ContentsAcknowledgments Introduction 1. The Virgin Forest and the Backcounty Economy 2. The Touch of Capital: Railroads, Timber, and Economic Development of the Backcounties 3. Land, Capital, and Timber Operations at the Periphery 4. Making Capital Secure: Law and the Industrial Transformation of West Virginia 5. Workers in the Woods 6. Ethnicity, Exploitation, and Social Conflict 7. Connecting the Periphery: Commercialization of the Countryside 8.
"New Men" versus the "Old Men": Political Economy and the County Seat Wars 9. The Market Revolution and the Decline of Agriculture 10. If Trees Could Cuss: Environmental Destruction and the Beginnings of Restoration Notes Bibliography IndexIllustrationsVirgin spruce forest at headwaters of Cherry River, Greenbrier County, 1912 Log raft and ark on the Guyandotte River, Lincoln County, ca. 1900 Log jam on the Elk River near Sutton, Braxton County, 1898 Arks and crew of log drivers tied up along the Greenbrier River near Cass, Pocahontas County, 1898 Clearing the forest to build Davis, Tucker County, 1883 Panorama of Davis, Tucker County, ca. 1909 Babcock Lumber Company, Davis, Tucker County, 1909 Old Court: Justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1863-90 New Court: Justices of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, 1889-1909 Moment of relaxation in a woods camp, probably Randolph County, ca. 1900 Woods crew near Bartow, Pocahontas County, ca. 1910 Snaking logs near Bayard, Grant County, 1903 A giant of the forest, Nicholas County, ca. 1920 Felled white oak, Nicholas County, 1914 Shay engine and log loader in woods Steam skidder logging out the Blackwater River Canyon, Tucker County, ca.
1910 Log train near Dobbin, Grant County, ca. 1910 Wreck of the Lucy Belle near Lokelia, Pocahontas County Unloading logs at Horton, Randolph County Standard mill pond and jack ladder to the mill Family at a portable camp near Helvetia, Randolph County, 1900 African American and Italian immigrant track crew near Cass, Pocahontas County The Star Restaurant, Whitmer, Randolph County, ca. 1910 Thaddeus M. Fowler's rendering of Parsons, Tucker County, 1905 Placing county records in a temporary courthouse in Parsons, Tucker County, 1893 Thaddeus M. Fowler's rendering of Elkins, Randolph County, 1897 Destruction of vegetation and soil by fires in the Canaan Valley, 1912 Deforestated rim of Blackwater River Canyon, Tucker County, ca. 1910 Deforestation and logging roads in Blackwater River Canyon accelerated erosion, ca. 1910 Trench on Meadow River Lumber Company lands, probably Greenbrier County Morgantown residents walked across the Monongahela River bed, 1930Maps and FiguresMaps 1. Distribution of forests in West Virginia, 1882 2.
Major railroads in West Virginia, 1917 3. Railroads and backcounties in West Virginia, 1917 4. West Virginia Central and Pittsburgh Railroad during the county seat warsFigures 1. West Virginia Lumber Mills, 1904-1920: Mills Reporting 2. West Virginia Timber Production: Ten-Year Pattern.