Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-03-22

many places the foot Of man had never
trod, where now the railroad carries
every day the several trains of passen-
gers and freight. Five years ago a
little timber was cut uD aud fOated
down the streams when high enough,
or hauled in wagons TO the place where
IL was used. To-day there is scarcely
q station along the line OF this road
where there is not from so, 900 10 a mil
lion feet OF lumber stacked in yards
ready for shipment. a score of
sag operated along the line, with
sawlng CAPABILITIES ranging up 90 $4,000
feet or more qer day. A hundred mill
lion feet per dnnum must be about the
present rate atWhich the timber from
the forests alonN the line is being cut,
aud a thousand msn or more are depen-
dent on this industry for their support,
while hundreds OF thousands OF dollars
have been Invested v timber, lands
and mills. Both \ the Pickeus
and the Gaulsy branches Of the
railroad pass for thein entire lengths
through a country which until they
were constructed had never been Access
sibls before and where the timber still
grows In the original stale except for
the LITTLE that has been cut close TO the
road. And with thess growing indus
tries come growing towns. a hillside
cleared makes room for q small town.
Gradually new houses are built, new
business started, the towns grow, aud
already there are along these new lines
great many fOurishing, thriving,
growing little towns, the remotest date
in whose history is not yet two years
back.
At the southern terminus OF the
BuckhannOn braRch Of the West Viz
Einia and Pit,Sburg railroad near the
line between UpSbur and Randolph
counties, and ., 500 feet above the sea,
Is the town OF Piekens, witt a pOpu-
lation Of 275 people. Two years ago
che place was an unbrOken forest and
deer were hunted where the town nov
is, when Geo. NJ. Whitescaryer, now
Superintendent OF The Pickens COm-
pany, first cleared q little place on
which to build the cOmpanY'S sawmiiL
The FIRST train came in and brought the
mill on July 4, 1892, and while little
sawidg was done that wiuter IL was not
tiIl in the last Of March that work was
regularly begun. The town is 10 q lit
tie clearing surrounded by forests,
its only connection with the
world being by the railroad or
which 10 is the terminus, The timber
immediately around the town is princi-
paly hard wood, while a little to the
south, where the altitude is greater,
the pine regions begin. The extent of
these forests Of central West Virginia
can scarcely be appreciated by one who
has not seen them. From Pickens one
may travel southwark twenty miles
without passing q human habitstion or
toward the northeast for fifty miles and
never see a house. From the top or
Turkey Bone, the highest point near
Pickens, the main range OF the Allie
ghenies NAV be seen, q hundred miles
away and ia the interval between the
eve can scarce discern a spot 20
indicate a break, however slight, in
this tremendous forest Hundreds OF
square miles OF untouched timber, in
which the foot OF man has never trod
since the day when the red man left
this land forever, await the coming OF
the wood sman with his axe, the pun OF
the iron horse and the singing OF the
sawmin. When cleared OF timber al
this land is quite productive; the soil is
rich. we'll Watered and lies well, the
land is underlaid with coal and clay,
glass sand and building stone, and the
actual value OF this undiscovered coun-
try can only be guessed at, and
the guesses never 30 beyond the
true worth Of the land. A mill which
saws ten million feet year impresseS
one as an immense concern, and yet a
mill Of this capacity might saw for cen
turtles in West Virginia and still have
timber left. OF the greatest body oil
hard woods in the United States the
largest, finest portion is in Central West
Virginia, tributary to the West Virgins
and Pittsburg railroad.
aaf,r-..n rrrunanw.