282 



CONDITIONS BY COUNTIES. 



These percentages can be applied to the present stand ex- 

 cept that the white pine has practically all been removed and the 

 yellow poplar, red spruce, hemlock, and all the valuable oaks ' 

 greatly reduced. This has had the effect of raising the percent- 

 ages of the less valuable timbers such as beech, birch and maple. 



Settlements and Farm Lands. 



Probably the first white man to see the present territory of 

 Tucker county was William Mayo in 1745. He was on the head 

 of Little Blackwater in that year surveying lands of Lord Fair- 

 fax who owned a few thousand acres there. In 1762 Capt. James 

 Parsons passed through the territory by way of the Horseshoe 

 on his return from captivity by the Indians. This was believed 

 to be one of the earliest visits to this section but, according to the 

 latest research of Mr. Hu Maxwell, the Horseshoe was known and 

 its strategic importance recognized in 1755. It is stated in 

 Withers' ''Border Warfare" that John and Samuel Pringle, de- 

 serters from the army at Fort Pitt, and J ohn Simpson, a trapper, 

 crossed the Cheat river at the Horseshoe in 1764. The first set- 

 tler in the county was John Crouch in 1766 on the site of Par- 

 sons, the county seat. The next was Capt. James Parsons in 

 1769, in the Horseshoe, followed by Thomas Parsons in 1772. 

 Soon after this colonies were established at various points along 

 the Cheat. As late as 1840, however, there were few settlements 

 except along the Cheat and in the narrow bottoms of the larger 

 creeks toward the northern end of the county. From about 1860 

 until the present settlement by farmers of the tillable portions 

 of the county has progressed more rapidly. The lands now oc- 

 cupied as farms lie, principally, in Licking and Clover districts 

 in the northern part of the county, with narrow strips and irregu- 

 lar areas in St. George and Black Fork districts, and areas of 

 considerable extent in Dry Fork district, along the Dry Fork of 

 Cheat, and in the upper portion of Canaan Valley. 



Much of the land so far cleared is productive and, in the 

 lower sections especially, grains and vegetables of all kinds are 

 grown. The limestone sections, particularly the upper end of 

 Canaan Valley, produce excellent blue grass and such other crops 

 as oats, buckwheat and potatoes. Other portions of the county 



