[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11143-11144]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        WEST VIRGINIA'S BIRTHDAY

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, I am here to wish a happy birthday to a 
celebrant near and dear to my heart. The thirty-fifth child in the 
family, grown from a difficult beginning as a child of war and conflict 
into a robust 138-year-old, the birthday girl is entering the new 
century with confidence and strength.
  The birthday party in question is, of course, for the wild and 
wonderful, great and beautiful State of West Virginia, celebrated this 
Thursday, June 20. In 1863, West Virginia was born by proclamation--the 
only state so created. Like Caesar Augustus, West Virginia was wrested 
from her mother, Virginia, at the point of a sword. Also like Caesar, I 
foresee greatness ahead for West Virginia.
  West Virginia is not a large State, ranking 41st at 24,231 square 
miles. But the stars shone on her birth, blessing her with natural 
riches, water, and a central location as the northernmost southern 
State and the southernmost northern State. I might wish for her more 
flat land, but, on the other hand, I would not trade a level plain for 
even a single glorious hillside blanketed by lush tangles of wild 
rhododendron bisected by a clear, cold stream tumbling over rocky drops 
amid dense stands of oak and maple. Her mountains are her crowning 
glory, molding her history and her character. They will continue to 
shape her future. The steep slopes that so complicate development 
preserve forests and wildlife. Nearly 75 percent of West Virginia is 
covered with forest. The slopes capture snow for great skiing. They 
shelter coursing whitewater rivers that attract kayakers, rafters, and 
fishermen from around the world. In a nation increasingly concerned 
with urban sprawl, West Virginia remains an oasis of serenity amid the 
surging tide of advancing humanity, an island of tranquil forest where 
eagles still soar and the crime rate is the lowest in the Nation.
  The mountains have also shaped the character of her people, 
reinforcing and sustaining the independence of character and the strong 
work ethic that are necessary in isolated and challenging environments. 
West Virginians are friendly, caring neighbors, meeting bad weather and 
hard times with a community spirit that is itself a force to be 
reckoned with. West Virginians are patriotic as well. The youngest 
soldier of World War I, Chester Merriman of Romney, enlisted at the 
tender age of 14. And West Virginians are close to the Creator, 
reminded daily of His presence by the natural cathedral of sky, wind, 
water, wood, and stone that is their environment. With a mean altitude 
of 1,500 feet, the highest average altitude east of the Mississippi, 
West Virginians are literally nearer to God, as well.
  Over the course of the last 138 years, West Virginia has had her 
share of firsts. In 1756, the first spa open to the public was 
established at Bath, VA, now Berkeley Springs. The Golden Delicious 
apple was first grown in Clay

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County. The Grimes Golden apple was first grown in Brooke County. In 
1787, the first steam-powered motor boat was launched in the Potomac 
River by James Rumsey at New Mecklensburg, now known as Shepherdstown. 
One of the first papers in the nation devoted mainly to the interests 
of women was published in Harper's Ferry on February 14, 1824. One of 
the first suspension bridges in the world was completed in Wheeling in 
November 1849.
  The Civil War brought a number of ``firsts'' to West Virginia history 
books. The first major land battle fought between Union and Confederate 
forces in that conflict was the Battle of Philippi, on June 3, 1861. 
The first Union soldier had been killed a few days earlier, at 
Fetterman, Taylor County.
  West Virginia has had other notable ``firsts'' since achieving 
statehood. West Virginia was also the site of the first rural free mail 
delivery in the nation. It began in Charles Town on October 6, 1896, 
before spreading throughout the rest of the United States. About 1908, 
outdoor advertising had its start when the Block Brothers Tobacco 
Company painted bridges and barns around Wheeling with the words 
``Treat Yourself To the Best, Chew Mail Pouch.'' Some people now spend 
their vacations hunting down and photographing those old barns.
  On the political front, in 1928, Mrs. Minnie Buckingham Harper became 
a member of the House of Delegates by appointment and was, according to 
the West Virginia Archives, the first black woman to become a member of 
a legislative body in America. A less popular political first for West 
Virginia is its place as the first state to enact a state sales tax, 
which took effect on July 1, 1921. As a final ``first,'' I would be 
remiss not to note here that Mother's Day was first observed at Andrews 
Church in Grafton, WV, on May 10, 1908. So West Virginia can claim 
motherhood and apple pie to offset that more sinister pair--death and 
taxes. We really do have it all.
  West Virginia has experienced great change over the last 138 years. 
She remains a great resource for the country. Her coal and natural gas 
will continue to fuel the nation, just as her forests will provide 
homes and paper that the electronic age still has not supplanted. She 
has greatness still in store, nurtured in the bright minds of her young 
people, encouraged by the wisdom and foresight of her elders, carried 
on the strong shoulders of her workers and innovators, who love the 
state and want not to leave it for greener economic shores but to carry 
that tide into the mountains.
  It has given me great pleasure over the years to help West Virginia 
grow. I may not have been born a West Virginian, but this transplant 
has taken well to the soil there. I have grafted. I hope that my 
efforts on her behalf have borne fruit that will help sustain her 
through the next 138 years. That is the best birthday gift that I can 
think to give her.

       West Virginia, how I love you!
       Every streamlet, shrub and stone,
       Even the clouds that flit above you
       Always seem to be my own.

       Your steep hillsides clad in grandeur,
       Always rugged, bold and free,
       Sing with ever swelling chorus:
       Montani, Semper, Liberi!

       Always free! The little streamlets,
       As they glide and race along,
       Join their music to the anthem
       And the zephyrs swell the song.

       Always free! The mountain torrent
       In its haste to reach the sea,
       Shouts its challenge to the hillsides
       And the echo answers ``FREE!''

       Always free! Repeats the river
       In a deeper, fuller tone
       And the West wind in the treetops
       Adds a chorus all its own.

       Always Free! The crashing thunder,
       Madly flung from hill to hill,
       In a wild reverberation
       Makes our hearts with rapture fill.

       Always free! The Bob White whistles
       And the whippoorwill replies,
       Always free! The robin twitters
       As the sunset gilds the skies.

       Perched upon the tallest timber,
       Far above the sheltered lea,
       There the eagle screams defiance
       To a hostile world: ``I'm free!''

       And two million happy people,
       Hearts attuned in holy glee,
       Add the hallelujah chorus:
       ``Mountaineers are always free!''

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