Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-10
CORRESPONDENCE.

| CORRESPONDENCE.
The Timber Interests of West Virginia.
HAYWOOD, Fayette Co., W. Val
| April 5. 1882.
| T0 the Editor Of the JoURSAL AND CoUEIEK-
had occasion in previous letter to men
| ton the lumber interests of this section of
West Virginia and to aIlude to what is known
as the Cherry river country. A quite inter
esting purchase of timber has been lately
made by an Ohio lumber man from Albert
| Williams very extensive land holder this
| side of the Cherry river country. For the
| price of two dollars per thousand feet, VIII
liams transferred 3,OOO,0OO of first class
| standing wild cherry. For West Virginia
| this is lumber transaction of great magni-
tude; but the interest attached to it lies in
the fact that it shows beyond doubt that
marketable wild cherry timber abounds ia
large quantities in Greenbrier and Nicholas
counties. West Virginia as land of prom
| Use has to contend against bad roads, few and
poorly managed railroads, stupid and venaI
Legislature, and the astounding apathy-or,
perhaps, the penny-wiss policy-of the native
ments are going and capital is coming
from northern States and from England to
develop interests In lumber, coal and iron
Within radius of twenty miles from Lewis.
burg there are fifteen portable steam saw
| mills in active operation, representing a cap
ital of $4,000, and giving steady employ
ment to 200 hands. Ten of these mills have
started within the last five months The
principal cut is walnut, oak and poplar and
millions of fest of these timbers are being
rapidly converted into cash at the rate of
from $50 to $50 per thousand feet for wal
nut delivered on the railroad, $I5 for oak
and SIS for poplar. There are also several
other steam sawmills in the upper part of
Greenbrier county, along the borders of
Pocahontas and through Nicholas. There is
also a fair sprinkling of savmills through
Fayette and Summers counties At Romeo
verte, four miles from Lewisburg. are two
large sawmills, one of which represents a
capital Of $4,000, of which $500
are owned in the State; the othe
representing capital of 500. OoO owned
entirely in Philadelphia And still there Is
room for more
Manager Frink of the Kanawha Falls
Boom company told me not many days ago
that he knew of a responsible patty, owner
of large tract of poplar and white oak, who
would pay 81 per thousand feet to have his
Lumber sawed on the premises and would
give satisfactory guarantees to keep co inch
saw and top saw at work to their full eapac-
ity for one year. Opportunities OF this kind
come to my ears incidentally and it is quite
impossible that they should be the excep-
tons, as 1 have not constituted myself a saw
mill and lumber agency.
Some weeks ago received COPY of a
Philadelphia evening paper, into which my
previous letter on the lumber interests
of this section was copied / also received
letter directed to the postmaster of haywood,
asking whether there was anything in that
letter signed y. W., - and asking me (the
postmaster, in case could corroborate the
statements of u. w." to put the writer in
communication with parties in Fayette county
with view to the erection of saw-mill
Rhe naivete Of an individual who could sup
pose that two initials did not necessarily
stand for the postmaster, newspaper cor
respondent, and the population of West
Virginia town was simply out of all concep-
ton. 1t is not every Philadelphia man who
knows that there is State of West Virginia
and my correspondent naturally distrusted
the statements of 81. Was to the existence
of lumber in territory which had NOT yet
been put down in his geography. However,
as ~. W." was fortunate enough to find q
postmaster to back him up, / hope soon to
hear the WHISTLE of another mill not far from
Mayweod.
Apropos of the distrust which prevails
among the uniformed as TO the numbering
CapaOl1u66 OF the STATE. L cQnQ60se letter
written from this county to the northeastern
LuHtberBan and bearing date of March IS:
There is no mistake about our having the
timber here, as we right in the heart of
the finest hardwood timber region between
the Ohio river and tide water, the great tim
Der belt comprising about five counties. We
have the best quality of poplar, ash oak.
walnut hickory, chestnut, butternut, and
other varieties. Speaking of poplar re-
minds me of some large pine trees have
seen mentioned in the Lufa6ernlan, scaling
from 1000 to 5000 feet per tree. We
have poplar trees here by the hun
dred that will scale from 5000 to 1000
feet, and 1 cut one that made IL, 600
feet of good marketable lumber There Is
one now near here that will scale over b.
900 feet. 1 also had walnut cut last week
that was 26f feet in circumference four feet
from the ground. 1t made two logs II feet
long to the first limb, and above that three
more u foot logs. - OF course such logs have
to be split into pieces before We can haul
them, as they are too large to be handled on
our circular mill. There are a number of
new mills going up here in the mountains
this spring and as our logging operations
continue the year round there will be fair
supply of lumber late in the season, although
many of the mills are cutting on contracts
for New York and New England parties,
many of them coming here and giving their
orders from six to twelve months ahead As
we now have direct all rail connection with
both eastern and western markets we look
for lively times in the future"
The finest timber lands in the State are of
easy access from the Meadow river valley
Tract after tract of timber land is being
bought up by Pennsylvania and western men
with view TO responsibilities of the Meadow
River Valley railroad of which the Green
brier Independent, one of the most influential
of our fragrant Bourbon 7eriodicals. speaks
as follows; The articles of agreement for
the incorporation of the Meadow River Val
ley railroad, signed by X. P Lake. John W.
Harris. w. Va, VIM. H. McClung, John
Wurts and J. a. Deshon, were received, fled
and audited to record in the Office of the
Secretary of the State on the first of March,
and certified TO the Secretary of State on the
second day of March, 1882. This road viii
bring into practical value the iron ore, mar
bic and slate OF Howard and Anthony's
creeks open the rich coal fields of Green
brier, Nicholas and Fsyette counties. make
heir valuable timber accessible, give the
country bordering the Eeadow and Gau-
ey rivers an opportunity to unearth its hid
len treasures, add its quota TO the sum of
general prosperity, and reach its proper
Iphere, prominence, in point OF wealth and
INDUSTRIAL r1rss1itz -