WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 197 



soon after this and remained until the timber was practically 

 exhausted. Most of the mills were small. At Point Pleasant 

 and at some other places, however, there were larger opera- 

 tions. Comstock's mill operated at Point Pleasant in the 

 sixties. This was succeeded by Benedict's mill, and this by 

 Sehon's mill, the last to manufacture in quantities for ship- 

 ment. 



Much of the timber floated on the Ohio and Great 

 Kanawha was manufactured on local stationary mills. Con- 

 siderable good oak was rafted to Cincinnati and Louisville for 

 ship building purposes, and some was used about the year 1860 

 by shipbuilders from Maine in the manufacture at Point 

 Pleasant of several coasting vessels. 



The present lumber industry consists of the work of two 

 or three small portable saw mills, a planing mill or two, and 

 the boat works at Point Pleasant. 



Present Forest Conditions. 



Perhaps the largest good tract of timber remaining in the 

 county is on the Steinbergen farm near Point Pleasant. The 

 tract contains 200 acres of practically virgin hardwood. A 

 few farmers in different parts of the county have reserved and 

 protected small boundaries of fairly good timber. In nearly 

 all cases, however, the woodlots contain only a remnant of the 

 original stand. 



MERCER COUNTY. 



Location and Area. 



Mercer county was formed in 1837 from parts of Giles and 

 Tazewell. It lies on the southern border of the state east of Mc- 

 Dowell, Wyoming and Raleigh and south of Raleigh and Sum- 

 mers. Its area is 368 square miles or 135,520 acres. 



Topography. 



Nearly all the surface of the county lies above 2,000 feet, 

 and not a little, above 2,500 and 3,000 feet. The southern bound- 

 ary line follows the crest of East River mountain at an elevation 



