WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



259 



early settlers for domestic purposes. Not until 10 years or more 

 after the close of the Civil War were portable steam saw mills 

 put into operation in the county. These, for a number of years, 

 sawed but little. From about 1888, however, numerous mills 

 of all sizes have been brought in. A few of these are named 

 below : 



Beatty Lumber Company, with a circular mill, cut white . 

 pine near Crow on Beaver creek and Glade creek and trammed 

 it to the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad at the mouth of Glade 

 creek. 



Interstate Lumber Company, with circular mills, cut a 

 large area on the head of Maple Meadow branch of Marsh Fork. 



Marsh Lumber Company has operated several circular mills 

 on Marsh Fork of Big Coal river, cutting over a large area in 

 that section. 



George Bair operated a circular mill on Piney river and on 

 Marsh Fork waters. 



J. B. Earwood has been cutting on Piney river near 

 Beckley. 



Raleigh Lumber Company, with a large band mill near 

 Beckley, operated from 1898 to 1907. At that time the mill 

 went into the hands of the W. M. Ritter Lumber Company 

 which has since been running it. 



The Blue Jay Lumber Company, with a band mill, has 

 cut over a large area of white pine and hemlock on Piney river 

 and on Beaver and Glade creeks. 



The American Column and Lumber Company, with a band 

 mill at Colcord, has been cutting on Clear Fork of Big Coal 

 river. 



The Bowman Lumber Company, with a band mill at St. 

 Albans in Kanawha county, has been engaged ia removing 

 timber from a 60,000 acre tract in Raleigh and Boone counties. 



Many of the owners of small mills who operated in the 

 county several years ago met with only indifferent success and 

 often failure. Mills were brought in and erected at great 

 expense and the lumber frequently had to be hauled on wagons 

 a distance of 20 or 25 miles to the railroad. To this excessive 

 cost of manufacture and the lack of proper shipping facilities 



