, at the close of 1864, was about 1,000 barrels.
There are few Americans but will remember the intense "oil excitement" which pervaded the whole land at this time. " Oil territory" was sold at almost fabulous prices, and successful operators rapidly realized immense fortunes. The business of producing oil has now outgrown the feverish speculation which formerly surrounded it, but is still one of the most profitable branches of industry in the United States. West Virginia has a large area of productive oil land, and a still more extensive region, with sufficient surface indications to warrant exploration, but yet undeveloped as "oil territory."
Mr. J. R. DODGE, of the United States Department of Agriculture, is the author of a recent work upon West Virginia, which is highly interesting to the general reader, as well as almost invaluable to the emigrant who intends to settle in this attractive young State. Mr. DODGE says that the farm lands embrace four-fifths;of the entire area of the State, and that, "in view of their central location, access to eastern markets, and connection with all parts of the Mississippi valley, by river navigation, munificence of forest and field, and greater wealth of mineral beneath," the lands of West Virginia are cheaper than any lands of similar position and value in the country. He further says:—
The mountain regions of West Virginia, in the imagination of strangers conversant with the rocks and crags and general barrenness so often associated with mountains, may seem unworthy of the attention even of farmers. It is a fallacious idea. In many localities, in which a field of level land is unknown, and all is abrupt and almost precipitous, there is no sign of a gully, or evidence of washing visible, or a swamp, or pool of stagnant water, even the bottom of the "sinks," or devil's punch-bowls," which are hopper-like depressions, sometimes fifty to a hundred feet in depth. Such a region is that of Monroe and Greenbrier, green with luxuriant herbage or umbrageous with heavy forest, with a natural drainage scarcely improvable by art, and exhibiting in a powerful light the great value of thorough drainage, in promotion of health of man and beast, and enhancement in quality and quantity of nature's products.
The absence of unproductive or waste areas is noticed by the most casual traveler through this region; and in this particular there is little difference in the several sections of West Virginia. Steep hillsides, abruptly falling from a giddy height, are smooth as a lawn, and as green. Rocks may diversify the landscape, as a rare exception, but, as an almost universal rule, they repose unseen beneath the surface, and never disfigure the view, or do violence to the economy of nature, or arouse the spleen of the plowman.
After speaking of the unsurpassed salubrity of West Virginia, and of its climate, which is "neither suggestive of hyperborean blasts in winter nor a torrid temperature in summer," possessing "neither the saturated and leaky canopy that overhangs old England, nor the rainless sky of a California summer, but a pleasant medium, giving a covering of snow in winter just sufficient to protect the grass and grain, a rain-fall in seed-time ample for the proper preparation of the soil, and a diminished supply in gentle showers during the later growth and ripening of vegetation," Mr. DODGE thus speaks of the scenery:—
The scenery of West Virginia is worthy of a volume, rather than the fragment of a chapter. Under the influence of so genial a climate that semi-tropical forms of vegetation are almost native to its soil, its flora may safely be presumed to equal, if not to surpass, in variety and magnificence, the wealth of nature in any other State or Continent. In its fauna it is equally distinguished. Birds, beautiful in plumage and sweet in song, give life and grace and cheerfulness to field and forest. The surface is infinite variety. Rills meet in rivulets, and rivulets swiftly swell into rivers, which leap their mountain barriers and quietly subside into the placidity of the plains below. Mountains rise like little Alps on Alps; glades, those meadows of the mountain, freshen the summer atmosphere with delicious coolness; cultivated slopes, as in Greenbrier and other of the older counties, move the imagination as by a wand of enchantment; deep, winding, fertile valleys lie at the foot of beetling bluffs, full of the fatness of fertility. Everywhere the vision is greeted with variety and beauty. Nature has not only been partial, but prodigal; yet the hand of man is needed to direct and to use this beneficence of benefaction.
The same author says:―
The people of West Virginia are departing from the wisdom of the fathers of the early days, when Sir William Berkeley, the proprietor of a large tract in Shenandoah Valley, eighty years ago, wrote of the new country as follows: "I thank God there are no free schools, nor printing, and I hope we shall not have these hundred years, for learning has brought disobedience and heresy and sects into the world, and printing has divulged them and libels against the best government. God keep us from both." But this departure leads in the direction of a superior wisdom, and a school system has been adopted since the organization of the State, modeled upon the best State systems in the country, the results of which will soon be manifested in general educational improvement.
Schools of a higher grade are beginning to be organized—academics and high schools, and seminaries for young ladies—and the impetus already given to popular progress in mental culture will soon occasion a further demand for superior educational facilities.
There is awakened throughout the State a spirit of lively interest in the construction of roads and the improvement of river navigation, in new enterprises that develop its varied resources, in all measures essential to its security, and the happiness and thrift of its people, and to their mental and moral advancement.
From the March Report of the Department of Agriculture:―
Unlike Virginia, and the other States in the South in which the involuntary labor system existed, West Virginia shows an increase in the value of lands since 1860 amounting to an average of 32 per cent. There is some difference in this appreciation in different parts of the State, the Pan Handle and Ohio River counties being generally above the average. Hancock, Tyler, Webster, and Wood, are placed at 50 per cent. Nicholas, Grant, Cabell, and Mineral, are the only counties returned at rates less than those of 1860. During the oil excitement in Wood and adjacent counties, prices of farm lands were at least 100 per cent higher than in 1860. While the actual product of oil has been increased since 1865, wild speculation has subsided, and lands in this vicinity, except those known to be oil-bearing, now average about 5 per cent. increase over prices of the period first mentioned.
LAND.—In the Pan Handle counties wild land is unknown. All is included in farms, and timber reservations are generally occupied as sheep pastures, the underbrush being kept clear. These "wood pastures" are often quite valuable adjuncts to the arable portion of the farms. The unimproved land, or woodland, of Harrison, is held at $20 per acre. The soil, abounding in lime and clay, will produce any thing." The location of this county is central, with a railroad passing through it. Unimproved tracts in Wood County are placed at $6 per acre. The assessment of 1860 made the average over $9. In Marshall, on the Ohio, below Wheeling, unimproved lands are worth from. $6 to $25 per acre; the growth is various and valuable, and the soil productive. Iron ore and coal also abound here. The average price of unimproved lands in Kanawha is $5 per acre. The surface is generally uneven, often declivitous, but the soil is rich and suitable for all farm products, and particularly for fruits. In Mason, hill lands are worth from $8 to $10 per acre; soil, clay, slightly impregnated with lime, productive in grasses, especially blue-grass, which springs up spontaneously when the land is cleared. In Jefferson, the quantity of unimproved land in 1860 was 24,380 acres, and it may now be put down in round numbers at 20,000, worth $6 per acre. It consists principally of land lying along the western slope of the Blue Ridge mountains, valuable for its timber, much of which is chestnut. Unimproved lands in Tyler are valued at $6 per acre, in Barbour $2 to $5; in Randolph $3, adapted to grass and grain; in Nicholas $2, in Cabell $2, suitable for grazing and fruit-growing; in Grant $1, good for sheep pasture and timber; in Webster 75 cents, and in Wyoming 50 cents, valuable for grape culture and wool-growing.
MINERALS.—The minerals of West Virginia are too well known for particular comment. Nearly all of the counties in the State contain coal, iron, and other minerals; coal, in veins suitable for working, is found in greatest abundance along the banks of the Upper Ohio, in the hills along the course of the Monongahela and its branches, in the central counties of the State, in the Piedmont region east of the summit, in the Kanawha valley, and in all the counties south of that river. The coal lands of Guyandotte, being bituminous, cannel, and splint varieties, cover nine-tenths of the Guyandotte valley, in horizontal strata in the hills, from three to eleven feet thick, aggregating in some hills, twenty-five or thirty feet. Coal mining in Kanawha is represented as paying well. The inducements for employing capital under practical supervision is claimed to be very flattering, while complaint is made of the visionary character of recent coal and. oil operations. Of Brooke, our correspondent says:―
"The most valuable mineral, however, is bituminous coal, accessible by level adits over the greater part of the county. The stratum is four to five feet thick. In the hills fronting on the Ohio River it is about 200 feet above the river level, and the coal is let down by railways to boats for shipment. Off from the river it is mined merely for home consumption. As soon as railways are made up the valleys, an immense supply can be obtained. About 300 feet beneath the river level, there is another stratum, some six or seven feet in thickness, of superior coal, which has been mined by shafts or galleries at Steubenville, and. at Rust Run, on the opposite side of the river. A company was formed a short time ago to mine this coal at Wellsburg, our county seat, but they have as yet failed to commence. This coal is almost wholly free from sulphur, and on that account admirably fitted for working iron."
Iron ore of various descriptions, and of superior quality, abounds in many of the counties. It is worked in a few localities on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, but development of the iron of the State can scarcely be said to have commenced. Other minerals are reported in every section of the State. Some of the best timber of the country is to be found here, of all the different kinds of oaks, black walnut, hickory, poplar, cherry, &c. A considerable trade in timber is already in progress in the river counties, and boat-building is engaged in to some extent. The soil is generally productive, yielding well all farm products.
CROPS.—Few specialties in agricultural production are noted; the cereals are everywhere cultivated upon farms, and do well. The soil is generally well suited to wheat and corn; the irregularity of surface is the principal drawback to tillage. Forty bushels of wheat to the acre, with good culture, have been obtained in Webster. In the interior counties, the principal market products are wool, sheep, and cattle. In Hancock, Brooke, and Ohio, where nearly as many sheep as cultivated acres are found, hay is worth $16 to $20 per ton, and is a principal crop, yielding, in many cases, three tons per acre. Fruit is a specialty on the Ohio River, to some extent; and tobacco is made a prominent crop on some farms. The following statistics of Ohio County will give an excellent idea of the capabilities of West Virginia soils, and of the ameliorating effect of sheep husbandry:―
"Ohio County has 37,487 acres of improved land; on this there are 40,050 sheep, 3,244 hogs, 1,441 horses, 1,408 cows, 246 oxen, 1,380 other cattle. The production was 20,048 bushels of wheat, 5,639 of rye, 138,430 of corn, 82,101 of oats, 22,072 of barley, 4,372 of buckwheat, 21,449 of Irish potatoes, 823 of sweet potatoes, 128,448 pounds of butter, 102,032 pounds of wool, 6,479 tons of hay, besides $54,420 of other products, excluding grapes and wines, which may perhaps reach $100,000 more. On 110,490 acres of land in Ohio, Brooke, and. Hancock, there are 102,072 sheep, nearly a sheep to each acre."
The period of sowing is generally included in the latter half of September. In Mineral and Randolph, northern mountain counties, September 1st is the beginning of the planting season, and in the central and southern counties, the season is often prolonged to October 15, and sometimes to the 20th. The harvesting is commenced in the Kanawha valley, June 20; in the central and northern counties, from June 25 to July 1.
The pasture grasses of West Virginia are blue-grass, red-top, white clover, and crabgrass. The length of the season for exclusive feeding in pastures is seven months; a few mountain counties it is returned as six months; in a few others, eight or nine months; at the same time it is true that cattle are wintered in pastures or forests with very little extra feed, and sheep often with none at all. On the 1st of April, sheep may be seen in excellent condition, which have received little if any attention or fodder during the winter. The price of pasturage varies; increasing in accessible and improving localities.
FRUITS.—Nearly all kinds of fruit do well. It is essentially a fruit-growing State. Apple-growing for the New Orleans market has long been a specialty of the river counties. Vineyards in the vicinity of the Ohio have proved exceedingly productive, and far more reliable than in the vicinity of Cincinnati. On the Kanawha, the soil, elevation, and climate, seem peculiarly adapted to grape-growing, and the hills of the southern part of the State are already sought for vine-culture by Europeans, who contemplate colonizing this region with vine-dressers from Europe. In the interior, in absence of transportation facilities, much fruit is dried for the market. In Braxton, the central county, the price obtained for dried peaches, is $2 per bushel—if pared, $3; apples, 75 cents—if pared, $1 per bushel. Apples and pears are claimed to be best adapted to the soil and climate of Hancock County, the crops yielding a greater revenue than any thing else raised from the ground. The Kanawha correspondent says:—
"A neighbor told me yesterday he had an apple-tree which frequently produced 40 bushels, but only every second year. Peaches will yield from four to eight bushels, but can not be relied upon every year, as much as one year in three will miss."
The bell-flower, golden russet, Milam, and Rambo apples, are general favorites, well suited to the river region, very productive and reliable. Peaches in Mineral County, are reported at 50 cents per bushel. Of all fruits in Wood County, apples are the most certain and most profitable, and approach nearer to a staple; a good orchard of five or six acres sometimes yielding as much money as the remainder of a good farm. In Tyler, 250 apple-trees averaged 4¾ barrels, or 1,200 barrels, worth $2,500. In Jefferson, an average of 200 gallons of wine can be made from an acre of grapes, with moderate cultivation, and with a profit of 90 cents per gallon, equal to $180 per acre. There are some drawbacks, of course, as elsewhere. Early frosts occasionally change prospects of peaches and other fruits. It is noticeable that no correspondent complains of depredations of insects, with the single exception of the curculio upon plums in Harrison. Apples in this county will average a net profit of $600 per acre.
CORRESPONDENCE.
OFFICE OF THE COMMISSIONER OF IMMIGRATION,
PARKERSBURG, W. VA.,
August 5, 1868.
DEAR SIR: * * * * There is an abundant supply of labor here for present wants. We stand most in need of capital to establish saw-mills, and factories of various kinds, and that class of farmers who with a moderate capital possess a home-force wherewith to clear our forests and increase the production of the State. Wool-growers and graziers from the North will find here numerous opportunities to buy improved farms, and a climate and soil much more favorable to their business than in their present location. Very respectfully
J. K. DISS DEBAR,
Commissioner.
FRED. B. GODDARD, Esq., New York.
CHARLESTON, KANAWHA COUNTY, W. VA.,
August 18, 1868.
F. B. GODDARD, Esq.:—
SIR : Your circular is received, and there is so much that might be said about West Virginia, or even this portion of it—including the valley of the Kanawha and its tributaries—I hardly know how to begin. I am not an old resident here, but it seems to me this is by capitalists overlooked, not to their advantage, and the same by emigrants who wish to settle in a timbered country. But the questions you propound:—
1st. The character of the land of the valley is much the same as that of the Ohio valley, loam and sandy loam, and sells high—from $40 to $100 per acre, that is, improved land—and all the valley is improved. In mountain and smaller valleys the land, may be, is not so thick, and but little, comparatively, improved, and sells from $1.50 to $10 or $12 per acre. This land is well adapted to the raising of stock and sheep. There is now much attention paid, on the waters of Elk River, in this and Clay County, to the raising of tobacco, and so far, with fine success. Last year tobacco from this neighborhood took premiums at the fair in Cincinnati. There are now many thousands of acres of land on the waters of the Elk which could be bought for from $1.50 to $4 per acre. There is already quite a settlement of Germans in that portion of the State, and I am told there is to be quite an addition this fall. The land is heavily timbered with oak and poplar. The country is hilly, and in many of the hills are fine veins of coal. It is generally well watered.
2d. Labor is in demand. Good farm hands would demand from $12 to $18 per month, and now white hands would be preferred. Mechanics, especially carpenters, are now in good demand at this place. Female servants are, and will be, I am afraid, scarce.
3d. For this latitude, our climate is fine. Our winters are not cold, but usually rather wet. The summers are warm—this one has been hot—but in the mountains the nights are always cool. As for health, there are none superior to this. Being an M. D., I speak from careful personal observation. The one fear of ague, which troubles the West so much, would not annoy the emigrant here.
4th. We have minerals to any amount. The salt is developed, and. brings to us a large revenue. Iron ore abounds in large quantities, but has not been developed. Coal fills every hill in the land, both cannel and bituminous, and is extensively worked —both kinds. Timber is composed of oak (black and white), poplar, hickory, chestnut, walnut (black), and a little pine.
5th. Corn is the staple, which, until this year, for some time has failed, but farmers feel encouraged again. Oats are a good crop, and tobacco is among the staples. Corn, 80 cents to $1; oats, 30 to 60 cents; wheat, $1.70 to $1.90.
6th. Cincinnati, about 300 miles by river, is our chief market. Steamboat lines furnish transportation, though what is raised in the country always finds a ready market in this town.
7th. In olden times—before the war, I mean—school advantages were bad, but the State of West Virginia has adopted the school system of Ohio and the Eastern States, and now, by being a new thing, works a little roughly, but this will improve. I would consider the school advantages good. As for church advantages in the country, they are not much, but the school-houses are used as churches, and home missionaries and circuit preachers generally give everybody an opportunity of going to church if they choose.
8th. The people here are generally natives, with some Germans, though few of any other nation—unless it be African. There is no Government land for pre-emption. About waterpower, I don't believe there is a place in America that would furnish better, especially about the falls of the Kanawha, and there is an abundance of it.
Fruit does well here; grapes did a few years ago, but from some reason, recently have failed, though now those trailed up about a house never fail, and produce well, and I see no reason why they would not in the vineyard; and I am not alone in thinking they would, if we knew how to cultivate them. They are generally cultivated by Germans—and they forget that this is not Germany. Northern men are tolerably well received, though there is some little prejudice existing against them―though none against men of position and influence. I am a Northern man, came here with the army, and am succeeding as well as any man in my profession, but they did not give me any office. A man not a wild fanatic would not find any difficulty.
We have a hope, and one, I think, not without foundation, of the completion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. We hope work will be commenced generally, soon. It is now progressing slowly; and in case it is completed, it would add to present inducements, and would not be surpassed by any other State. The State is not developed, and a railroad would bring us out into the world, and people out of the State would see the vast mineral wealth of the State. Even now, iron-masters have become interested, and I think will invest, and develop the land. The coal is applicable to the manufacture of iron—it has been tried, and not found wanting. Any thing further needed I will furnish if asked for. Yours, &c.,
L. L COMSTOCK.
CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA,
August 10, 1868.
DEAR SIR:―This approaches somewhat the geographical center of the State and is within what we call the "Monongahela Valley," embracing a country about 100 miles long and 50 broad, and is regarded as the best grazing country that can be found anywhere. It is well watered, and abounds in the finest timber and coal (bituminous). It is not mountainous, but is what we call hilly, and nature has so arranged it, that each farmer may have his own coal mine. The stratum of coal averages about 8 feet in thickness, lying horizontal, with a slight inclination to the west, lying about half way up from the foot of the hills. Limestone abounds in many portions, but not universal but the soil in general is highly impregnated with lime almost to any depth, and on that account, if properly favored, is inexhaustible, without the aid of any fertilizer. The soil and climate is well adapted to raising wheat, rye, Indian corn, oats, every variety of grass for meadow or grazing, blue-grass being indigenous. The timothy meadows might be made equal to any in the world. Potatoes and all the root crops are excellent, and it is suited to almost all fruits that abound in temperate latitudes; apples particularly fine.
Timber consists of almost every variety of oak, poplar, ash, beech, sugar, hickory, walnut, cherry, maple, sycamore.
The Baltimore and Ohio, and West Virginia railroads pass through it, which together with the rivers afford convenient means of sending to market the surplus produce of the country, timber and minerals.
Good farming lands in the woods range from $2 to $10 per acre—improved lands from $10 to $60 per acre.
Planks about $10 per thousand and other timber at the same proportionate rates, large quantities of which are sent off to the East on the railroad. Wheat about $1 per bushel; corn 50 cents; oats 25 cts.; potatoes 33 cts.; labor about $10 per month. These prices have reference to 1861, and prior thereto. Since then they have increased from 50 to 100 per cent. Field hands and mechanics are the labor most needed. Climate is mild and healthful, requiring but little stabling of animals, the stronger ones live mostly by grazing out during the winter, but no doubt many of them would be benefited by being better cared for.
This point is 84 miles from Parkersburg on the Ohio River, and 380 miles from Baltimore.
Timber and other products are floated down the Monongahela to Pittsburg, where they find a ready and good market.
There is a well-regulated free school system throughout the State, with two comfortable school-houses in each township.
The prevailing religious denominations are Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Catholics, all of whom are tolerably well supplied with churches. A very large majority of the people are native born, but there are a considerable number of Irish and Germans, mostly Catholics.
Out of this valley, east, west, and south, lands very much of the same quality may be had much lower.
Yours truly,
GIDEON D. CAMDEN.
F. B. GODDARD, Esq., New York.
P. S. The coal is said to be, for gas purposes, equal to any in the United States, about 300 tons of which are daily sent off on Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from this point, and find a market in Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York.
GRAFTON, WEST VIRGINIA,
August 10, 1868.
F. B. GODDARD, Esq.:— .
DEAR SIR:—This country is healthy, but sparsely settled in the interior, or counties off from the line of railroad. Emigration would be kindly received in all cases. The most of this State is heavily timbered with oak, sugar, and yellow poplar, and in most counties stone coal is abundant and easily got. Lands can be got from $5 to $10 remote from villages and railroads, and near to them for $15 to $25 improved. This State is rapidly settling up.
Yours truly,
J. J. LOVE.
MARTINSBURG, BERKELEY COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA,
August 6, 1868.
DEAR SIR: * * * Of this valley it may safely be said that no section of the globe can produce its equal in the same extent of country, in healthfulness, productiveness, scenery, and climate combined. Says a devoted son of the valley: "It is a curious fact, that whilst the pioneers of the valley were rushing with avidity, attracted by the advantages of timber to the comparatively barren and sterile country west of the North Mountain, they passed by, as of little value, the prairie-lands between that mountain and the Shenandoah River, then termed, from the absence of timber, the Barren. And thus we have the fact before us, that the fairest and most unrivaled inheritance of man—this country, lying between the two mountains, so unequaled in the kindness of its soil, and the loveliness of its landscape, the elysium of the agriculturist, of which it might truly be said, as Byron has said of Italy:—
Thou art the garden of the world, the home
Of all art yields, or nature can decree;
Thy very weeds are beautiful; thy wastes
More rich than other climes' fertility.'
This country, thus blessed, and thus blessing, was among the last appropriated in the progress of the early settlement of the valley." Thus we see this great valley, extending 200 miles in length, one vast and almost unbroken field of wonderful richness and charming verdure. The soil is mostly of the limestone formation, with some slate bordering along its large streams. Its chief productions are wheat, corn, oats, and rye; and more or less of other cereals usually raised in the same latitude in other lands; and every variety of fruit, in perfection, that can be raised in the same latitude anywhere. Good limestone farms produce from 20 to 35 bushels of wheat per acre; from 40 to 80 bushels of corn, and hay in abundance. The country is well watered with large springs and running streams. Our winters are short and mild. No country can be better adapted for sheep, which are universally healthy, and can most always get their living the year through. The limestone farms sell according to location, &c., at from $50 to $80 per acre; slate farms, from $10 to $30 per acre. Common laborers, such as farm hands, &c., get from $12 to $18 per month. Mechanics are most needed, and can command $3 per day. Climate delightful, blue skies and pure air, clear cold water from living springs; many of them being chalybeate and sulphur, and never a mosquito to disturb your equilibrium or make you ejaculate unrefined interjections. The timber is abundant; large quantities of iron ore, but no coal. Martinsburg is 100 miles from Baltimore, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, which road has a branch running up the valley from Harper's Ferry, so that hardly any farm can be more than 15 miles from railroad transportation.
The majority of our inhabitants are the native Virginian. This (northern) section of the valley is mostly inhabited by Union men, by whom the Northern farmer, mechanic, or capitalist is welcomed with a heartiness that makes him feel at home, and realize the meaning of Old Virginia hospitality. And this feeling, I may say, exists among the people of every political opinion. Now, as to inducements for Northern men to settle here, I will leave it to yourself to deduce from what has already been written. Very respectfully,
L. A. LUCE.
F. B. GODDARD, Esq., New York.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.