The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1957-04-19
MORE THAN 100000 ACRES in
DARE, HYDE, WASHINGTON AND
TYRRELL BEING REHABILITATED
West Virginia Pulp Paper Company investment
Runs Into Millions As Skilled Men Direct Vast
RoadbuiIding. Drainage and Refores+rY Pro-
gram in Southern Albemare.

A great revolution in the devel-
opment Of more than S00,0 900 acres
Of tinaberlands has been going on
in Dare County, and has extended
over most of Tyrrell and large az
cas- Of Washington and Hyde
Counties within the past five years.
1t is q project begun and carried on
by the West Virginia Pulp & Paper
Company, huge corporation with
assets Of some ITO million dollars,
which bought most Of the Dare
mainland back in 1862 when it
spent $1,340,00O to get Fred Ma
loof's Maloof holdings, long known
as the Dare Lumber Company,
and later known as the Metropoli-
tan Life Insurance Company lands.
Holdings in Dare total about 176,-
900 acres, with adjoining lands
subsequently acquired.
This company later bought the
Richmond Cedar Works holdings
in Dare and Tyrrell, Hyde an d
Washington Counties, consisting of
another 10000 acres more or less.
The purpose first in mind with
this company was to set up means
to develop this land, to safeguard
it against the costly and disastrous
fires which annually damaged so
much timber and destroyed great
numbers of game animals. 1t set
up an office in Manteo, to which
it brought numerous highly train
ed technical men, and gave the
management of this project to Will
liam Ernst Jr., a graduate of Col
orado State College, and who holds
a masters degree in Forestry from
Duke University, and following
much practical experience in the
field ON other company operations.
One of the first tasks of this
company was to make aerial pho
tographs of 1888 square miles of its
lands in the four counties, and over
800 photographs were made, using
a special film which is sensitive to
infra-red rays. Using special
equipment, making a three-dimen-
sional view possible, company for
estors studied these photographs to
determine the size and volume of
the forest stands of trees. To sup
plement and expand the studies
made from these photographs,
crews are now running lines across
the properties at half-mile inter
walls, measuring a sample of each
stand as they encounter them. Sew
eral years will be required to COM
pIete the work which entails meas
uring over half million trees, and
walking more than 1000 miles
through the dense ,jungle-like
growth Of these coastal swamp
lands.
At an early stage and simultan-
eously with other activities, tn 9
company initiated an expanded
fire patrol nd fire suppression
program, into which it has spent
100000 during these years since
1862. Such expenditures include
the purchase of pumps, hose,
small hand tools, payment for
emergency labor for fighting fires,
and ether miscellaneous require
ments for fire protection.
A Million for Roads and Drainage
The company has, at cost of
approximately one million dollars,
embarked on a bodybuilding pro-
grim, to crisscross the property
with canals, and the soil taken
from the canals furnish a road
bed. Canals are wide and deep
enough for the navigation of con-
ventional fishing craft, and the
roads are wide enough for two cars
to pass. Another million dollars
win be required to complete this
project, maybe more. Sixty miles
of canal and road have been COM
pleted in Dare County alone, and
81 miles in Hyde and Tyrrell Coun-
ties. One hundred additional miles
are TO be built.
Trees Planted
While the company's headquar-
ters is at Manteo, the repair shop
and warehouse for Dare County
is at Manns Harbor, and an addi-
tionai facility is maintained in
Tyrrell County. Cars and trucks
are, equipped with short wave re-
ceiving sets, all tuned to the gen
erai offices in Manteo, enabling in
slant communication between any
and all units. There have been nu-
merous instances when this sys-
tenn has been used for sending COM
munications on occasion when med
zeal aid was needed in the area, or