178 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



in the construction of log dwellings and outbuildings and for 

 fencing. The first lumber was sawed with whip saws' operated 

 by hand. A little later a few water-power saw mills were 

 built along the streams. One of these was operated by Charles 

 Latin on the Mud river near the town of Hamlin, and another 

 by David Porter 9 miles below. 



In 1872 floating began on the Gruyandot and Mud rivers. 

 The first men to engage in this industry were Blankenship and 

 Hoback who bought poplar timber near the Guyandot and Mud 

 rivers. The trees that stood near enough were felled into the 

 stream beds during the summer and fall, when the water was 

 very low, and there cut into logs and left to await a freshet. 

 Other logs were cut on the adjacent hillsides and hauled by 

 oxen to the streams. Buying and floating was continued for 

 about 30 years. Three of the most extensive operators are 

 named below: 



Prichard and Lewis, the largest floaters on the Guyandot, 

 built dams on many of the tributaries of that river and 

 ''splashed" out the logs to the main stream. They operated 

 from 1885 to 1895. 



Alexander Henderson floated out large numbers of logs to 

 the Ohio river during the years from 1895 to 1897. 

 f Fulton Cummings rafted timber on the Mud river from 

 1890 to 1900. 



It has been the custom of owners of small tracts of timber- 

 land for about 30 years, to raft their own timber to Guyan- 

 dotte and Huntington where ready sale could be made to opera- 

 tors and timber dealers. The chief stave industry was con- 

 tacted on the Mud river from 188a to 1884. The methods 

 employed were very wasteful as the best only of each tree cut 

 was utilized. 



Steam saw mills were introduced in 1880, being hauled in 

 on wagons in that and succeeding years and placed at several 

 of the more easily accessible points in the county. The lumber 

 manufactured at first on these mills was rafted down the rivers 

 and later was taken in boats. With the building of the rail- 

 ~ roads — the Guyandot Valley Branch in 1900 and the Coal River 

 Branch in 1906— a large number of portable mills began opera- 



