USA > West Virginia > Myers' history of West Virginia (1915) Volume II > Part 16
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West Virginia metropolis was thronged with pleasure-seeking thousands.
"And they did not seek in vain, for pleasure was abroad without any disguise. There were so many things to see that it was simply a question of what sort of an attraction suited the individual. Today most of the visitors will leave for their homes, but Pa Wheeling will not fully recover from his spasm of joy for a week.
"The first feature of the big day was the combined mili- tary, fraternal and civic parade, which started at 10 o'clock and proved one of the big features of the week. The distinguished visitors, the U. S. Regulars, W. V. U. Cadets, Boys' Brigade, Cathedral High School, West Liberty Normal and fraternal organizations participated.
Birthday Exercises.
"In the afternoon, starting shortly after 2 o'clock, the official birthday ceremonies were held at City Hall Park, with West Virginia's grand old man, the Hon. Henry G. Davis, presiding, and with addresses by Governor Hatfield, Mayor Kirk, Judge Mason, Judge Jackson and others.
"The fair ground proved the mecca of thousands at all hours of the day, and the exhibits were thronged with de- lighted visitors. The hippodrome features came in for a big share of attention, and of course the aeroplane flights were eagerly watched by every one who had a chance to see them.
"The evening program included the State banquet at the Scottish Rite Cathedral at 6:30, the grand parade at 8:30, and then came the fitting climax of the week when the court ball was staged at the Auditorium at 10 o'clock.
Visitors Pleased.
"On every side were heard expressions of satisfaction and pleasure, and both visitors and home folks agreed that West- Virginia's Golden Jubilee had been honored by a celebration worth while.
"The weather was perfect. The day was a warm one, but
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the heat was modified by a breeze that began before noon and lasted until evening. The throngs on the streets exceeded those of any previous day, but all were orderly and the regular and special police had very little to do except in regulating traffic.
"With Hon. Henry G. Davis, '87 years young', presiding. West Virginia's fiftieth birthday celebration was held in the presence of cheering thousands yesterday afternoon at City Hall Park.
"The weather conditions were ideal. The sky was purest azure, and a breeze which at times became strong enough to make hearing difficult, tempered the rays of the bright sun.
"Shortly after 2 o'clock Governor Henry D. Hatfield and Mayor H. L. Kirk stepped from the portal of the City Hall. while the combined band played 'Hail to the Chief.' Between the doorway and the speakers' platform were some of the aged survivors of the Wheeling conventions. As soon as Governor HIatfield observed these veterans of the formation of the State he stopped and hell an informal hand-shaking, and it was pleasing to see how the eyes of the old fighters lighted up as they returned the cordial greetings of the Governor.
The Speakers.
"Seated in the speakers' stand were Henry Gassaway Davis, of Elkin's: Governor Henry D. Hatfield, Mayor H. L. Kirk, Secretary of State Stuart F. Reed, Judge John W. Mason, of Fairmont : five of the six survivors of the Wheeling conventions. John J. Davis, Alpheus Garrison. P. M. Hale. William T. Brown and George R. Latham : Col. John E. Day. of this city, who made the first public suggestion of a semi- centennial celebration, and J. R. Taylor, of Chicago, composer of the State ode.
"The stand, the Paxton fountain, the surrounding build- ings and the park were all beautifully decorated in the national and state colors.
"At the appointed time, to the strains of 'The Star Span- gled Banner,' the venerable James Shriver, who raised the first flag over a public building in the new State of West Virginia,
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stepped forward and raised Old Glory to the breeze amid the cheers of the great audience.
"The Rev. J. II. Littell, of the Second United Presby- terian Church, was then announced by Chairman Davis and delivered the opening prayer.
Henry G. Davis Speaks.
"Then came the opening address of the distinguished chairman. In spite of his eighty-seven years, Mr. Davis spoke in a strong, clear voice and with no trace of weakness of any sort. He received the undivided attention and unbounded admiration of the big crowd from the very first and was en- thusiastically applauded.
"He said :
"'As chairman of the semi-centennial commission it be- comes my privilege and duty to preside at these exercises in commemoration of important events which occurred in this city fifty years ago, when there came into existence a new sovereignty-a new member of the sisterhood of States that makes up this great and wonderful nation. That official notice should be taken of the fiftieth anniversary of the admission of the State was to be expected, and the governor appointed a commission, composed of fifteen prominent citizens, to formu- late plans and direct the preparations for a fitting celebration of the event, towards defraying the expense of which the legislature appropriated thirty thousand dollars. While the patriotic spirit awakened would be felt by all the people of the State, it was recognized that there should be some place upon which to center the more important features of the cele- bration.
"Wheeling Selected.
" 'The committee weighed carefully the considerations advanced in behalf of the different cities and selected Wheel- ing as being the most appropriate, practically all the steps in the formation of the State having been taken here and it hav- ing been the first capital. Her citizens were enthusiastic in their desire to show by their works the appreciation of the
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historie value to them of these early scenes, and well have they done their part. They have devoted their time and means and best talents in their untiring efforts, and what we see here today is the best evidence of their complete success. That no mistake was made in the selection of Wheeling for the official ceremonies is patent to all.
"Celebration State Wide.
" 'The commission felt that the celebration should be State wide, and while lending its aid in all particulars, it has encouraged as far as possible the holding of appropriate ser- vices in all parts of the State. To this end the day has been made a State holiday and so proclaimed by the governor. Financial assistance has been given by the commission to the county seats, national and State flags have been sent to the 8,000 and odd school houses in the State, and the people urged through boards of trade, chambers of commerce and other civic organizations to hold meetings with services appropriate to the day. The fraternal and benevolent orders have been asked to take proper action, railroads have been requested to recognize the anniversary by decorating their trains and sta- tions, and appeal has been made generally to all classes of citizens of the State in some way everywhere to make the day memorable.
" 'The commission, through a committee from the State University, selected from a large number of contestants a song and music and a monograph composed especially for the occasion, which have been printed and widely distributed and will be sung and read here and elsewhere throughout the State. Under the direction of the commission, a souvenir volume is being compiled, which will be published in due time and contain an accurate history of the State and its resources and development at the end of the first fifty years of its exist- ence. In a number of other ways the commission has sought to carry out the purposes for which it was created, and trusts that its labors have not been in vain. It believes that the peo- ple generally will appreciate the significance of the exercises here and elsewhere, that they will serve to increase pride of
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citizenship, awaken the spirit of patriotism and add to the mental and spiritual stature of all. And as we proceed with the observances of the day, let us for a moment look back to the beginning of the period we celebrate.
"Foundation of State.
".Momentous were the issues and tremendous the results of the Civil War, but the only change wrought in the map of the country was in the creation of West Virginia. The act establishing the State was approved by President Lincoln on June 20th, 1863, and West Virginia stood apart and alone from the old State. It was with saddened heart in times of stress that she saw her youngest daughter depart and go her way. A few years later she learned that the estrangement was only temporary and that with growing strength and vigor the off- spring by her side stood steadfast in its affection and pride for the mother State. The change was made during the days of heroic deeds and when the pages of history were being rapidly turned. The men whose faith and strength of purpose carried them forward to the formation of the State in times of great doubt and forboding, are those to whom we now pay homage.
"'We come not so much to recount our achievements and to enjoy the sense of satisfaction they impart, as to do defer- ence to the memory of those who made possible the occasion of our pride. They builded better than they knew by bringing into being a State, which, like themselves, lives on and gathers strength as the years multiply, and yet while they live has grown greater than they anticipated, richer than they prophe- sied, stronger than they imagined, and more than fulfilled their brightest and cherished hopes.
" 'The physical features and natural riches of West Virginia have always been attractive and elusive. The adven- turous spirits of colonial times found pleasure and excitement in the chase within her borders, and pioneers discovered in her woods and hills, her mountains and valleys and encircling waters, the essential ingredients of future empire ; the pathway of progress was made through struggle and adversity, and her early settlers were impelled by the obstacles they had to
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overcome. He who laid the foundation of the nation, the im mortal Washington, in the days of his early manhood within her borders set courses and distances in engineering endeavor. The time is not now sufficient to bring before us the names. growing brighter by the polishing effects of time, of the illu- trious men who have been her sons or patrons. They are entwined in her history and have given her strength in her infancy and prestige and power in her fuller life. It has been five decades since the star of West Virginia first appeared in the national emblem, and it is by these periods of time we are apt to compare our political life and growth.
"Geographical Location.
"'At the time of her admission into the Union, she was and is now smaller than any of the States to the west of her, and, notwithstanding this, her irregular form enables her to reach well in between Ohio and Pennsylvania, to within 100 miles of Lake Erie, while but fifty miles separate her from the capital of the nation and down to Kentucky her borders. She stretches forth her arms to the north and cast, and in sisterly friendship unites the great northern and southern States, be tween which she lies. She has been described as the most northern of the southern States and the most southern of the northern States, and in this happy mean she derives the best qualities of both.
"'The peaks and pinnacles and terraced mountain sides divide and distribute her waters with impartial favor. They give birth to the Potomac, which broadens into service for the capital of the nation, and mingle in the Chesapeake with those which have gone down through the historic James: to the north by the Cheat and Monongahela they reach at Pitts- burgh the Ohio and soon join with the waters from the south- west of the Little Kanawha. Nature has furnished the lines of a great portion of the boundaries of the State in mountains and streams, the Ohio River alone serving her well for nearly three hundred miles along her border. The people of the State have inherited from its rugged nature a spirit of freedom and self-reliance. They have cared rather for the independence of its hills and valleys than the independence of cities and towns.
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Population.
"'In 1860, about the time of the formation of the State. and the nearest figures thereto available, the population was 376,688, or about fifteen persons to each square mile. In 1870 it had grown to +20,014. and in 1910 it reached 1,221,119, or an average of 50 persons to each square mile. It had a little more than three times the population of fifty years ago, the actual increase being 324 per cent., and of 276 per cent. from 1870. The per cent. of increase in the decade was greater than the average of the United States.
" 'The population in 1800 was seventeen times and in 1910 twenty-two times as much as it was in 1790. In 1910, com- pared with forty-six per cent. for the entire country, only 19 per cent. of the population of West Virginia lived in cities : nearly one million of its people living in the country, and, not- withstanding this, five of its cities increased in size over 100 per cent. in ten years, from 1900 to 1910. West Virginia's progress in numerical strength is largely within herself. Although her mining industries are uppermost, she has had little help from immigration. Of her total population but four and seven-tenths per cent. are foreign born, ninety-five and three-tenths per cent. being natives of the United States, and eighty per cent. saw the first light of day within her confines. Four out of five of her people, therefore, are native born, and but one in twenty came from foreign shores; ninety-four and seventy-nine one-hundredths per cent. are white and five and three-tenths per cent. are colored.
Agriculture.
"'It might be said that our mineral deposits enlarged her area, as in many instances, with thousands of acres of valuable coal seams beneath, the surface is cultivated and fruitful. Two-thirds of the State is in farms ; their number, acreage and value, compared with 1870, are as follows:
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History of West Virginia
1870
1910
Pet. Inc.
Number of farms. 39,778
90.685 143
Acres
2,580,254
5,521,757 11-1
Value $90,714,190
$314,738.540 225
" "There are in round numbers one hundred thousand farms in the State, and they each have property worth over $300.000.
Manufactures.
"'In 1910 there were 2,580 manufacturing plants, nearly half of which were working in lumber and forest products. Their capital was $150,923,000. not quite half the value of the farms. They employed 71.403 persons, and the value of their products was $161.950,000.
Mining.
"'It is in mining that the State is making its most rapid industrial progress. In 1863 it produced about 500,000 tons of coal. an average output now of about three days. At that time its oil and gas production was inconsiderable-now it is first in the production of natural gas, first grade oil, and hard- woods, and second in coal and coke. Pennsylvania alone sur- passing her. Her output of bituminous coal compared with that of Pennsylvania for several years past in net tons was :
Year
West Virginia
Pennsylvania
1902
24.570,820
98.574.367
1907
48.091.583
150,143,177
1912
68.320,000
159.922.449
"'For the five years following 1902 West Virginia's per cent. of gain was nearly double, for the ten years since 1902 it was nearly three times, and for the last five years six times. that of Pennsylvania.
"'In 1902 Pennsylvania mined four times as much bitum- inous coal as West Virginia-in 1912 it was less than two and one-half times as much.
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History of West Virginia
".West Virginia has 826 separate mines, 59 of which are cach producing over 200,000 tons annually, and they all give employment to over 70,000 men.
""Since coal mining began in the State, West Virginia has produced 646,448,201 tons, over one-tenth of which was produced in the past year. In 1912 West Virginia furnished about one-sixth and Pennsylvania about one-third of the en- tire production of the United States. West Virginia has a greater amount, remaining untouched, of available coal than Pennsylvania, the estimates by official source being 149,000,- 000,000 tons for the former and 109,000,000,000 tons for the latter.
Wealth.
".Since about the time of the formation of the State, its
total assessed value has grown nearly ten-fold, it being 126,060,743 in 1867, and 1.114,000,000 in 1911.
"'Statistics of great variety could be produced to show the health and prosperity of West Virginia, her present high position, rapid advance in all the material and moral affairs of life, the happiness and ambitions of her people, but facts are for moments of greater care. Today we put aside the sterner realities of life and lend our thoughts and feelings to the spirit of the occasion. We join with our neighbors and friends in making merry, that we can with light hearts and cheerful mien fittingly observe the day we celebrate. The State was born in sentiment and in sentiment let's remember its birth. In our felicitations of West Virginia's fiftieth birthday, an oc- casion fraught with pride in the accomplishments of the past. let us take advantage of the golden opportunity and inaugu- rate to higher hopes and greater aims the second half century of the State's history.'"
MAYOR H. L. KIRK.
"Mayor Kirk, of this city, was the first speaker after Mr. Davis's talk, and gave an eloquent address on the progress of West Virginia and of the things they have done and stood for in the past. He spoke with much feeling on the natural beau-
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History of West Virginia
ties of West Virginia and the wonderful advantages its citi- zens enjoy in comparison with other States: he also told of the great wealth buried in its hills and valleys, and what progress West Virginians are making in its development. In closing he welcomed every one present in the name of the State, city and every citizen.
"He said : 'One can not but be impressed by this august presence and this splendid display. I count it indeed a high privilege upon an occasion so fraught with interest to be per- mitted to speak for a short time to this massive throng of my fellow-countrymen. Standing today in the dawn of the twen- tieth century, some of you may ask what we have done and what title we have to public favor. I answer, in the ages when the blackness of paganism surrounded the world, when idols were set up for worship in the temples, when the advocates of religious rights were subject to cruel torture and many were compelled to bow the knee to Baal, then it was when thought- tut men assembled in secret council and resolved to be free and do for themselves, and they decided to worship a true and living God. All along the centuries . they have stood out bravely and heroically proclaimed the doctrine of the father- hood of GOD and the brotherhood of man, and by such action they have made the world cleaner and sweeter, kinder and happier.
" My friends, mighty things have been worked out in this. one of the youngest States of the Union. A point which was yesterday invisible is the goal of today and will be the start- ing point of tomorrow. We look into the future and hail the coming of the man, radiant when this beautiful world which we now inhabit will be ablaze with a radiant splendor of new discovery, which would blind the eyes of those now living were they in their fullness to break in upon us. It seems to me, my friends, that more particularly today than any other period of the State's history are most manifest all instrumen- talities for the bettering of the human race. May the light- ning spare the walls of our glorious State and may peace like a ministering angel, and may like the shadows of the cen- turies continue to be upon our splendid Chio Valley, the rich- est of all the great valleys of the carth.
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History of West Virginia
"Loves State and People.
"'I love our State of West Virginia. I love her people. I love her magnificent mountains and charming vales. I love the majestic Ohio River as it sweeps past our homes on its meandering way to the sea, bearing upon its bosom the prod- ucts of our mills, our factories, our farms and our forges. Hemmed in on either side by God's grand hills, rock-ribbed and towering in the sunlight, which look down as unwavering sentinels upon our splendid achievements, our marvelous de- velopment and our magnificent destiny.
"'Could I do otherwise but admire such a river and such surroundings? My friends, God never made a richer and more beautiful valley than the charming and prosperous Val- ley of the Ohio. Talk as you may of the Rhine and the Rhone and the Seine and the Arbe and the Tiber and the Thames. These valleys are all large and beautiful and grand, but the Ohio, our own Ohio, with its salt, and its clay, and its iron, and its coal, and its oil, and its gas, and its stone, and its cli- mate, and its soil, and its scenery excels them all. The possi- bilities of this valley are incalculable: its wealth, like that of Croesus, can not be estimated, and its inhabitants are among the noblest, manliest and bravest people today beneath God's sunshine. We are in the business of doing things ourselves, we aren't by any means lying supinely on our backs up here in our West Virginia hills. We are digging coal at a mighty rate. the familiar click of the miner's pick is daily heard in many of our mountain sides as they bring forth the dusky diamonds which bring millions of dollars into our pockets every year. The hum of the mill saw lulls our mountaineers to sleep and awakens them from their slumbers at the dawn- ing of the morn.
"Have Everything Here.
"'We are pumping oil in sufficient quantities every day out of our West Virginia hills to grease all the axles on the earth and have enough left to lubricate the north pole, and oil the hinges of every industry in the world. Moreover, we
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have almost every thing che up here, including the best people beneath the stars. We are just beginning to appreciate in its fullest the true grandeur of our Little Mountain State, under whose flag all classes of men can walk erect in the dignity of unrestricted freedom. Thank God, in our great State no man owns another, and, better than all, labor is forever free. At last we have learned the lesson, though it was written in blood. that labor is of God, and that nothing is more sacred and more to be respected than honest, faithful toil.
"'Labor is wealth, and man needs no better passport to fame than that he earns his living by the sweat of his brow. Free labor and free thought, my friends, have done more than all things else to elevate mankind. They have chained the lightning, conquered the steam, bridled the machinery, broken down caste and uplifted men. Any man who does not believe in free labor and free thought is an enemy to human progress, and an enemy to himself as well as to all mankind.
".We rejoice today that ours is the foremost State among all States. Here, under God's free sunlight ; here, as our works are fanned by the air of liberty ; here, at one of the richest and most prosperous of all States in the republic : here. under the protection of the Stars and Stripes ; here. on the banks of the great Ohio in the beginning of the twentieth century ; here. amid the hum and industry of every hand and beneath the shadow of majestic hills which have witnessed the storms of centuries ; in the presence of this magnificent throng of our West Virginia people : we are here to commemorate the fifti- eth anniversary of our State.
".Hail to this massive gathering of freemen. Hail, all hail. to you as patriotic West Virginians ; and better than all, I hail you as Americans. Today I rejoice not only because we are in the front ranks of the States of the Union, but better than all. we are happily united under one flag, one constitu tion, and are to remain, we hope, one State, one people, indi- visible and inseparable now and forevermore. The universal sentiment of American people today is one constitution, one flag, one destiny ; and may it, my hearers, be thus forever.
" 'In West Virginia we received a wilderness, the savage. the elk and the buffalo, and we bequeathe the beginning of
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the nineteenth century the largest area of territory that has thus far been developed upon terra firma. which is now pour- ing forth fabulous treasures into the lap of commerce; and, notwithstanding all the development, we are now standing at the threshold of still greater discoveries, and at the entrance of an era of dazzling splendor which can not fail to electrify the human race. All these and more we cheerfully hand over to the new century which has just dawned above the eastern horizon. Mighty things have been brought out during the past century, and still what our eyes now behold are but the small things of the more glorious that are yet to follow. Well may we exclaim with him of old: "What has God not wrought ?"
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