[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 146 (Thursday, September 12, 2019)]
[Senate]
[Page S5477]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   SENATE RESOLUTION 310--RECOGNIZING THE SEMI-QUINCENTENNIAL OF THE 
                  COMMUNITY OF WHEELING, WEST VIRGINIA

  Mrs. CAPITO (for herself and Mr. Manchin) submitted the following 
resolution; which was considered and agreed to:

                              S. Res. 310

       Whereas 2019 marks 250 years since the September in which 
     pioneer Colonel Ebenezer Zane used an axe to notch, girdle, 
     and strike his name into a gathering of trees, marking a plot 
     of land through tomahawk rights;
       Whereas, in the spring of 1770, Zane returned with his 
     brothers, Jonathan and Silas, to inhabit the clearing he 
     created above the mouth of Wheeling Creek and they, along 
     with the families who soon followed, formed the nucleus of 
     the community that would become the city of Wheeling;
       Whereas, in 1782, Native American and British forces 
     attacked Fort Henry in Wheeling to drive out colonial 
     settlers;
       Whereas the ammunition supply at Fort Henry was exhausted, 
     and Betty Zane courageously volunteered to retrieve gunpowder 
     from the Zane family homestead, gathered the gunpowder in a 
     tablecloth, and safely returned, resulting in a victory for 
     the citizens of Wheeling;
       Whereas, in 1810, Conrad Cotts, an experienced miner from 
     Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, opened the first commercial coal 
     mine in the area that is now West Virginia in Wheeling;
       Whereas the territory of Wheeling was originally part of 
     the Commonwealth of Virginia;
       Whereas the First Wheeling Convention took place from May 
     13 to May 15, 1861, at West Virginia Independence Hall, 
     located at the corner of 16th Street and Market Street;
       Whereas, on May 23, 1861, voters in Virginia ratified the 
     Secession Ordinance to leave the United States and join the 
     Confederacy;
       Whereas, in June 1861, pro-Union Virginians met for the 
     Second Wheeling Convention and--
       (1) declared all State offices in Virginia vacant and all 
     acts of the General Assembly to be null and void, thus 
     creating the Restored Government of Virginia that sought to 
     rebuild ties with the Union; and
       (2) installed Wheeling as the provisional capital;
       Whereas, on October 24, 1861, residents of the area that is 
     now West Virginia voted to approve statehood for West 
     Virginia;
       Whereas, on April 20, 1863, during the middle of the Civil 
     War, President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation on the 
     admission of West Virginia to the Union;
       Whereas the city of Wheeling became the first capital of 
     the State of West Virginia, and Wheeling served 
     intermittently as the capital until Charleston was selected 
     by a vote of the citizens of the State;
       Whereas the city of Wheeling served as an early 
     transportation epicenter, connecting the Ohio River with the 
     Potomac River via the National Road, opening further 
     expansion to the West;
       Whereas ``Nail City'' became an early nickname for 
     Wheeling, reflecting the strong steel industry and the 
     growing manufacturing presence of the State in the region;
       Whereas the Wheeling Suspension Bridge was once the longest 
     suspension bridge in the world, and construction mechanisms 
     of the Wheeling Suspension Bridge were used while building 
     the Brooklyn Bridge in New York;
       Whereas, on September 23, 1952, General Dwight D. 
     Eisenhower telegrammed Senator Richard M. Nixon, requesting 
     to meet face-to-face the following day in Wheeling where 
     General Eisenhower was holding a presidential campaign rally 
     and would ultimately approve of Senator Nixon as the 
     Republican nominee for Vice President;
       Whereas the Wheeling Jamboree, utilizing local country 
     music talent, was first aired on WWVA at 11 p.m. on Saturday, 
     January 7, 1933, revolutionizing the way radio appealed to 
     listeners;
       Whereas participants of the Ogden Newspapers Half Marathon 
     run 13.1 miles on one of the toughest courses in the United 
     States;
       Whereas the Wheeling Nailers, a member of the East Coast 
     Hockey League and an affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins, is 
     the oldest surviving minor league franchise below the 
     American Hockey League;
       Whereas the Winter Festival of Lights at the Oglebay Resort 
     in Wheeling attracts more than 1,000,000 visitors annually 
     for one of the best holiday light shows in the United States; 
     and
       Whereas DiCarlo's Pizza took advantage of the post-World 
     War II economic boom and expanded across the Northern 
     Panhandle of West Virginia, becoming famous for cold cheese 
     piled on top of a rectangular pizza slice: Now, therefore, be 
     it
       Resolved, That the Senate--
       (1) recognizes the semiquincentennial of the community of 
     Wheeling, West Virginia; and
       (2) encourages the citizens of Wheeling 
     to observe and celebrate the semiquincentennial with 
     appropriate ceremonies to commemorate this historic occasion.

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