WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



123 



pie, and a little yellow pine in the Mils. The location of the 

 county and the adaptibility of its soil for tree growth warrant 

 such a statement. 



Destruction of Timber by Early Settlers. 



Much of the best timber was destroyed in the "clearings*' 

 of the early settlers who came in considerable numbers into the 

 valley of the Ohio and its tributaries in the county as early as 

 1800. The best land, where the best timber grew, was taken 

 first and all the valuable timber, except a small amount for do- 

 mestic use, was rolled together in heaps and burned. 



The Lumber Industry. 



The first timber removed from the county for commercial 

 purposes was rafted down the Ohio river. This industry began 

 about 70 years ago. Rafting was not carried on, to any con- 

 siderable extent, by large companies but chiefly by owners of 

 small tracts of woodland. j\Iany men were thus employed dur- 

 ing the winter months. Timber sold at a low price then and 

 nothing more was expected in return, by those who engaged in 

 this winter occupation, than pay for their labor. The rafts of 

 logs were sold to saw mill operators along the Ohio river, as far 

 down as Cincinnati and Louisville, and to timber dealers. 

 Among the latter were Vinson, Goble and Pritchard who bought 

 rafts at the mouth of Guyandot river. It is said that the county 

 furnished not less than 50 per cent of the white oak timber used 

 in building steam boats from Huntington to Louisville. The 

 timber thus used was rafted to mills outside the state and manu- 

 factured there. 



There were but few saw^ mills before 1860. A small num- 

 ber of water-power and steam mills sawed for local use. Li 

 about 1870, however, near the time of the building of the Chesa- 

 peake and Ohio Railroad, several portable steam mills were put 

 in operation. Some of these have continued to run, often with 

 indifferent success, to the present time and have cut about all 

 the timber that w^as not floated out at an earlier date. The 

 principal shipping points have been Milton, Ona, Barboursville, 

 Huntington and Guyandotte. 



