West Virginia: Its Farms and Forests, Mines and Oil-Wells

Introduction

 INTRODUCTION * * * IN NOVEMBER 1864, The New York Times announced that the United States Department of Agriculture had printed 160,000 copies of its Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture for 1863, which included “the agricultural status and prospects of Western Virginia.” The newspaper mentioned that the report conveyed “a comprehensive and satisfactory account of the capabilities and resources of that new State.”1 J. R. Dodge, editor for the newly organized United States Department of Agriculture, wrote the essay, which stimulated a huge demand for more information. In response,Dodge wrote West Virginia: Its Farms and Forests, Mines and Oil-Wells, which he finished in August 1865.2 The book is valuable for its exhaustive descriptions of economic activities, a brief historical summary of West Virginia’s creation, and flowery descriptions of West Virginia ’s beauty. It is even more interesting when considered in the context of the Civil War,WestVirginia’s birth, and the role that several contributors to Dodge’s book played in the formation of the state. Jacob Richards Dodge, who was normally identified by his initials, J. R., had the education and experience to fill the editor’s role. He was born September 28, 1823 in New Boston, New Hampshire where he was educated in primary school and in the local academies. He taught  west vrgna at an academy in Mississippi from 1845 to 1849 and then returned to Nashua, New Hampshire where he edited a newspaper. He moved to Ohio and edited the American Ruralist in Springfield from 1857 to 1861. Relocating to Washington, DC, he worked as a reporter for both the National Intelligencer (a Whig paper) and the National Republican (formed in 1860, the paper strongly supported Lincoln’s administration ) before joining the U. S. Department of Agriculture in 1862.3 The stimulus for his 1863 work on West Virginia was a letter (author unknown) to the Department extolling the mineral resources of the new state. The letter prompted his research into all facets of West Virginia’s economy and a trip to the state for a personal survey. While in West Virginia, Dodge had “free conferences with intelligent businessmen of West Virginia.” These men saw the creation of West Virginia as the opportunity to get out from under the yoke of the oppressive political and economic policies of Virginia. Historians have documented the long struggle for internal improvements, tax reform, and political influence between western and eastern Virginia. Whether these issues would have led to the creation of a new state without the impetus of the Civil War and secession has led to a historical debate that will likely not find a conclusion.4 More germane to Dodge’s book is the argument from one of the state’s most perceptive historians, John Alexander Williams, who identifies a “social and political elite,” which developed in western Virginia and was similar to,but competing with,the ruling class in tidewaterVirginia .5 The western group, as did their competitors in eastern Virginia, based much of their wealth on land. The big difference was that most of the land in the west was more valuable for its minerals or stands of wood than for agriculture. Without improvements in infrastructure— roads, locks and dams, railroads—these bulky commodities could not travel to market, and the value of the land could not be realized. Historically, Westerners had sought investment in their region but, although publications extolling the wealth of resources were plentiful, ntroducton  their efforts were hampered by inadequate transportation.6 At the outbreak of the Civil War, only the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, completed to Wheeling with a branch from Grafton to Parkersburg, served the north and north central parts of the state. In the south, a small amount of work had been done to grade roadbed for the proposed Covington and Ohio (later Chesapeake and Ohio) railroad by 1860, but the outbreak of the war stopped further construction.A number of rivers had locks and dams and several turnpikes crossed the state, but people frequently complained they were poorly maintained.7 In fact, Virginia had invested state funds in a transportation system and incurred a relatively large debt in doing so. The early documents by which western Virginians organized the new state recognized the obligation to pay a portion of what became known as the “Virginia Debt” (Wheeling Ordinance, August 20, 1861, and Article VIII of the Constitution of...