WEST VIRGINIA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



303 



from Virginia about 1832 and built water power mills along 

 Twelvepole creek. A part of the lumber manufactured by them 

 was used locally and a part floated in "stacks" down the Twelve- 

 pole. Saw mills were few and of small capacity until the build- 

 ing of the railroads. ^ 



C. W. Ferguson has operated a circular and planing mill, 

 known as ' ' Elmwood Mill, ' ' for many years on Twelvepole creek 

 near the town of Wayne. Most of the -lumber used in construct- 

 ing the buildings of Wayne, the present county seat, was sawed 

 on this mill. 



Among the larger companies that have operated in the 

 county are Prendergast Lumber Company which cut timber 

 from East Fork of Twelvepole and from tributaries of Tug 

 Fork; Al. Cline Lumber Company which cut timber on Tug 

 Fork waters ; and Parsons Lumber Company which cut poplar 

 into cigar box stock and thin ceiling at Ceredo. 



McComas, Bowen and Company operated mills in various 

 sections of the county cutting the best of the hickory for handle 

 stock. 



The cross-tie industry has been large since the coming of 

 the first portable mills. 



The timber has been cut to such an extent that the lumber 

 industry is no longer large. Rafting still continues, in a small 

 way, along the Tug Fork and the Twelvepole. About 18 

 portable mills are sawing from place to place. 



The Present Forest Conditions. 



The timber land is in Lincoln and Grant districts in the 

 southeastern part of the county. In these 2 districts fully one- 

 half of the surface is owned by non-residents, the other half, or 

 less, being owned and occupied by farmers. There are about 

 3,600 acres of virgin forest scattered in small tracts throughout 

 the central and southeastern sections, and 80,000 acres of cut- 

 over forest. The whole northwestern end of the county is owned / 

 by farmers. 



The cut-over forest land still has from 25 to 40 per cent of 

 the original timber, and the farmers' woodlots, especially in the 

 southeast, contain a good stand of the less valuable hardwoods. 



