The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-10-24
WEST VIRG|NIA'S
VIRGIN FORESTS
Railroad Extension is Opening
Up Pocahontas County.
GREAT LUMBER RESOURCES
GREAT LUMBER RESOURCES
Methods Of Attr.etlng Capital South.
ward-For a Long Time 1t Was Dif.
ficuIt-Itis noLonger Regarded
as Hazardous or Speculative.
Special Dispatch to The Times.

lopeClal Dispatch to The Times.
BALTIMORE. October 2s.-Typical of
what may be termed pioneer development
work in many parts of the South IS the
activity in railroad extension into the
virgin forests of West Virginia, centerng
in Pocahontas county. This activity Is
due principally to the large timber re-
sources, and already the advance has
been wonderful. Describing it, a corre-
spondentE of the Manufacturers Record
says:
Vast tracts of timber, logging camps.
planning mills and saw mills are in full
operation, turning out millions of feet
? of lumber, that find ready market at
good prices in all the cities Of the East
and North. Nearly every station has Its
saw mill. stores, and neat, new resi-
dences. while alongath line have sprung
UP within the year thrifty villages and
incorporated towns where money seems
plentiful and employment abundant at
good wages. No able bodied man who
wants work need be idle. Certain valu-
able timber is more or less localized.
From Renick, in Greenbrier county, to-
near Clover Lick, in Pocahontas. dis
dance Of about So miles. the white oak
seems to abound in greater quantities
than other hard woods. It is found low
on the mountain SLOPES, while on higher
ground in the same locality the red oak
is found in abundance.
VALUABLE TIMBER.
"There also abounds here and as far
up as Cass, chestnut and chestnut oak,
with a liberal mixture CT bass WOOD
From Cas-. up the river. to Duroln. tne
higher attitudes are encountered Win
hemlock In great abundance ana Win
spruce still higher Think OF spruce
forest stretching in length 40 mics ana
in average breadth seven miles, ana
hot = a 4
mass of dark green waving tops as iar
az tte eve can reach. Pocahontas county
alone has forests that cover 30 per cent.
of its entire area, and this area - y
by 70 miles
Through these timbers is being pusheo
an e0,.r increasing network OF rall"dys'
short lines or tramways connectlhs t.ie
various logging camps with the man nam
lines of railway. and in the towns nave
haen established tanneries and other IN
dustries directly or Indirectly dependent
upon hunger.
To get capital to come South was for
long time a difficult matter. 1t was
much more difficult to induce a move
ment of settlers in that direction. But
preceded by manifestations quite similar
TO those accompanying the popping OF
the West fifty and sixty years go. the
southwark movement is now IN luli
swing. and the seed sowing of many
years is beginning to make rich haryests.
ATTRACTING CAPITAL
Reviewing the earlier stages and the
experiences OF earlier migrants to the
South, Mr.. M. V. Richards of the South
ern Railway, who has been active in Gull
tivatins Southern immigration, is quoted
in this weeks issue OF the ,N1anufactu-
rers' Record as follows:
Pioneers they certainly were. and
very, GENERALLY in the same financial con-
dition of the pioneers who made posi-
BILE the creation of the mighty West.
Some Of them succeeded and some failed,
but back in the North and West. whence
they came, the failures were promptly
widely heralded, while not 50 much was
heard about the successes. After awhile,
though. the story of the men who lad
come South. often with no capital. but
! brains and Drawn, was told at home at
first with some skepticism, since there
was still a dissemination to believe that
any good could come out of the South
But now these reports are beng every
where accented. Men are saying. II John
noe could 60 South and succeed. surely
NE can do so. But it is not alone farm
az. who are moving this way In great
numbers Timber buyers, lumber ope-
+ rators. pleasure seekers VINO nave q
comnetence and who want now TO make
> nermanent home in a sectlon having
such =. genial climate as that OF the
south. and many others. are moving TINS
4.