History

Most of the timber in the region was cut during the early 1900's but as late as 1931, the West Virginia Geological Survey reported finding 'virgin' timber on the forest. From 1914 to 1929, Moore-Keppel and Company operated what was then the largest double band sawmill in the world. 

Heavy, selective logging for sawtimber continued up to Westvaco's acquisition in the early 1970's. Accordingly, while much of the residual overstory is aged 60-80 years, the forest has a complex, multi-aged structure with abundant canopy gaps. Numerous skid trails, abandoned haul roads, and railroad grades add to the spatial heterogeneity of the area.

This photo shows teamsters with their horses near Camp 21 along Birch Fork. Photo from A Documentation of Human Use on the Westvaco Research Forest by Laura Lengowski (1995).

Selected Reading

Tumult on the Mountain:  Lumbering in West Virginia 1770 - 1920 by Roy B. Clarkson  (1997)

On Beyond Leatherbark:  The Cass Saga by Roy B. Clarkson (1990).

Sawdust in Your Eyes by W.E. Blackhurst (1963).

Of Men and A Mighty Mountain by W.E. Blackhurst (1970).

History of the Fernow Experimental Forest and Parsons Timber and Water Shed Laboratory by the USDA Forest Service.

A Documentation of Human Use on the Westvaco Research Forest by Laura Lengowski (1995).

Transforming the Appalachian Countryside:  Railroads, Deforestation, and Social Change in West Virginia,  1880 - 1920by Ronald Lewis (1998).