WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



173 



Improvement, Manufacturing and Boom Company" obtained a 

 charter for the exclusive privilege of booming Elk river and its 

 tributaries, as far up as the mouth of Holly river, and are now 

 engaged in developing 80,000 acres of land in Webster and Brax- 

 ton counties with saw mills, planing mills and business head- 

 quarters at Charleston. 



"One of the first operations of this company was the ship- 

 ping of 10,000 feet of black walnut plank. ' ' 



The 5 band saw mills now operating in the county, except 

 the one located on Kelly creek, are sawing timber which is ob- 

 tained from other counties. A number of small lumber and stave 

 mills are engaged in sawing in various parts of the county. 



The Present Forest Conditions. 



The largest forests of the county lie in the eastern end and 

 along the southern border. There are about 8,800 acres remain- 

 ing in virgin forest and 81,000 acres in cut-over forest. 



Almost every acre of the Kanawha valley has been cleared, 

 but in nearly all other parts of the county the area of woodland 

 owned principally by farmers, approaches, equals or exceeds the 

 area of cleared land. Jefferson, Union, Poca and Big Sandy 

 districts have a large percentage of cleared lands, while Elk, Mai- 

 den, Louden, Washington and Cabin Creek districts have from 

 30 to 80 per cent of their area in timber, or in an unimproved 

 condition. In the coal mining sections, especially, there are large 

 areas overgrown with unprofitable thickets of stunted oaks, and 

 with worthless species of shrubs and trees. 



Mr. D. Gr. Courtney, a prominent lumberman of Charleston, 

 estimates that the county has about one-tenth of its original tim- 

 ber left, and that approximately 60 per ecnt of this is oak, 20 

 per cent poplar, 18 per cent other deciduous trees, such as ash, 

 basswood, chestnut, birch and walnut, and 2 per cent pines and 

 hemlock. 



