WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



225 



birch and the mountain maple. There is no indication at pres- 

 ent that red spruce Avas abundant on any of the high ridges east 

 of Spruce mountain, although the elevation would seem to favor 

 its growth in many places. White pine was once common in 

 the creek bottoms of the tributaries of the South Branch and the 

 South Fork. A few groves of this tree still remaining in the 

 river valleys indicate that it once may have grown in similar 

 situations throughout the county. The other conifers were hem- 

 lock, yellow pine, pitch piue, jersey pine, table mountain pine, 

 red cedar, and arbor vitae. Of these yellow pine was once 

 abundant, growing principally on southern and eastern expos- 

 ures. Yellow poplar has never grown generally in this area, 

 but that it was once found in South Branch valley, at least to 

 some extent, is evidenced by the fact that some of the old log 

 houses built in Revolutionary times were constructed of this 

 wood. 



Timber Destruction and the Lumber Industry. 



According to Mr. 0. F. Morton, who is now preparing a 

 history of Pendleton county, settlement began in the year 1747 ; 

 and within 40 years from that date there was an almost contin- 

 uous settlement along the three rivers, and a population of 

 2,000 people living in the valleys. The amount of good timber 

 destroyed in the process of preparing the large areas of land 

 for cultivation, both in the early days and in later years, has 

 been enormous. The valleys and coves contained the best of the 

 timber, and when these were cleared, the more inferior timbers 

 of the less fertile mountain lands were left. 



From 75 to 80 per cent of the mature pine timber of the 

 county was killed by bark beetles about the years 1891 and 1892. 

 This great destruction by insects furnished dry fuel for fre- 

 quent and furious forest fires which raged in the mountaius 

 in 1895 and which have often occurred since that date. 



The lumber industry here has been insignificant in com- 

 parison with that of the 2 counties adjoining on the west. The 

 cause for this is found in the remoteness of the region from 

 navigable streams and from railroads. 



The old sash saw mills were once scattered along the larger 

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