158 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



placed just below the Petersburg Gap in the southwest end of 

 the county. About a dozen saw mills are now in operation. 



The cross-tie industry has taken out, it is said, about 70,000 

 ties a year for the past 10 years. Most of these have been rafted 

 down the South Branch to Romney and shipped from there by 

 rail. 



Much of the good walnut has been hauled out on wagons 

 and exported in the log. 



On the east side of the county some good pine timber was 

 hauled to Virginia for building purposes several years ago. 



According to Martin's "Gazetteer of Virginia and the Dis- 

 trict of Columbia", there were 2 tan yards, 2 wagon makers 

 and 1 chair maker in Hardy county (then embracing Grant) in 

 1835. A large quantity of excellent chestnut oak has been wasted 

 at the early tan yards and the larger tanneries of more recent 

 years. According to Mr. C. B. Welton, of Moorefield, the 

 trunks of the thousands of chestnut oak trees that were peeled in 

 the early days and up to about 5 years ago by the owners of 

 the larger tanneries in Virginia and at Lost City and Mooreiield, 

 were left on the ground to decay. 



Shingles and locust posts were often traded to merchants 

 for goods during the period of early settlement. 



The Present Forest Conditions. 



Hardy county still contains about 64,000 acres of virgin 

 woodland. This lies principally on both sides of the South Fork 

 of the Potomac in the southeast and in scattered boundaries of 

 various sizes along the principal mountains, as seen from the 

 map which accompanies this report. Outside of this there is a 

 large acreage of inferior woodland upon the low, sandy ridges 

 lying back from the river bottoms. On these areas are to be 

 found a more or less dense stand of scrub pine, "jack" oak, 

 and others of little commercial value. There are many small 

 areas from which the best timber has been taken, but these are 

 owned by farmers and hence are not classed as cut-over land. 



In some localities where the mature pine timber was killed 

 by insects about 18 years ago there is a slight reproduction of 

 softwoods, such as yellow pine, white pine, pitch pine, scrub 



