Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 6, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 October 1888 — West Virginia Wealth. [ARTICLE]

West Virginia Wealth.

Cor. N. Y. World. West Virginia has great possibilities in the way of natural wealth. I was told that experts have officially estimated the value of the coal and iron in this little State alone is greater than the supply of Great Britain. Mr. Hart, the editor of the Wheeling Intelligencer, and who for a number of years was a special correspondent at Washington, told me that there was enough timber in West Virginia to pay the National debt twice over. Something of the value of this timber was shown by his describing the marketable value of a certain wainut tree, cut down and sawed Into lumber, brought, in the market, exactly $2,000. The State is as yet undeveloped. Much of this valuable timber is out of tbe reach of the railroads. Syndicates, however are coming in along the rivers and purchasing forests in the neighborhood of streams upon which they can float logs down to railroad connections; but there is one trouble about this West Virginia property. The rich qualities of the forests and of its mining region are unquestionable, but there is a difficulty connected with obtaining perfect titles. Many of the interior properties of the State are in great confusion so far as their title is concerned. A would-be investor often finds himself confronted with-adawsuyv incidental to the expense of ordinary development. Throughout the mountains there is a class of American citizens that has most liberal and advanced ideas upon the subject of the use of shot-guns as the most effective method of settling disputes. These energetic citizens have, what is called shot-gun titles. They have squatted on these lands like nomads in the desert, without asking any one’s permission. Some of these squatters have been on lands occupiei by them for from twenty to thirty veare. They could not be uprooted by any ordinary means. The mere fact that any foreign invader had gone through the idle formality of paying for the land would have very little effect upon the emotional minds of these simple children of nature. Undoubtedr. lv they will be driven out in time and made to give way to lawful occupants, but meanwhile in the sparsely settled communities in West Virginia there are great difficultiesin the way of establish-*"," ing claims to titles in any way disputed.