ADDRESS.



  Westward from Clifton Forge we climb the Alleghanies,
to the dividing line between Virginia, and its stolen, but lusty,
child, West Virginia. Thence we go down the Greenbrier River
to its junction with New River, noting along New River busy
branches that extend into the region of the soft, coking,
steam coals, passing also on New River the busy tipples that
serve the drift mines.
  Through the Canyon of New River we go, until the Great
Conglomerate that towered at times a thousand feet above tis
has dipped to form the Falls of the Great Kanawha, a continu-
ation, in fact, of New River, now, under its own name,
" Beautiful River of the Woods, " to thread its quiet way along
fertile valleys, through the region of the Splint Coals of the
Upper Measures, to its bridal with the Ohio at Point Pleasant.
  From our line along the Kanawha go branches south and
north, into regions of seemingly exhaustless Coals, and abundant
Forests. Coal River, and its branches, the Guyandot River,
and its branches, and other confluent streams, all send down to
the main line their products in a stream almost as ceaseless as
the flow of their waters.
  Leaving the Kanawha at the mouth of Coal River, we cross
"Teay's Valley, " about thirty miles, to the Guyandot River,
and, thence, ten miles to the City of Huntington, on the Ohio
River. Here was begun in 1871 the City that bears the name
of its founder, Collis P. Huntington, the builder of Cities,
he, too, a dreamer of great dreams.
  A short distance more, and we cross the Big Sandy River
into Kentucky. Turning, for a moment, up the Sandy, we
see our Big Sandy Line, 134 miles long, that takes us into the
great Elkhorn Coal region, famous because of the fine quality
and the vast extent of its coals, rivalling the Connellsville
region.
  It would please me could I take you with me "Up Sandy."
I know its territory, know its people, rugged, brave, shrewd,
sometimes a law unto themselves, but loyal as friends, even as
they are hostile to the contemner of their rights. I am their
grateful debtor for kindness and hospitality, loyal friendship,
when most needed. To the Kentuckian of Big Sandy I pay this
passing tribute of affection and admiration. But I must
hasten on.



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