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spot on top of the mountain. Here an extended view was had of 

 the Cheat mountains extending on all sides with the blue Alleghanies 

 beyond. Thousands upon thousands of acres of what must have 

 once been a magnificient black-green forest of living spruce, was 

 now viewed as an immense waste of dead and decaying trees, pre- 

 senting a desolate and dreary landscape. Viewing this, we began 

 to realize the destruction of this valuable timber, and how powerless 

 man would be in an effort to apply a remedy for such a wide spread 

 attack. From this point, the descent of the mountain was com- 

 menced, and Winchester or Cheat bridge our destination was 

 soon reached; a postoffice, a store and a logger's camp is located 

 here, where 45 to 50 men and 10 teams are employed by a Michigan 

 firm to cut spruce logs, of which about ten million feet are run out 

 each year. Seventy-five thousand acres of this spruce is here owned 

 by this firm, fifty thousand acres of it being leased to the Sportmen 

 Association of Cheat Mountains. The famous club house of this 

 Association is located a mile and a half above the bridge. These 

 are the only habitations along the river for a distance of 50 miles. 

 The altitude at the river is 3.310 feet. Arriving here in the even- 

 ing, nothing was attempted in the way of investigation until the next 

 morning other than to make some inquiry as to the general supposi- 

 tion regarding the cause of the death of the timber. Among the 

 many opinions expressed, one was that the trees had lived their 

 natural life and were dying from old age; another that it was some 

 disease; but the most general opinion was that it was caused by the 

 drought of i883(?) Some one had told them that insects were the 

 cause but they did not credit the statement. The next morning a 

 hatchet was procured and the investigation commenced on the first* 

 dead tree found, a vigorous application of the hatchet revealed at 

 the first stroke evidence of serious insect attack, which upon further 

 search was found to be the work of Scolytidae bark and timber bee- 

 tles; species of which were known to have destroyed extensive for- 

 ests in Germany, France, Canada and New England, hence possibly 

 the cause of the great destruction that had been going on this re- 

 gion. Convincing proof, however, must be found in a tree that was 

 dying from such an attack, none being seen, a careful search was 

 then commenced. In tramping through the forest, over rock and 

 logs, and tangled laurel thickets, we were forcibly impressed by the 

 fascinating scene that surrounded us_. The timber is almost entirely 

 spruce and in all stages of growth. The soil (?) is one continued 

 pile of boulders and rocks covered by a dense growth of club and 

 other large growing mosses which concealed treacherous holes in 

 which we would sometimes sink to our knees or waists, making 

 walking, away from the regular roads and paths, both difficult and 

 dangerous. On this damp moss-covered rocky surface, the spruce 

 grows, their roots extending down through the crevices where they 

 find abundant moisture in the ever running water of thousands of 

 mountain springs. Years ago this forest was called by travelers the 

 'Shades of Death," suggested perhaps by the dense black foliage 

 of the spruce and the thick undergrowth of laurel, where old, pros- 



