CHAPTER XIV.

SETTLEMENT OF WHEELING - ORIGIN OF THE NAME - POPULATION AT DIFFERENT 
PERIODS - BROOKE COUNTY -IDENTIFIED LOCATIONS - PATRIOTISM OF THE 
PEOPLE - MARSHALL COUNTY - TOMLINSON, THE FIRST SETTLER - EDUCATION - 
CHURCHES - BENWOOD - REMARKS OF A TRAVELER IN 1807 - HANCOCK COUNTY - 
EARLY INHABITANTS - FIRE CLAY INDUSTRY - STATISTICAL - GAS AND OIL - 
WOOL - IRON AND STEEL - GLASS MANUFACTORIES - POTTERIES - CIGARS AND 
TOBACCO - THE WHOLESALE TRADE - CONCLUSION.
 

WE PROPOSE in this chapter to mass together in an abbreviated form, 
that which refers to the counties composing the district known as the 
Pan-handle, preparatory to doing which, however, we shall give a 
brief account of the inception and growth of the city of Wheeling. 
The settlement of Wheeling was begun in 1769, when Ebenezer Zane, 
Jonathan Zane and Silas Zane, three brothers, at the time living on 
the south branch of the Potomac, moved further west, with the 
intention of locating and settling on lands supposed to be more 
desirable. The settlement was made during the peace and friendly 
intercourse existing between the whites and succeeding the treaty of 
Col. Bouquet, and almost simultaneously with other settlements in 
this region and along the borders of the Allegheny and Monongahela 
rivers, which were then free from Indian depredations.
 
Prominent among the early settlers, were the Wetzels, McCollochs, 
Poes, Boggs, Mills, etc. Several origins are assigned for the name of 
Wheeling. One is that it was derived from the circuitous course and 
abrupt wanderings of the creek which flows through the city, another, 
that it took its name from a Catholic priest by the name of Wheelan, 
who was reputed to have been a missionary among the Indians, the 
orthography having been changed to Wheeling, and still another, and 
which is probably the correct one, that it was derived from the 
bloody significance of a murdered individual who had been shot 
through the head, which was placed on a pole which was erected at the 
mouth of the creek. The Delawares when asked where they had shot an 
animal (if in the head) would say Weeling. This was subsequently 
corrupted into Wheeling. The existence of Wheeling as a town, dates 
back to 1793, when the first lots, 112 in number, were laid. out by 
Col. Ebenezer Zane. The original town composed the territory lying 
between North Eleventh and Seventh streets. A number of additions 
have since been made which are all within the corporate limits. The 
plat of the Island known at the time as the town of Columbia as laid 
out in 1836, has been all changed, the lots which were sold, having 
all been bought back by Daniel Zane, Esq.
 
Wheeling was incorporated as a town in 1806, and as a city in 1836. 
In the year 1796 it contained about forty houses, all of them built 
of logs or frame, scattered along at intervals from what is now 
Eleventh street and extending up about as far as Ninth street. Col. 
Ebenezer Zane's house stood on the brow of the hill, now the corner 
of Eleventh and Main streets. Fort Henry was situated immediately 
opposite on the high bank of the river, on the site of the present 
row of store buildings on Main street, above Eleventh street. 

Where the old, Northwestern bank formerly stood, and which has since 
become the residence of George K. Wheat, together with the ground 
adjoining, there was a graveyard. The entire space between the fort 
and the creek was used as a meadow and cornfield, and as late as 1810 
there were but few buildings erected there. Where the site of the 
Second Ward Market house now is, was an orchard, and Centre Wheeling 
was covered with forest trees, with here and there a corn field. This 
is the description of Wheeling in brief at the commencement of the 
present century. An indication of its progress may be presented by 
the following statement of its population at different periods: 

In 1800 the population was about 500; in 1810, 914; in 1820, 1,567; 
in 1830, 5,221; in 1840, 8,793; in 1850, 13,161; in 1860, 20,000; in 
1870, 23,000; in 1880, 30,000; in 1890, estimated between 40,000 and 
45,000. 

Notwithstanding the social and financial disasters through which she 
has been compelled to pass, resulting from bankruptcies, monetary 
difficulties, frequent depressions and effects of the rebellion, her 
growth has been sure, if slow, and in its manufacturing, commercial 
and financial interests, it has made certain progress. But as already 
indicated, we now turn our attention to the consideration of the 
entire territory, of which this history treats as a whole. We do this 
not because there is not much of interest which it would be 
profitable and instructive for us to treat in detail, but, as already 
intimated, we have not the space, as it would easily require a large 
volume of many hundreds of pages to do full justice to its civil, 
political, manufacturing, agricultural and other interests and then 
come far short of exhausting all that might be said in the 
presentation of these subjects. 

The first county carved out of the original territory of Ohio county 
was the county of Brooke, in the year 1796. A brief sketch of its 
early settlement has been kindly furnished us by Hon. Eugene Tarr, of 
Wellsburg, as follows:
 
"Among the early settlers on the western border of Pennsylvania, then 
an almost unbroken wilderness, many tales are told of a land of 
wondrous beauty and fertility that lay away off to the westward. 
Around their cabin fires at night, hunters, and the more daring of 
the settlers, pictured to the imaginations of their comrades the 
beauty and loveliness of this "land of promise." More particularly 
did the fancy of the hunter dwell on that portion of this El Dorado 
which constituted the valley of the "Big River" that lay buried in 
the depths of the forest. Here he had pictured a land most favored by 
the Creator and, which was crowned with everything that could 
contribute to the comfort and happiness of man. The soil on the banks 
of the unknown river was of fabulous depth. Tall oaks, of wonderful 
symmetry for building purposes, grew on the hillsides and the upland 
glades, while in the bottoms and along the banks of the streams, 
giant walnuts and sycamores stretched out their broad arms, and from 
their branches the wild grapes hung in tempting clusters which, 
through all the seasons, had ripened in the October sunlight, 
awaiting the coming of the settler. In the recesses of its untrodden 
wilds roamed, unmolested in security, the wild bear, the deer, and 
the elk, and rested themselves in the shade of the tall trees, 
undisturbed by the sound of the settler's axe, or the crack of the 
hunter's rifle. In search of this paradise of hunters on a bright 
September morning in the year 1772, three men left for the old 
settlement at Brownsville, Penn. They were Jonathan, Israel and 
Friend Cox. Each of them carried a rifle, an axe of small size, a 
blanket and sufficient ammunition, in the shape of powder and lead, 
to last during the supposed time of their expedition, trusting 
entirely for their subsistence to the game which they might secure on 
their way. After following a well, defined trail, made by hunters 
coming to the settlements, for a few miles they boldly struck into 
the woods to the westward, aiming to keep along the high ridges, for 
the purpose of being better able to across the streams they might 
find in the course of their journey, and also to enable them more 
readily to discover the approach of danger from any direction on 
their route. For many days they kept their course to the westward, 
anxiously looking foe signs of the "Big River," until almost 
discouraged. They resolved, however, to travel one more day in the 
direction they had been following and then, if no signs of the valley 
appeared, they determined to retrace their steps to their home at 
Brownsville.

In about an hour after leaving camp, on the following morning, after 
making their resolve, the party stopped on the hill overlooking the 
present site of Wellsburg, and their hopes were fully realized. In 
speaking of it afterward to one of their descendants, they described 
their halting place as having been on the big hill east of town, and 
most likely from the impression from their description, it was the 
hill owned by John Lewis, Esq. After feasting their eyes on the 
panorama spread out before them, they prepared to descend. Picking 
their way carefully down the hill-side they came to what was then a 
deep and wide ravine covered with an almost impenetrable thicket of 
willows and wild plum bushes. This ravine commenced at the creek and 
extended up to where the present run is west of the railroad, and 
reached to where the Episcopal church now stands. Circumventing this 
by crossing above it, our party found themselves on the river bank 
about 200 hundred rods above the mouth of the creek. Here it was 
decided to camp for the purpose of exploring the valley which seemed 
all ihat they could desire; and here the first log cabin ever built 
on the site of the town of Wellsburg, was erected in the month of 
September, 1772. It stood about the end of the present Washington 
street, and about eighty rods west of Water street and the river. It 
was built of round logs with no implements but the small axes carried 
with them, and it served as a protection against wild animals, and to 
some extent against the weather. Taking the mouth of the creek as a 
starting point, the hunters prepared to lay claim to this land which 
was so desirable. They blazed the trees up the river bank to a point 
opposite the mouth of Queen street, and then turning east followed 
about the course of that street to the base of the hill, aiming to 
strike the ravine coming down just north of the pike, thence turning 
to the right they followed the base of the hill to the creek, making 
the creek the south line, the hill the east, and the river the west, 
and the line mentioned above the north. This constitutes the first 
claim ever made by white men to the land on which the town now 
stands. In the following spring of 1773, the three brothers again 
made their appearance in the valley; this time with the intention of 
making it their home. They improved their cabin, and more firmly 
defined the boundaries of their land.
 
The fame of the new settlement had been carried back by them to 
Brownsville, and others began to turn their attention in the same 
direction. About this time a party of hunters, headed by the 
Tomlinsons, who were famous hunters, struck the Ohio river at Grave 
creek and established a camp there. Other adventurous spirits had 
located at Wheeling, and the fame of the Ohio valley soon spread all 
over the east. Sometime after this, George Cox, a cousin of the three 
brothers named by us, came out and took up a claim under the tomahawk 
right, extending up the river bottom almost to Cross creek. A few 
years went by and the war of the revolution was over, and many 
adventurous spirits who had taken part in that contest began to find 
their way into the valley and take up claims under a tomahawk right, 
allowing 400 acres to each settler. 

Cap. Van Swearingen came out and traded a rifle for part of the claim 
held by one of the Coxes, and which constitutes the present fair 
ground and homestead of J. G. Jacob, Esq. And here one word in favor 
of the trio of brothers whose adventurous daring first led the way to 
the valley. One was surprised in his camp while hunting along 
McIntyre creek in Jefferson county, Ohio, and killed. He was buried 
in the creek bottom just below Plumer's mill. Another was killed some 
distance down the river on the Ohio side in a fight with Indians. One 
alone remained to die in his cabin and he, if I mistake not, was the 
ancester of the present Coxes, Squire, Friend, Dr. Elsey and others 
now living on the waters of Buffalo Creek in this country.
 
The Van Swearingen log cabin stood on the bluff back or a little 
north of the spring on J. G. Jacob's property. Van Swearingen was a 
person who was much looked up to by the settlers. He was a man of 
powerful frame, bold and daring in manner, and the leader in many of 
the border scouts. He had commanded a company in Morgan's celebrated 
rifle corps during the war of the revolution and boasted that many a 
red-coat had crossed the dark river at the crack of his deadly rifle. 
He was buried in a gravelly knoll a few feet behind the brick house 
and to the right of the road going up to the Freshwater homestead. 
The Van Swearingen house stood facing the west; it was a double cabin 
with a passage way between. In this passage way was hung on pegs 
driven into the logs, the saddles, blankets and various, articles 
belonging to a hunter's outfit. This cabin was supplanted in the 
course of time with a large oaken frame building built by Gen. 
Connell in 1808, and it in turn gave way to the present mansion of J. 
G. Jacob, Esq., which was built by William Farr in or about 1848. At 
the foot of the bluff was the spring. This spring in early days was a 
famous place of resort. A beech tree of uncommon size spread its 
sheltering branches above the water and beneath its cooling shade, 
hunters often met to recount the deeds of the past and talk of their 
plans for the future. On the rough bark was carved the names of many 
distinguished in border history such as Brady, McColloch, Van 
Swearingen and Buskirk. The oldest recognizable date was 1792. The 
two Wetzels often visited at Van Swearingen's. The old tree stood 
until about 1840, when age and decay having wrought their work it 
fell to the ground and today not a vestige of it remains.
 
The old block house stood on the bank of the river, west of the Van 
Swearingen mansion. At that time and for a long time afterward, a 
pond of water about an eighth of a mile in length and about twelve 
rods in width, extended north and south parallel with the river. At 
the lower end of this lake stood the block house surrounded with 
palisades. It was never regularly garrisoned, but was built more for 
a place to retreat to in case of a raid by the Indians. It went into 
the water about the year 1802. If standing now it would be almost 
exactly on the northwestern corner of what is now within the 
corporate limits of the town. 

Old Maj. McMahon, so called, took up a right of 400 acres on the land 
now owned by S. Jacob, Esq. His cabin stood about 200 rods east of 
the Jacob's mansion on the left of the pike where there is a spring 
and at present writing a small grove of locust trees. When Gen. 
Anthony Wayne organized his expedition against the northwestern 
Indians, he invited McMahon to join his army in the capacity of a 
scout or guide. He had been with Wayne at Stony Point and promptly 
responded to the call of his old commander. He was killed in the 
battle which took place with the Indians during that campaign.
 
Valentine Mendel took up a claim to the lands now constituting the 
farms of Henry Mendel, Clarence Farr, Kelly Park and the old Park 
homestead, reaching to Panther run. He devoted himself entirely to 
clearing lands and establishing homes for himself and children.
 
George Cox was a man of some education, and was much more devoted to 
the arts of peace than war. In this he differed greatly from his more 
adventurous cousins. He came from western Maryland and brought many 
slaves with him. He built a large log house a few feet from the brick 
mansion now owned by Thomas Everett, Esq. He also built cabins for 
his colored people, and while they deadened the timber on the bottom 
and cleared out the brush, he, as became the old-time Marylander, 
spent his days in ease and idleness. Of these daring men but little 
is left to tell. On hillsides, in the corners of deserted pasture 
fields, in the tangled and briar-grown thickets, in unknown and 
nameless graves sleep the pioneers of those early days. 

History has done but little and the nation still less to preserve 
their memories or record their deeds. Tradition alone is left to tell 
how they watched and toiled and fought that their descendants might 
enjoy the grander type of civilization with which we are now 
surrounded. New means of transportation and a new market had to be 
found in distant regions for our surplus products. Hence the broad-
horn and flat boat were brought into requisition and our enterprising 
traders - the Bradys, Tarrs, Marshalls, Palmers and others were the 
first in every southern market with the products grown on our soil, 
while the Doddridges, Edgingtons, Wrights and Hammonds dispensed the 
law from the bench or pleaded in the forum.
 
But not alone did our county excel in the arts of peace, but when the 
mutterings of the storm of the second war of the revolution was 
heard, and a call was made in behalf of the public defense, more than 
fifty of her chosen riflemen flew to the rescue. Of the spirit which 
prompted these brave men in defense of the flag much might be said. 
They had been born and raised mostly in the primitive 100 cabins of 
that early day. Innured to hardships from their earliest days, many 
of them having been revolutionary soldiers, the spirit of emulation 
ran high. Their chivalrous Captain Cougleton had been a captain of 
the revolution. Many a tale the old hero told them around the camp 
fire at night of the stirring scenes of revolutionary history, of 
Monmouth; of the retreat on Long Island, and how the young French 
general, Lafayette, became so excited at Brandywine, that he swore 
terribly at the American soldiers because they could not understand 
his commands given in broken English, and how Washington himself, 
reproved the young Frenchman in the presence of the soldiers, for his 
profanity. Of these grand old heroes none now remain. A few, Miller, 
Moran, Tarr and Stephens, lingered along down to the time of our 
civil war, and then passed away.
 
MARSHALL COUNTY. - This was the next county taken off the territory 
of Ohio county. It was organized in the year 1835. The act 
establishing this county made Elizbethtown the county seat. In the 
year 1770, Joseph Tomlinson accompanied by his brother, Samuel, both 
of whom were Marylanders, settled on the "Flats of Grave creek," and 
built a log cabin near the site of the late judge Caldwell's 
residence. The entire country was a wilderness abounding in the 
finest timber, and an abundance of game. Samuel returned shortly to 
his Maryland home where he died, but Joseph settled and spent his 
life in the valley of Grave creek. The name of his wife, whom he 
married in Maryland, was Elizabeth Harkness, and she was the first 
white woman who took up her residence in Marshall county. The names 
of other prominent early settlers of this county are the Wetzels, the 
Bakers, Parrs and Shepherds. The soil of the county is very fertile 
and productive. The surface of the county is hilly, but nowhere 
mountainous, and the tops of the hills are as rich as the soil in the 
valleys and bottoms. The people of the county have a reputation for 
generosity and hospitality, which is proverbial. Since the 
inauguration of the free school system the schools have made great 
progress, and the improvement made in the mental and moral character 
of its population gives evidence of the success which has attended 
them.
 
Moundsville, the present county seat, is located on one of the most 
beautiful bottoms which can be found on the Ohio river from 
Pittsburgh to its mouth, and affords room for a city of two or three 
hundred thousand people. Its original name was Elizabethtown, so 
called after the name of the wife of its founder, and was laid out by 
Tomlinson in the year 1831.
 
The first school taught in this county was by one William Ransom, an 
Irishman, in a small log cabin, and the first regular school-house 
was built in 1833. A society of the Methodist Episcopal church was 
formed here at an early day. It was, however, not made a station 
until the year 1842, before which time it was attached to the Grave 
Creek circuit. Rev. R. J. White was the first stationed minister.
 
The Presbyterian house of worship was erected in 1835. The first 
Presbyterian minister called was Rev. John Knox. However, as early as 
1802 Grave Creek was reported to Synod as one of its vacant 
congregations, and as early as 1796 supplies were asked for by Grave 
Creek from the Presbytery of Ohio.
 
About the year 1874 the Disciples church organized a society. The 
Catholic church was built in 1854, but no society was formed until 
after the building of the B. & O. R. R. An Episcopal church was 
erected about 1850. The society is, however, small, but lately it has 
made progress, especially since the erection of its new edifice of 
worship.
 
These constitute the number of religious societies, among which 
should be included the organization known as the Young Men's 
Christian association, which promises to become a large and 
influential institution. 

The first newspaper printed in what is now Marshall county was 
established before the organization by Dennis Parriott, who was its 
editor and proprietor, and was called the 'West Virginia.'
 
The state penitentiary is located at Moundsville, which is a fine 
stone structure of excellent architectural taste and proportions. It 
is under the charge of a board of directors appointed by the 
executive. Several branches of industry are carried on within its 
walls, such as wagon-making, shoe-making, whip-making, etc. It is not 
self-sustaining, but is a source of necessary expense to the state. 

An important manufacturing point in this county is the town of 
Benwood, situated four miles below the city of Wheeling, and next to 
Moundsville the largest town in the county. It is an important suburb 
of Wheeling, and is connected with the latter by a line of electric 
cars.
 
There are other small towns in this county such as Glen Easton on the 
B. &  0. railroad about twelve miles east of Moundsville, Dallas, 
situated in the northeastern part of the county and near the 
Pennsylvania line, also Bellton and Board Tree, all of which are 
small villages.
 
An important point for trade in this county, is the town of Cameron, 
situated on the Baltimore & Ohio railroad, about twenty-eight miles 
east of Moundsville. Situated in the midst of a rich country it is 
the center of a large business of miscellaneous character. We quote 
from a writer who visited Grave Creek in the year 1807, who thus 
speaks of the Mound: 

"Mrs. Tomlinson obligingly permitted one of her sons to guide us to 
what is called the Indian grave, which is a short quarter of a mile 
to the southward of the house. It is a circular mound, like the 
trustrum of a cone, about 180 yards in circumference around the base, 
sixty around the flat on the top, and about seventy feet 
perpendicular height. In the center of the flat top is a shallow 
hollow like the filled-up crater of an old volcano, which hollow or 
settle is said to have been formed within the memory of the first 
neighboring settlers, and is supposed by them to be occasioned by the 
settling of the earth on the decayed bodies. The whole mound appears 
to be formed of clay, and from its regularity is evidently a work of 
art, though I am not of opinion that it has been a public or a 
general cemetery, but either a mausoleum raised over, and in memory 
of some great Indian chief, a temple for religious worship, or the 
site of a fortification, or citadel to serve as a place of retreat 
from a superior foe. About three years ago the neighbors perforated 
the north side, at about half the elevation, digging in horizontally 
about twelve feet without any other satisfaction to their curiosity, 
than the finding of a part of a human jaw-bone, the bone rough and 
honey-combed, but the teeth entire, and the surrounding clay of a 
white chalky consistence.
 
"There are four or five small mounds, all within a few hundred yards 
of the great one, each about thirty feet in diameter, much lower in 
proportion than it, all rounded over the tops, and like the great one 
showing their antiquity, by the size of the trees, plants and shrubs 
which cover them, and having more than it the appearance of tumuli. 
The bark of the trees which crown this remarkable monument is covered 
by the initials of visitors cut into it, wherever they could reach, 
the number of which considering the remote situation is truly 
astonishing." The father of Capt. A. O. Baker, the present clerk of 
the circuit court of this county, was born in Tomlinson's fort. His 
name was John Baker. In 1791, he removed to Round Bottom, where he 
bought a tract of land at the lower end of the Bottom, where he lived 
and died. His oldest son, John, intermarried with Elizabeth, the 
daughter of Jonathan Roberts. In other portions of this history have 
been recorded numerous incidents occurring at localities within the 
present boundaries of this county, to which the reader can refer if 
curious to learn concerning them. 

We now proceed to give some attention to the next county in the Pan-
handle, that is to say:

HANCOCK COUNTY. - This county was organized under an act of assembly 
passed January 15, 1848, out of the northern end of Brooke county. 
The act establishing the county provided for the appointment of 
justices by the governor, the establishment of a county court, a 
place for holding the same, etc. The first county court was held on 
the 10th of April, 1848, at the house of Samuel C. Allison, in New 
Manchester, The court was composed of the following justices, viz.- 
John Pettinger, David Pugh, Andrew Henderson, John Gardiner, David 
Wylie, William H. Grafton and John Mayhew. John H. Atkinson, Esq., 
was elected clerk; Robert Brown, prosecuting attorney; Josiah A. 
Adams, commissioner of the revenue; Thomas J. Hewitt, surveyor, and 
the following named persons as commissioners of election: For New 
Manchester, James Hewitt, George Baxter, Thomas Elder, Robert Herron, 
David Pugh. For Holliday's Cove: Greenbury Wilcoxson, William Beall, 
Isaac Van Nostrand, James Gardner and James Campbell. David Wylie and 
Joseph Cameron were appointed to hold the first election. The levy 
for county purposes for 1848 amounted to $157.13. As soon as 
convenient after the organization of the county measures were taken 
looking to the erection of a court house. At the election held under 
the act establishing the county, to decide upon the county seat, New 
Manchester was selected by a majority of one vote. 

The following rise and progress of the fire brick business of this 
county inserted by permission of John H. Atkinson, Esq., who compiled 
it:
 
"Prior to the manufacture of fire brick, there were not fifty 
individuals to people the space lying between the mouth of King's 
creek and extending to the head of Black's Island, and these were 
living in less than a dozen houses of the rude construction of the 
early settlers. At the mouth of King's creek was found a large log 
dwelling known as the 'Ferry house,' part of which is still standing. 
Mr. Philip Beall lived in a brick house, which forms part of the one 
at present near the brick yard of Thomas Anderson. A large log house 
at the mouth of Holbert's run upon the site of the Freeman Brothers' 
brick yard, served for a tavern and ferry house, while Mr. John 
Gamble lived a few rods from the river upon said run, and had opened 
the first fire clay vein in this region. A mile further up the river 
was found a log house known as the Black Horse tavern, and ferry, now 
the Black Horse brick works. The site of New Cumberland was then 
covered with a dense forest, except where small openings had been 
made by the grandfather and father of John Campbell, Esq. The first 
located upon what is called the ridge near where the house of J. H. 
Atkinson now stands, and the second near the mouth of Hardin's run, 
upon the bank of the river. 

"The mill now owned by Mr. Smith at that early date ground out the 
grist of the farmers for miles around, as they came upon pack-horses 
along the bridle paths. Another large log house with double doors 
stood upon the grounds of the present Clifton works, having at that 
day served for half a century as a house for several families, and a 
refuge against the incursions of the Indian maruaders. It still 
serves as a home for a family, and although the storms of a century 
have passed over it, bids fair to last a generation longer." 

"These completed the settlements, while all between was forest and 
tangled wood which could have been purchased at from $1 to $10 per 
acre, the inhabitants of that day little dreaming of the wealth 
underlying these hills, or of the population that would succeed 
them." 

It is about sixty years since the first clay was taken from the banks 
Mr. John Gamble, by Mr. Thomas Freeman, and by him made into brick in 
the city of Pittsburgh. But experience soon taught that to prosecute 
the business successfully the manufacture must be conducted at the 
mouth of the clay bank, and where coal and wood could be found in 
abundance with which to prepare the bricks for market. Accordingly, 
in the spring of 1832, Mr. James G. Porter, then a young man, moved 
to a small house near the present site of W. B. Freeman's brick 
works, and commenced the making of brick - the first made in the 
county. Two years afterward Mr. Thomas Freeman followed with his 
family, and Freeman's Landing became known to river men as quite a 
place of business, and soon opened up to the farmers of the vicinity 
a home market for their products."
 
"About 1837 James G. Porter and Philip Beall formed a partnership 
under the title of Porter & Beall, at what is now the brick yard of 
Thomas Anderson. Thomas Freeman and Messrs. Porter & Beall for 
several years supplied the whole market. Then a keel boat that would 
carry 20,000 brick was considered quite a vessel, but would appear 
rather insignificant alongside of our modern keel or barge freighted 
with 100,000 to 150,000 brick. Those small boats served to carry on 
the trade with Pittsburgh, while Wheeling obtained her supply with 
small flats propelled from that city to Freeman's Landing in about 
two days by horse towing, or the still more primitive mode of pole, 
or the hand tow line. These laden with 5,000 or 6,000 brick and a few 
tons of clay would descend in about a day." 

"About the year 1837 brick were made very cheaply. Good hands could 
be hired at $10 per month and board, or $16 without board. Flour cost 
but $2.50 to $3.00 per barrel. Pork 2 to 3 cents and good beef at 
from 4 to 6 cents per pound, while boats and lumber did not cost more 
than one-third of the price now paid for them. Mr. Philip Beall dying 
in the spring of 1844, Mr. James S. Porter opened a new yard where 
now stand the works of John Porter & Co., and Thomas Anderson 
continued to make brick at the old site of Porter & Beall's yard." 

"Beginning with the season of 1838, a small trade had been opened up 
with the sugar planters of Louisiana which had been wholly supplied 
with fire brick from England. So rapidly had grown the iron trade of 
the Ohio valley that the brick trade of some 200,000 in 1837 had 
grown to more than 1,500,000 in 1844. About the year 1846 Messrs. 
Begham, Stewart and Harper commenced to make brick above and 
adjoining New Cumberland, and prosecuted the business until near the 
beginning of the war, when the property came into the hands of Smith, 
Anderson & Porter, since which time the works have not been in 
operation. In 1846 Shanley & Flowers opened a new yard, and Carson & 
Minn opened another at what is now Williamson's saw-mill."
 
"In 1858 James L. Freeman started the yard at the mouth of Holbert's 
run and successively took into partnership his brothers, Samuel D. 
and Charles A. Freeman, under the firm name of J. L. Freeman & Bros., 
until 1875, when the senior partner retiring, the name was changed to 
Freeman Bros. In 1856 a new yard was started by J. H. Atkinson and 
Thomas Garlick, adjoining that of J. H. Atkinson, under the name of 
Atkinson & Garlick." 

"About the year 1866 Thomas Huston commenced to make brick. About the 
year 1853 Thomas Manypenny, with his three brothers, purchased the 
Etna works of Thomas Freeman, and conducted the business under the 
name of T. Manypenny & Co. The following is the production for 1867: 
Campbell & Logan, 300,000; Porter, Anderson & Co., 600,000; Huston & 
Wilson, 400,000; Thomas Anderson, 800,000; John Porter & Co., 
800,000; W. B. Freeman, 700,000; J. L. Freeman & Bros., 400,000; 
Morgan & Son, 300,000; Smith & Porter, 900,000; J. H. Atkinson (old 
yard), 900,000; J. H. Atkinson (new yard), 600,000; Joseph Stewart & 
Co., 400,000; T. Manypenny & Co., 700,000. Total amount, 6,800,000."
 
In the following year quite a number of yards were opened, but it is 
unnecessary for us to trace this industry further. Enough has been 
stated to show its rapid growth and importance. For the following 
statistical information the writer is indebted to Mr. John Porter, of 
New Cumberland. Within a radius of five miles of New Cumberland there 
are fourteen fire brick works with an invested capital of $250,000, 
while the business amounts to $750,000 per annum. There are also in 
this county one iron stone china works and two sewer pipe and terra 
cotta works, with an invested capital of $100,000.
 
The fire clay was first utilized in 1830. The manufacture of it was 
commenced with very crude machinery. The mud was mixed by oxen and 
the bricks were transported to market in small keel boats drawn by 
horses. Pittsburgh was then the principal market. There are about 100 
gas and oil wells in the county, although the gas is not so at now as 
it was, having decreased in volume. It is utilized in burning fire 
clay products. 

The production of oil in barrels is about 220,000 barrels per annum, 
which is piped to Washington and Pittsburgh, Penn. The oil is of a 
superior quality, and its value is about $275,000 per annum. Some of 
the largest oil producing wells in the county are known as the Brice 
Bros., which flows on an average of 100 barrels per day. Fisher's, 
which flows about eighty barrels per day, and several others in the 
eastern and southern portion of the county. Other territory is now 
being developed, which will no doubt largely increase the above 
totals. This is the most northern county of the Pan-handle and the 
state, and is bounded as follows: On the north by the Ohio river, on 
the east by Pennsylvania, on the south by Brooke county and on the 
west by the Ohio river. It is about thirty miles in length with an 
average width of about six miles. The surface is uneven and inclined 
to be hilly, but like all of the counties composing the Pan-handle 
the soil is fertile and well adapted to the raising of grain, 
producing largely of wheat, oats and corn. Land demands good prices - 
improved land selling from $40 to $125 per acre, and unimproved from 
$10 to $40 per acre, but very little of either being for sale. To 
some extent iron ore has been discovered, which is said to be of a 
superior quality, but the cost of excavating for it would not justify 
the outlay. 

The section of country embraced in the counties of Hancock, Brooke, 
Ohio and Marshall in West Virginia, and in Washington county, Penn., 
is the best wool raising country in the United States and even in the 
world, say competent judges, surpassing even the Australian wool in 
the fineness of its texture, and is largely used in the manufacture 
of "ladies' dress cloth." The reason of the superiority of the wool 
raised in the territory mentioned is to be found in the character of 
the soil, it being a limestone clayey soil. In addition to the soil 
the water and the climate are also elements which enter into its 
composition.
 
For the last twelve or fifteen years wool growers have labored under 
difficulties. During this period the growing of wool has not only 
decreased but it has also depreciated in price. This is due, in a 
great measure, to certain rulings under the tariff, as for instance 
Australian wool shipped in scraps paid a duty of from three to five 
per cent, while fleeces were compelled to pay a duty of from ten to 
fifteen per cent. The Australian shipper took advantage of this, and 
instead of shipping in fleeces adopted the practice of shipping 
scraps, thus securing the benefit of an almost free tariff for his 
wool which enabled him to compete successfully with the home 
producer. Upon investigation the ruse was discovered and now 
Australian wool pays the duty according to its value. The result is, 
therefore, that the price of wool which has been depreciated for the 
last fifteen years, is demanding a steadier and increasing price. 

The superiority of the wool raised in the section named over other 
sections of the country may be demonstrated by this illustration. 
Take a flock of sheep from this section and transfer them say to Iowa 
or any other western state and the wool loses the firmness of its 
fibre and texture, thus depreciating in grade, and in the course of 
two or three years, at the furthest, it will be on a par with the 
grade of wool raised in the states referred to. But bring back this 
same flock of sheep to this section from whence they were originally 
taken, and in the same period of time which occasioned its 
depreciation it will recover its superiority in all respects. 

The farmers and sheep growers in these counties find that the value 
and productiveness of their lands are enhanced by raising sheep, 
because the soil is not exhausted by the growth of crops which 
require annual plowing, as is the case in grain. Hence the rains do 
not wash and waste the soil, and thereby destroy its recuperative 
powers.
 
The favorite and the general breed of this section is the Spanish 
Merino. There are a few clips of the Saxony, Mr. Ninian Beall, Sprigg 
Jacob, James Ridgely, John Baird & Bro. and John Faris & Son, have 
the Saxony.
 
Of the counties named in West Virginia, wheat, oats and hay are the 
staples. The prices of grain have greatly depreciated during the last 
fifteen years because of the competition of western grain, which can 
be brought here and sold as cheap as that raised here. The effect of 
this has also been to depreciate the value of farming lands in the 
counties named. Wheat, on an average brings about $1 per bushel; oats 
average about 30 cents per bushel; corn about 40 cents per bushel, 
and hay about $10 per ton. In the territory embraced in these 
counties is raised the finest quality of fruits as well as the finest 
flavored vegetables of all kinds and varieties. 

IRON and STEEL. - Iron and nails is and has been the leading industry 
of Wheeling for more than a generation past. When the manufacture of 
nails was first introduced here they were made by hand, and the iron 
used in this industry was brought here on pack horses from the east. 
It is now one of the largest iron producing cities in the world. 
There are eight nail factories in the locality and seven blast 
furnaces. Three steel plants convert large quantities of its iron 
into steel, which is in such demand that it far exceeds their 
capacity to furnish the supply. There are three sheet mills, two bar 
mills, and many foundries, forges and machine shops, which turn iron 
into every known shape and purpose. 

The first iron mill erected in Wheeling was built in the year 1834, 
having been built by Messrs. Shoenberger & Agnew, on the site of the 
present Top mill. The next in order was the Virginia mill, organized 
in 1847, by E. M. Norton & Co., which was engaged in the manufacture 
of nails only, and was located at the point of confluence of the 
creek with the river, now occupied by the site of the B. & 0. 
railroad depot. This mill started with forty machines. The Belmont 
mill was the next in order, and this also was built by Mr. Norton and 
others, in 1849. In 1853 the Virginia mill was re-organized and 
removed to Benwood, Marshall Co., four miles below Wheeling. In 1852, 
E. C. Dewey, Esq., established the Eagle Wire mill. In 1860, Dewey, 
Vance & Co., operated the Wheeling Iron and Spike works. The next to 
be mentioned is the Riverside Iron and Steel works, of which J. N. 
Vance is president. In 1852 the La Belle mill went into operation 
under the auspices and control of Bailey, Woodward & Co. The 
following information concerning these industries has been 
contributed by our friend, J. N. Vance, Esq., one of the best 
informed and most enterprising of our fellow citizens in the line of 
his business. He says: "We have seven nail mills with a combined 
capital of $4,000,000, containing 1,140 nail machines, with an annual 
capacity of 2,830,000 kegs of steel nails, which are distributed all 
over the country, but mainly through the west and south, including 
California and Oregon. The superiority of the Wheeling steel nails is 
acknowledged in all sections of the country, and they command a 
higher price and have the preference over all other brands. We have 
in successful operation three Bessemer steel plants, with a combined 
capital of about $1,200,000, and producing about 210,000 tons of soft 
steel annually. This steel is used for a great variety of purposes, 
and has largely superseded the use of wrought iron. Three mills here 
manufacture bars and sheets in all their varieties out of iron and 
steel, and have an annual production of 38,000 tons, which meets with 
a ready sale in all parts, of the west and northwest. Five blast 
furnaces are located here using Lake Superior ores and Connellsville 
coke, and producing about 180,000 tons of Bessemer pig iron yearly, 
which is all used here in the steel plants. Steel, gas and steam pipe 
is being successfully manufactured here by the Riverside Iron works. 
This is a new industry, being the only establishment manufacturing 
steel pipe in the country. It has an active sale, and is growing in 
favor rapidly where a high pressure and great strength is required." 

In 1880, Wheeling, including, those in its vicinity, according to the 
census report of that year, had thirteen iron works. Of this number 
eight are credited to Wheeling. These eight had: Capital, $2,274,425; 
employes, 2,629; yearly wages paid, $1,098,296; raw material used, 
$2,502,053; value of product, $4,416,567.

GLASS MANUFACTURE. - Within the limits of Wheeling are three glass 
manufactories having seven furnaces and eighty odd pots in which are 
employed about 1,500 men in various branches of the work. In 1815, a 
glass-works was established in Wellsburg, and in the year 1820, they 
are estimated to have turned out a product amounting to $20,000 in 
value. In 1831, there were two factories in operation in Wellsburg. 
In 1840, she had but one, which did a good business. At present there 
are Dalzell Bros. & Gilmore Table Ware factory, the Riverside Glass 
works, the Lazear Glass works, the Wellsburg Window Glass works and 
the Venture Glass works. There are few places possessing greater 
advantages for the manufacture of glass and other industries than 
Wellsburg. The first glass factory in Wheeling was built in 1821. Its 
specialty was the manufacture of window glass. Another was opened 
about 1829, on the side of the hill opposite the head of Tenth 
street. This was a cut-glass factory. In 1835, the Messrs. Sweeney 
(Thomas and Michael, brothers), built a flint-glass house in the 
north end of the city. Later, Plunkett & Miller operated a glass 
factory in East Wheeling, on the site of the present school building 
in Union district, and afterward they operated the South Wheeling 
works. In 1845, J. L. Hobbs & Son carried on these works, J. L. Hobbs  
having been connected with them from that time down to within the 
last two or three years when he retired from active connection with 
them and they are now operated by a new company. In 1889, Wheeling 
had three glass houses with seven furnaces and seventy-two pots and 
they had a combined capital in round numbers of a half million of 
dollars and employed nearly 900 hands. The Wheeling glassware for 
excellence and beauty cannot be surpassed. The city is noted for her 
manufactures in this line of industry. It is shipped in large 
quantities to Europe, and especially is this the case with the 
Central Glass works which makes large shipments annually to Germany. 
Dealers in glassware from the principal cities of the country 
periodically visit this city, to examine styles and, designs and to 
leave their orders for stock.
 
POTTERIES. - The first lot of vitrified china ever made West of the 
Allegheny mountains was produced at the factory of Homer Laughlin, in 
East Liverpool, Ohio. It suffered nothing from comparison with the 
best French, German or other vitrified china. The first step in the 
art in what is technically called potting, is to get a list of the 
bodies used in it, and the second is to classify them, as for 
instance, bodies, glazes and colors. Then there are bodies known as 
earthenware, china, porcelain and terra cotta, including all the 
varieties of white and colored glazed dey or vitrious. The 
manufactury of pottery has been practiced for a long time, though the 
specimens of taste or workmanship were not of the choicest, for we 
find that Pompey's soldiers carried some from Pontus to Rome, B. C. 
64. The progress made in the last fifty years has been truly 
wonderful and especially do we have reference to our country. To this 
day there are potteries in England working exactly on the same lines 
they did when they first started in the business a century ago. The 
same methods of making slip by hand - the same process of drying - 
the same throwing wheel turned by hand, the same turning lathe worked 
by the foot, in fact everything the same as when they first 
commenced. The great improvement in machinery and the skill of our 
workmen is placing this industry not only in competition with foreign 
manufactures of the same character, but have already in a general way 
excelled them. The excellence of American earthenware is nowhere more 
forcibly shown than in the potteries of the Pan-handle. The 
facilities available for the prosecution of the industry are 
admirable, and the results developing the fact that their wares are 
enabled to successfully compete in prices and quality with any 
similar industry elsewhere located. 

CIGARS and TOBACCO. - One of the most important of the manufacturing 
interests of the city of Wheeling, and which is carried on to a 
greater or less extent, in all of the counties composing the Pan-
handle, is the manufacture of what is known to the trade, of a cigar 
called the "Stogie," which has attained to such a degree of 
prominence, as to have extended its popularity and field of 
occupation from the Ohio river to the distant shores of Behring's 
Straits. Manufactured tobacco for chewing and pipe smoking is an 
increasing industry. Millions of pounds are annually produced. The 
internal revenue office of this district, derives a large and 
constantly growing revenue from this source, as is evidenced by the 
large and increasing number of stamps required by manufacturers. The 
returns of the internal revenue office in the city of Wheeling, shows 
that the value of stamps sold in the first six months of the fiscal 
year 1889, amounted to the sum of $172,341.93. For the corresponding 
six months of 1890, the value of the stamps issued amounted to the 
sum of $236,044.55, showing an increase in value of $64,701.69, in 
the first six months of the current year, and that the increase has 
been regular and steady.
 
THE WHOLESALE TRADE. - This trade is annually expanding, keeping pace 
with the increase in wealth and population of the surrounding 
country. Not only are the merchants of the Pan-handle, known in every 
portion of West Virginia, but they have become known and have 
extended their trade into southern Pennsylvania, western Maryland, 
eastern Ohio and in Kentucky.
 
In hardware and agricultural implements, boots and shoes, hats, dry 
goods, notions, confectionery, cigars and manufactured tobacco, 
drugs, queensware, glassware and groceries, the volume of business is 
very large, and no competition has been able to prevent its growth 
and increase. 

The whole jobbing trade, embracing all branches, is in the hands of 
men of ample capital and first rate credit, able to buy low and sell 
at reasonable prices. Their character for fair dealing, and this may 
be said of those engaged in all branches of business, is above 
reproach, and none enjoy the confidence of eastern merchants to a 
greater degree than do the business men of the Pan-handle, among whom 
there are fewer failures in proportion to their numbers than a like 
community in any other portion of the country.
 
But it is not our purpose to enter into a detailed description of the 
different branches of trade carried on in this section, but only in a 
general way to give some idea in a very limited space, of some of the 
most prominent industries (and not all of them) so that the reader 
may form some slight idea at least of the advantages of the upper 
Ohio valley in a business point of view, and the facilities it enjoys 
as a manufacturing center.