. Forestry and wood industries . hilly surface. In largeareas of Flemington, Courthouse, and Booths Creek districts,and smaller areas in other districts, the land is comparativelysmooth and easily cultivated. The lower end of Booths Creekdistrict and the parts of the county adjoining Preston are moreuneven and the elevations are greater. Tygarts Valley river flows northwest dividing the countyinto almost equal parts. Its chief tributary is Threefork creek,rising in Preston county and emptying at Grafton. Othersmaller tributaries of the river are Lost run. Otter creek, Berke-ley run and Pleasan
. Forestry and wood industries . hilly surface. In largeareas of Flemington, Courthouse, and Booths Creek districts,and smaller areas in other districts, the land is comparativelysmooth and easily cultivated. The lower end of Booths Creekdistrict and the parts of the county adjoining Preston are moreuneven and the elevations are greater. Tygarts Valley river flows northwest dividing the countyinto almost equal parts. Its chief tributary is Threefork creek,rising in Preston county and emptying at Grafton. Othersmaller tributaries of the river are Lost run. Otter creek, Berke-ley run and Pleasant creek, flowing in from the south, andWickwire run and Sandy creek, flowing in. from the north. Original Forest Conditions. Most parts of the county have been occupied and improvedby farmers for many years; and it is not possible to state defin-itely what timbers predominated in the original forests. We aresafe in stating in a general way, however, that the area waswell timbered with hardwoods of the kinds that are still found. -^ WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 277 throughout all the hill regions of the state. A well-informedresident of the county makesthe claim that the best white oaktimber in West Virginia once grew here. This claim is made,however, for almost every county in central, western and south-em West Virginia and should be taken to indicate simply thatthis timber was plentiful and of good quality and large si;. softwoods found both east and west of this county werenot common. A few hemlocks were scattered along the streamsand an occasional clump of pitch pines grew on the high ridges. The Lumber Industry. The first commercial use of timber in this county, of whichwe have any knowledge, was for the production of charcoal usedby the old iron furnaces in Taylor and Preston counties aboutthe year 1800. Areas cut over for this purpose have grown upwith a good stand of timber trees and many of them have beenre-cut for lumber and cross-ties. In the years following
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectforestsandforestry
