WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



239 



brier river. The original stand of white pine has been estimat- 

 ed by some at 600 million feet, and by others at 1 billion feet. 



The Lumber Industry. 



The facts given below regarding the early lumber industry 

 in the county were obtained largely from data collected for this 

 report by Hon. A. D. Williams, of Marlinton. 



We do not know precisely when and where the first lumber 

 was manufactured in Pocahontas county; but we are certain 

 that the first sawing was done by the old-fashioned whip saw 

 and that this was followed by the water mill, or "up-and-down" 

 saw mill, as it was commonly known. After this the portable 

 steam mills began to operate, and in later years the modern 

 band saw mills. The development of machinery for the mxanu- 

 facture of lumber, as illustrated in this county, has been nothing 

 short of marvelous ; and the change from one method of sawing 

 to another in each case has marked the beginning of an epoch 

 in the lumber industry. 



It seems that little has been written concerning the saw and 

 its part in the industrial history of the county, important as this 

 has been, and that many of the interesting facts connected Avith 

 the early use of timber have been lost with the pioneers them- 

 selves. There are a few men yet living, however, whose memory 

 covers the whole period of time in which the hand operated whip 

 saw has given place^ step by step, to the huge lumber plant of 

 the present day. On information given by these men, and on 

 the records left in the remains of the early dwellings, we must 

 depend for the fragments of history given below — fragments 

 which would be lost entirely to the next generation. 



It is evident that the first dwellings were built mthout the 

 use of any instrument for sawing, and that all the parts — the 

 log walls, the board roofs, and the puncheon floors — were shaped 

 with the axe, the adz, and the frow. An examination of the 

 dwellings built a few years later shows that their floors were 

 made of whip-sawed lumber. Among the dwellings yet stand- 

 ing, which have floors of this kind, is the home of Martha Dilley, 

 widow of the late Andrew Dilley, son and occupant of the home 

 of the pioneer Martin Dilley. The floors in this dwelling were 



