. Forestry and wood industries . r as early as 1840. This in-dustry was carried on, at first, by owners of timberland lyingnear the river and, to some extent, by other residents who cuttimber without regard to the ownership—a common piractice 60years ago in many parts of West Virginia. Most of the raftswere disposed of at Parkersburg and Cincinnati. The first raftof logs taken out of the county was sold at Parkersburg for 25dollars and 25 dollars worth of goods. This raft was made upof choice yellow poplar and would now bring not less than$ Yellow poplar was the principal timber rafted
. Forestry and wood industries . r as early as 1840. This in-dustry was carried on, at first, by owners of timberland lyingnear the river and, to some extent, by other residents who cuttimber without regard to the ownership—a common piractice 60years ago in many parts of West Virginia. Most of the raftswere disposed of at Parkersburg and Cincinnati. The first raftof logs taken out of the county was sold at Parkersburg for 25dollars and 25 dollars worth of goods. This raft was made upof choice yellow poplar and would now bring not less than$ Yellow poplar was the principal timber rafted beforeI860. Since then several companies have bought large quantitiesof the heavier timbers, such as oak, beech and maple, and raftedthem out with the poplar, cucumber and basswood. Some of theprominent operators along the river in more recent years wereWyant and Brannon, S. F. Whiting, Withers and Lorentz, andWithers and Vandevender. The chief floating done on tlie riverat present is by the Little Kanawha Log and Tie Company,. WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 141 which is handling from 600 to 800 rafts a year of saw timber andabout 100,000 cross-ties. W. J. Holden and Lowther and Flem-ing, of Parkersburg have also been purchasing and rafting cross-ties from the county for several years. Portable saw mills were brought to the county about of these have continued to run to the present time. Theyhave sawed large numbers of cross-ties ancT considerable exportoak and bill stock within reach of the rgiilroad in the eastern endof the county. No band mills have operated in the county. Twoof the prominent portable saw mill operators were John R. Bart-lett and Benj. Allen. The stave industry has not been extensive. A considerablequantity of split staves, however, has been hauled to the railroadand shipped, and Withers and Vandevender have been engagedfor some time in sawing staves at several points in the county. The Present Forest Conditions. There are about 13,000 acres of
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectforestsandforestry
