Marlinton's Location and Proposed Development

 

A correspondent for the Greenbrier Independent, writing in an article reprinted in the September 24th, 1891 edition of The Pocahontas Times, stated that:

• Marlinton was located at the junction of the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) and the West Virginia and Pittsburg railroads. The correspondent noted that lots were being laid off by Capt. Oscar A. Veazey and that they were on the market. They also mentioned plans for a new bank to be called the Bank of Pocahontas.
• A proposal had been presented to voters to relocate the county seat from Huntersville to Marlinton. The correspondent stated that the old courthouse had been condemned and that Col. John T. McGraw had offered a proposition of $5,000 and two-and-a-half acres of land for a site if voters agreed to relocate the county seat.

The editor of The Pocahontas Times responded to the correspondent's article in the same edition of the newspaper. The editor noted that the correspondent's description of Marlinton was inaccurate.

• The C&O and the West Virginia and Pittsburg railroads did not actually run through Pocahontas County. Rather, Marlinton was the proposed junction of the two lines. The editor explained that the nearest point in Pocahontas County to a railroad station was about 30 miles.
• The courthouse in Huntersville had not been condemned. The editor asserted that Pocahontas County's courthouse was better than courthouses in several larger West Virginia counties and was comparable to courthouses in counties with populations of 35,000 and assessed property values six times greater than those of Pocahontas County.

The sources provide additional information about the proposed development of Marlinton.

• Thomas P. Crusty, in a November 5th, 1891 letter to the editor of The Pocahontas Times, described Marlinton as a "most inviting location". Crusty noted that Marlinton was "on the outskirts of a great timber and coal field" and was "adjacent to what is supposed to be good iron ore". Crusty also stated that the C&O Company had hired geologist Mr. Langdon to explore the iron ore deposits in the area.
• Crusty explained that the proposed junction at Marlinton was the result of an agreement between the managers of the West Virginia and Pittsburg Railroad and the C&O. According to Crusty, the C&O still had about 38 miles of track to lay from its Warm Springs extension to Marlinton. The West Virginia and Pittsburg had 34 miles of track to lay, in addition to track that was ready for laying, to complete a connection from Pittsburg to Covington.
• Crusty, writing about his conversations with Johnson N. Camden, noted that investors planned to build an independent 30-mile railroad line up Potts Creek from Covington to access 60,000 acres of mineral lands. According to Crusty, this area had already been explored, with the ore body opened in more than 50 places.
• On October 8th, 1891, The Pocahontas Times reported that the Pocahontas County Court had voted to submit the question of relocating the county seat from Huntersville to Marlinton to voters in the county. The court's action came in response to petitions signed by 697 voters. The Pocahontas Development Company had offered to give the county 2 1/2 acres of land in Marlinton for the construction of a courthouse and jail if voters approved relocating the county seat. The company also offered to pay $5,000 to help defray the costs of new county buildings if the relocation was approved. The court set the special election for December 8th, 1891.

It appears that investors had plans to develop Marlinton as a transportation and industrial hub in Pocahontas County. However, the Greenbrier Independent correspondent's description of Marlinton as an already established town was overly optimistic, as no railroad lines actually ran through the county at that time.