52 



THE DESTRUCTIVE AGENTS OF FORESTS. 



means tracts of timber killed by fire — were few and small fifty 

 years ago. Early chronicles occasionally speak of tracts on 

 which timber was thrown by wind, but they are so uniformly 

 silent as to fire that the conclusion is logical that forest confla- 

 grations were rare. It is natural that they should be, for set- 

 tlements were few and far apart, and fires seldom start except 

 near improvements. Lightning has been known to start fire, 

 but not often in a climate like West Virginia. It is highly prob- 

 able that the almost unbroken woods of former times were damp- 

 er than the fragmentary forests of today, and fire would burn 

 more slowly then. It is not known to a certainty that rain was 

 more abundant, but it is probable that between a more copious 

 precipitation and the unbroken shade which hindered the dry- 

 ing process, the average dampness of the woods was much more 

 pronounced than at present. 



" The wholesale destruction by fire of the softwood forests 

 (cone-bearing trees) began about the time of the civil war. The 

 largest single burn is that which extends along the summit and 

 sides of the Alleghany mountain, nearly unbroken, from the 

 head of the Greenbrier river through Pendleton, Eandolph, 

 Grant and Tucker counties. The opening was begun by a fire 

 which spread from the camp of confederate scouts on the Eoar- 

 ing Plains, of Eandolph county. It has been enlarging ever 

 since. Many destructive and spectacular conflagrations have 

 occurred in the region, the most formidable being that which 

 swept the eastern side of Alleghany mountain on the head- 

 waters of Big creek in Pendleton county. Eye witnesses have 

 stated that the flames overtopped the tallest pines and ad- 

 vanced ten miles an hour. 



''Apparently, the pine forests have suffered most from 

 fire, but in reality the damage to the hardwoods (broad-leaf 

 trees) has been more in the aggregate, because covering much 

 more country. The undergrowth is often destroyed, and this 

 kills the forest which would be productive a century hence. A 

 bad pine-wood fire may kill old and young, all at once, while 

 in a hardwood forest one must look forward a hundred years 

 to see the full injury — ^perhaps a thousand years would not be 



