186 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



cept in a limited way for domestic use. This was drifted down 

 the Tug river and its lower tributaries which, at that time, fur- 

 nished the only means of transportation. Yery little had been 

 taken even in this way east of the mouth of Clear Fork 14 miles 

 below Welch. Yellow poplar which was rafted to Catlettsburg, 

 Kentuck;v^, and black walnut, cut in 1886, were the principal tim- 

 bers removed in this way. 



Later Lumber Operations. 



Beginning about the year 1891 W. M. Ritter, with circular 

 saw mills located on Shannon branch, Browns creek and at other 

 points, removed timber from nearly all the land lying on the 

 north side of the railroad from Welch to Hensley. A few years 

 later he leased the large mill belonging to Panther Lumber Com- 

 pany then sawing timber from lands on Panther and Bull creeks. 

 At the same time he bought the uncut timber belonging to the 

 Company and an additional 50,000 acres lying on Panther creek 

 and Dry Fork and began to operate under the firm name of The 

 W. M. Ritter Lumber Company. In 1899 this company erected 

 a large band mill at the mouth of Crane creek a tributary of Dry 

 Fork and, in the foUow^ing year, another on Beartown creek 

 about 2 miles above. These 2 mills sawed the remaining timber 

 from the 50,000 acre boundary known as the Lansburgh tract. 

 The lumber from these mills was taken over the Company's pri- 

 vate railroad which formed a junction with the Norfolk and 

 Western railroad at the mouth of Dry Fork. The lumber rail- 

 road has since been acquired and extended to Berwind as a 

 branch of the Norfolk and Western. W. M. Ritter. first with 

 portable mills and later with the large stationary mills above re- 

 ferred to, has been the largest operator in the county. 



C. L. Ritter Lumber Company operated a band mill at the 

 mouth of Clear Fork of Tug river cutting most of the timber on 

 that creek. 



R. E. Wood Lumber Company, beginning in 1899 with a mill 

 at Sandy Huff, cut the timber from the region up Sandy Huff 

 creek. 



The next large operation was that of Suddeth and Bailey 

 Lumber Company. This company has sawed at Norwood, on 

 Spice creek, on Jenny creek and at Shannon Branches. 



