Morning journal and courier., 1882-01-21


 Vfrginta-Few watercourses and Many sawmfIIs-mfI Sites-A Proposed Rail- road-Anscdotes, Etc, Etc. HAYWOOD, Fayette Co, ". Va, l- Jan. 13, 1882. To ths Editor Of the JOURNAL AND CoURrEz: sing the song of the saw And there is something indescribablY musical to the ear of the vandsl lumberman in the wild scream of the steel saw as it tears it's way through the great logs, and the rumbling of the carriage as it hurries back for new start, and the gong-like rattle of the great disc released as it twists and writhes as though in horror of its own work of destruction, are the delicious interludes in this song of the saw. The mu- sic is not aesthetic, but it is eminenfly prac- tical
 Chestnut white oak, poplar, bassvood, Spanish oak, chestnut oak, maple, sugar maple, beach, ash, birch, locust, wild cherry, butternut, black walnut and service These are the lumber woods, named pretty much in the order of their abundance. which cover the greater part Of the unimproyed lands of this State At the same time there are large belts of yellow pine and the lower mountain streams are heavily shaded by thick growing hemlock. There is, in the little State of West Virginia, vast wealth of virgin forest of which the bounds of my triangle enclose the cream. It must not be supposed, how ever, that the great Kanawha can, like the rivers of Wisconsin and Maine be studded with great lumber factories whose giant sawx will turn of the lumber at the rate of hun dred thousand feet day. The nature of the country forbids, With few exceptions the vatereourses are useless for lumbeTinR purposes, and instead of the logs being brought to the mills. the mills must go to Al, ,-I,o F-.r,, ,K,--.s- featuring goes on in this district is mainly done by small portable mills. These mills are roughly planted under temporary shelter in suitable localities, and when the timber in the neighborhood is exhausted, they are moved to new fields of slaughter. Thus the mills keep pace with the widening sweep of the woodmen's axes.
 Four years ago you could have counted on your fingers the sawmiIls on the line of the railroad between the White Sulphur Springs and Charleston. To-day there are, if I re- member correctly, thirty-nine mills more or less actively in operation between the White Sulphur and RansHha Falls. At or near the falls of Kanawha there are several mills, the largest of which has, with one saw, nomi- nal capacity of 10000 feet day. Between this point and Sewen station there are several small mills. At Sewell enterprisirg Aus trian, who came to this part of the world eight years ago, has built at the mouth of Mann's creek, substantial mill driven by water power and having capacity of ten thousand feet day. His power is almost never failing, and I have no doubt, by the way, that power could here be leased for flour mill which, if properly conducted, would pay nobly. From Sewen up the rail- road the sawmiIls succeed one another almost as rapidly as the mile-posts. One man named Mohler has three mills always in full blast and which he moves from place to place SO rapidly that one hardly knows where to look for them. Seven miles up Lick creek from it's mouth is 52-inch saw driven by 12- horse power engine. This saw turns out , ,OO0 feet of black walnut day Hundreds of thousands of feet of black walnut are now standing where the logs could be rolled into the wagon road leading down to this mill. Go to the nearest lumber yard and ask the price of rst-class black walnut lumber and then note the fact that bought the past week twenty-five hundred feet of black wal nut in the log for ten dollars. At Ronce- verte, the Greenbrier Lumber company has recently fitted up g mill with capacity of 10 900 feet and driven by an s0-horse power engine.
 This mill is provided with shingle ma chine, planers and other manufacturing ms- chinery. Its logs are rafted down the Green brier river at the flood seasons of the year from Pocahontas county, where the company owns large tracts of very valuable timber.
 
 of the Ganley and derives it's name from what are said to be vast tracts of wild cherry lying along its course. There has been some dispute as to the extent and value of these cherry tracts. Although started for Mich olas county year ago with the intention of visiting these lands I was, for want of time, not able to reach the Cherry river valley and am not able to state anything from personal observation However, the machinery has been purchased for 8 savmin which is to be planted in that region A tramroad is to be built distance of twelve miles to Big Clear creek, and from there the lumber is to be to the railroad, distance of twen- ty-fve miles or more. Even as far from the railroad as Muddlety (Mumble-the-peg) creek is mill manufacturing lumber in the of reaching market at no dis .ant day over the prospective Ganley River railroad
 A fine situation for a steam mill would be on the Ganley st the mouth of Rich creek This point is the center of an exceedingly rich poplar region, from which very little has been taken. Millions of feet of giant poplar stand within radius of five miles and there $ very considerable sprinkling of black walnut From Rich creek there Is smooth water in the Ganiey sll the way to New river, md the reason l would advocate placing Q mill at Rich creek rather than at the mouth ,f the Ganley Is that from this very reason believe the sawed lumber could be rafted to he railroad more easily than the logs.
 In the Greenbrier meadows at the june ion of the Wilderness road and the James liver and Kanayha turnpike, there is large mount of poplar timber bordering on an ex- ensiye yellow pine belt. One of the propri- .tors in that section has for three years been ,fering large inducements for portable saw mill to locate in the neighborhood Lumber ,ould be hauled to the railroad from this point. The distance Is fifteen miles over air road. This place is directly on the line ,f projected railroad between the White sulphur Springs and Carnifax Ferry This proposed railroad will, if built, pass through he Meadow river valley. both sides of which ire rich with all the most valuable timbers, md where there are sites that could not be for water power as well steam awmills, were the means of transportation ,niy at hand.
 The wages paid to sawyers vary from fifty o seventy-five dollars month and first lass sawyer is hard to find at any price. A Tear ago we were out of sawyer at our hill, and after hunting without success for me along forty miles of the railroad, was old that if I wanted sawyer l must send O Fluyanna county, Virginia, for one. The sork at our mil being very intermittent, I vas obliged, under the circumstances, to in- tiate myself into the mysteries of "bevel, n 'swage" Head, !" &c. The customary price If all other mill hands is S25 month, or S15 a month and found
 Sawmii owners down here could tell ome curious anecdotes if they would. A ustic once appeared on the scene at the 1uddlety creek mill mentioned above, and Tanted to know if ''that ere saw was a urnin'.n He was unwilling to take on trust he information that was given him. and he rought suit at an early date for $1O,0 900 amages for the loss of four fingers of the fight hand.
 An old fellow living near me once e,of us Q saw some logs for him. His logs all had ,raceful but inconvenient curves at the ends looking at the end of the slab pile after the ogs had been cut up, many of the slabs nat rally looked large. The old man happened 0 see this and indignantly asserted that pintedly we were stealing his logs;n and we ave never yet been able to convince him hat we were not stealing his logs.
 Jw.