Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1890-12-20
DAVIS, W. VA.
Improvements Going On at That Point
The Timber Industry.

The Timber Industry.
Special Correspondence Of tie Register.
DAVIS. W. VA, December ls.-Situ-
ated at the confluence Of Beaver creek
and Blaekwater, in the Canaan valley,
on the mountain top, 3,l00 feet above
the sea level, is the hustling town Of
Davis.
1t is only about five or six years since
what is now the thriving town OF Davis,
with population of 1000 souls, was q
yerltable wilderness of spruce pine and
hemlock, so dense as TO be almost i'm
penetrable TO man.
There are already several substantial
industries established here, sufficient 10
insure the permanency of the town.
/ These industries are various in scope
and several in number.
One of Fayerweather Il Ladew's tan
neries is here. The number OF men
employed by it varies with the season,
from $50 to 500 or GOO. More being en-
gagged in the bark peeling season than
AZ any other time. So the Importance
OF such an enterprise in 4 small town is
easily understood. There Is what seems
/ TO be an almost inexhauStible supply OF
hemlock bark in this section, to say
nothing of the chestnut oak bark with
in easy reach by rail. Nothing is al
lowed to waste about the tannery, but
what appears TO be worthless in one de-
partment is taken 10 another, put
through some process or other and
comes out in marketable shape. For
| instance the hair from the hides, the
''heShingS," etc, are all utilized in
some way.
The Blackwater Boom and Lumber
Company's plant here, consisting OF a
boom across the river, saw and planning
mill, box factory, clapbOard factory and
private standard guage railroad five
miles long, reaching to part of their
timber, is one of the finest in the State.
The sawAill cuts in eleven hours $4,000
20 90, 900 feet OF lumber. This is per-
haps the greatest cut made by any sin
Gle circular saw in the State. Their
box factory. saw and planning mills are
all replete with modern appliances to
| facilitate teir business and its import
ance 10 the town can be estimated from
the amount Of its pay rolls, which ag-
gregate from 5000 to $4,000 per
month.
This industry is one of the perma-
nent fixtures of the community. The
company owns or controls about @5,-
600 acres of timber land, literally cover
ed with spruce and hemlock. Their
timber resources are supposed TO be OF
sufficient magnitude to keep their en-
tire plant actively engaged for at least
| fifteen years yet.
The clap board industry deserves
especial mention, because il is a new
idea This being the only place where
they are made. The boards are made
from spruce and are used instead Of
patent siding or weather boarding.
These meet with ready sale in Boston,
where the finer ones are Shipped-thc
seconds being used nearer home.
/ Throughout the different buildings
occupied by this company things are so
arranged rs 10 be just as convenient as
possible and every scrap Is utilized,
either for fuel or something else. The
Sawdust and ShavingS are burned. The
/ bark is removed from the slabs and the
remainder goes TO the wood pulp mills.
Odd strips are made into lath, and every
available piece of wood converted into
merchantable stuff. This company en-
plOyS about 300 hands, all told.
The Beaver Creek Lumber Company
has its buildings under Roadway for u
large saw-mill of about the same ca
pacity as the Blackwater Boom and
Lumber Co.'S mill. The buildings will
soon be completed, and the machinery
will be placed at once. The firm is
/ building a standard guage railroad about
eight miles in length to reach its timber
| fields. This road will extend to Stoney
and perhaps across the divide to Red
Creek, the latter being the dividing line
between Randolph and Tucker counties.
This company owns about 10000 acres
of timber land, and is one OF the i'm
pOrtant, permanent industries of Davis.
! Besides the factories already men
toned rs indications of permanent pros
perity, there are the immense coal and
coke works The coke is purer than
that of COnnellSville, but not quite so
strong.
| 1t is now pretty well known that the
road will soon DC extended 50 IL % con-
meet the ore fields of Virginia with
. PittSburg, and these coke works are on
the line. 1t is proposed to use the coke
| in the manufacture of the cheap Vir-
ginia ore into iron and steel, thus COM
peting with the Alabama manufac-
rerS.
This will necessarily revolutionize
the iron aud steel business of the whole
country, because both can then be
made cheaper than in Alabama and
the other Southern States.
There Is unQueStionably a brilliant
future for the country along the West
/ Virginia Central railroad.