204 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



The Original Forests. 



That part of Logan county which is now Mingo was once 

 heavily timbered with hardwoods. Just as in many other coun- 

 (Mes of the State white oak and yellow poplar were the most 

 abundant of the valuable species. The less abundant valuable 

 timber trees were black walnut, basswood, chestnut, red oak, 

 black oak, chestnut oak, hickory, sugar and red maple, yellow 

 and sweet birch, sycamore, sweet buckeye, white elm, slippery 

 elm, hemlock, and others. Softwoods were not plentiful in any 

 section. Hemlock grew sparingly along the streams and a few 

 pitch pines on the dry ridges. 



The Early Lumber Industry. 



Much of the best timber had been taken from this area be- 

 fore it became Mingo county. The yellow poplar, black walnut 

 and other timbers were rafted out on the Tug Fork and the 

 Guyandot rivers. Large numbers of rafts were taken by the 

 citizens to Catlettsburg and Ashland, Kentucky, and to Iron- 

 ton, Ohio. The remainder was taken by lumbermen. The 

 largest rafters have been The Yellow Poplar Lumber Com- 

 pany, Portsmouth, Ohio; The Little Kanawha Lumber Com- 

 pany, Ironton, Ohio ; and C. Crane and Company, Cincinnati, 

 Ohio. The first 2 companies named rafted logs and manufac- 

 tured them on their mills from 1892 to 1899. C. Crane and 

 Company began a little later and are still cutting timber taken 

 from the southern counties on 3 band mills located in Cincin- 

 nati. During the past 30 years great numbers of logs have been 

 rafted out of Pigeon creek to Catlettsburg by W. J. William- 

 son. 



There were only a few saw mills in the county before the 

 building of the Norfolk and Western Railroad. Since that 

 time they have been numerous. The following were large 

 operations : 



Baker Lumber Company, with a band mill at Sad's Land- 

 ing, sawed in 1895 and 1896. 



Hutchinson Lumber and Manufacturing Company cut tim- 

 ber on Marrowbone and Laurel creeks from 1903 to 1907. 



