Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-05-15
WEST VIRGINIA.

Area of the State and the Num-
Der of Acres Under Cultivation
Its Valuable Forests and the
Variety of Timber they Con-
tain.
West Virginia has a total area OF 49,
$40, 900 acres. OF this only about2, 64O,-
600 acres are under cultivation. OF the
remainder it is estimated that 100000
acres are unfit for tillage, inaccessible
mountain slopes or SUBMITS OF value
only for their minerals, and that lO, OOO,..
900 acres are covered with an original
growth of pinc, oak, poplar white wood,
black walnut and other decidiOus trees,
OF superior quality, and often OF great
dimentions. Experts, familiar with the
forest lands of the State, estimate this
timber to average 5000 feet, board meas
ure, to the acre, and this, so far as the
writer has seen. is not an exaggerated
figure. This would give total ofelghty
thousand millions as the standing tim
Der of the state, larger quantity than Is
now standing in any other state In the
union. This vast growth OF original
forest stands at an average distance OF
less than four hundred miles from the
seaboard, and much OF it directly on the
route of the Chesapeake and Ohio rail,
way, one of the most literally managed
lines in the country, and yet, it is to-day
almost unacquainted with the AK OF the
woodsman. The total shipments, east
and west, over that railroad in 1877, 1--WE
have at hand no report of a later date,
but the business since has not material
" increased was $3.50 tons, which,
allowing 10000 pounds to a car, and
reckoning each car TO carry 5000 feet
Ia liberal estimate for hard woods, gives
a total export OF ., SS3 cars, or i ,29S,OOO
feet, figures which strike us with amaze
ment when we consider the timber
wealth of this district, interlaced, as 1t is,
with magnificent logging streams, and
tapped by railroad that conveys Its
product TO the seabOard at an average
rate not exceeding five dollars per thou
sand feet. These figures will strike us
little more distinctly if we care to mind
that single lumber operators III VIII
Transport cut and send to market an
annual product larger than this whole
of magnificent railway.
The question arises why is it that this
immense forest region, vast tracts OF
which can be bought for one dollar an
acre, and none are held at above five
dollars, has scarcely yet felt the stro Ike
of the axe, or heard the whirr of the
saw mill. The reason is twOfOld: First,
il is encountered by an idle and shiftless
population, who have not enough en-
ergy to life one leg after another; and,
secondly, it is almost wholly unknown
to the enterprising men who have crea-
ted in Maine, Michigan and Pennsyl-
vania, trade in timber that exceeds in
the aggregate the combined cotton,
grain, and pork crops of the whole Uni.
ted States. Nearly every variety OF
timber grown in the United States is
found i'm West Virginia. This is owing
TO a great diversity of surface, producing
as great a diversity of climate. The
alluvial bottoms along the Ohio river
are only five hundred feet above tide
water, while the highest peaks of the
Alleghenies and the Appalachian range
rise in rugged sublimity four thousand
feet and more above the level OF the sea.
The difference of temperature at differ
cnt attitudes Is fully fourteen degrees,
and the soil is OF an equally diversified
character. Hence, at different eleya-
tons in the same locality are found the
white pine (pinuS StrObuS) OF Michigan,
the black walnut GuglGns nigrd) OF In
diana, and the white oak (QuercuS dtJa)
of Tidewater Virginia.
The magnificence OF these forests in
some parts of West Virginia is unsur-
passed anywhere in the country. They
revel, as it were, in the eXuberant fertil-
tty of the soil and attain size exceeded
only bY the giant trees OF California.
Oaks are reported seven and eight feet
in diameter, and poplars white wood
ten and eleven feet; and We ourselves
saw during recent visit to the state a
black walnut log, loaded upon flat car,
whose sides had to be hewn down to
get it within the stanchions. 1t was
over nine feet in diameter, and had
been sold for seven hundred and fifty
dollars.
Until the opening of the Chesapeake
and Ohio railway, the larger part OF
West Virginia had no means OF trans
porting this valuable timber to market.
But tins, which was then considered a
ruinous deprivation, is likely now to
prove of vast benefit TO the estate. 1t
has forced land owners to retain their
timber uncut until they can, owing 10
the rapid consumption of the forests OF
adjoining states, OBTAIN something like
an adequate return for their product.
That this time is not far distant is shown
by the constantly decreasing eXporta-
ton of some OF the great timber produc-
inc sections