WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



185 



standing on a 7,000 acre tract of virgin timber now remaining in 

 the county are given approximately as follows : 



Yellow Poplar 20 per cent. 



White Oak 30 per cent. 



Eed Oak ^ 



Chestnut Oak ^„ 



Black Oak ^"^'^ P*^"- 



Scarlet Oak J 



Hemlock 20 per cent. 



Basswood ] 



Cucumber > .5 per cent. 



White Ash ) 



Hickory 



Beech 



Chestnut 



Sugar Maple 



Red Maple l*^ 15 per cent 



Sweet Buckeye 



Sycamore 



Birches and others 



Yellow poplar, white oak, red oak and some other hardwoods 

 grew to an enormous size in the numerous narrow valleys and 

 rich coves of McDowell county. A yellow poplar containing 

 12,500 feet of good lumber was cut on Longpole creek by Hamlet 

 and Strother. The quality of several of the kinds of timber grow- 

 ing in this section of the state was unsurpassed. The sapwood 

 was thin and the lumber clear and easily worked. 



The Early Lumber Industry. 



Comparatively little timber was destroyed in the clear- 

 ings" of the early settlers. The greater part of the county re- 

 mains in forest even to the present day, the improvements being 

 confined mainly within narrow limits along the principal water 

 courses. 



Before the completion of the Norfolk and Western railroad 

 through the county in 1892, only a little timber had been cut ex- 



