194 



\ 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



poplars, oaks, black walniits, wild cherries, hickories, and many 

 others attained a size that was rarely reached in other parts of 

 the state. The remarkable growth of timber in this region 

 attracted the attention of early explorers. Christopher Gist, 

 who was sent out from Virginia as an exploring agent of the 

 Ohio Company, visited the Mason county area in 1751 and 

 again in 1752. Under date of February 24th, 1751, — ^while 

 encamped in the Ohio river valley some miles above the mouth 

 of the Great Kanawha — this explorer made the following entry 

 in his journal: "The bottoms about 1}4 miles wide, full of 

 lofty timber." On February 20th, 1752, he speaks of the 

 Great Kanawha bottoms near the mouth of Thirteenmil'e 

 creek, as *'fine land" and as being "very rich." Again on 

 February 23rd, he refers to the Ohio river valley a few miles 

 above Point Pleasant as "fine rich land, the bottoms about a 

 mile wide." It will be understood that the expressions "very 

 rich", and the like, carried with them the idea of good timber, 

 for in the days of extensive forests, the trees furnished the 

 b^t indication of the fertility of the soil. 



On the 30th day of October, 1770, George Washington and 

 party were at Letart Falls, on the Ohio river. He describes 

 the apearance of the country as follows: 



"* * *, We landed, and after getting a little distance 

 from the river, we came, without resting, to a pretty lively 

 kind of land, grown up with hickory and oak of different 

 kinds, intermingled with walnut." 



On October 31st he says: sent the canoe down 



jabout five miles, to the junction of the two rivers, that is, the 

 Kanawha with the Ohio, and set out with a hunting party to 

 view the land. *********." Two days later the party 

 encamped on the Great Kanawha at the mouth of Sixteenmile 

 creek. At this place he wrote: "Some of our people went up 

 the river four or five miles higher. * * * As you approach 

 the hills, you come to a thin white oak land, and poor. The 

 hills, as far as we could judge, were from half a mile to a 

 mile from the river, poor and steep in the parts we saw, with 

 pine growing on them. * * 



On November 3rd, he says: "We set off down the river, 

 on our return homewards, and encamped at the mouth. At 



