160 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



favorable natural conditions, justify us in asserting that no 

 county in tlie State liacl a larger and more uniform boundary 

 of superior hardwoods. Kearly every species of hardwood 

 common to central "West Virginia grew here but those which 

 should be especially mentioned were yellow poplar, white oali, 

 red oak, black walnut, hickory, white ash and sugar maple. 

 There were no softwoods of any consequence. 



The Lumber Industry. 



The rich and easily cultivated lands of Harrison county in- 

 vited settlement and the clearing of large areas before the tim- 

 ber had a commercial value. The removal of timber from farms 

 in all sections has made an extensive lumber industry, — such as 

 has been carried on in other parts of the State — an impossibility. 

 There were saw mills, it is true, operating along several of the 

 streams in an early day; but these were of the usual primitive 

 type and manufactured lumber in small amounts for domestic 

 use only. An early writer, speaking of the industries in Harri- 

 son county, informs us that there were 6 saw mills running in 

 the year 1835. 



Poplar, oak, and some other timbers have been floated out 

 on the West Fork river, going to Pittsburg, Brownsville, Rices 

 Landing, Beaver and other points along the Monongahela and 

 Ohio rivers. 



Most of the timber not destroyed by the settlers has been 

 sawed by portable mills which have moved from place to place 

 during the last 40 or 50 years. As a rule the operations have 

 been most numerous and active in the localities made accessible 

 by the building of railroads. According to Haymond's "His- 

 tory of Harrison County" published in 1909, the principal 

 railroads of the county were completed as follows: 



Baltimore and Ohio railroad to Clarksburg in 1856. 

 Mohongah railroad in 1889. 

 West Virginia and Pittsburg railroad in 1879. 

 Short Line railroad in 1901. 



