In this chapter logging operations associated with the following stations:
R2 North Caldwell R56 Marlinton
R4 Stone House Stony Creek
R4 Tottens Indian Draft
R9 Brink Woodrow
R14 Anthony Williams River
R17 Deeter R59 Sixty
R25 Renick R60 Knapp
R28 Golden R60 August
R31 Rorer R62 Clawson
Greenbrier R64 Harter
R32 Droop Mountain R67 Big Run
R37 Locust Creek R70 Camper
R42 Burnsides R75 Stony Bottom
R43 Kennison Dunmore
R44 Rexroad R78 Moses Run
R46 Seebert R81 Cass
Hillsboro R83 Cup Run
Hills Creek R83 1/2 Pine Flats
Rainetown R84 Wanless
Stamping Creek R87 Nida
R49 Violet R88 Hosterman
R50 Improvement Lick R93 Whiting
R52 Buckeye Krydertown
R53 Aumiller R94 Lentz
R54 Munday Lick R96 Durbin
Knapps Creek R97 Gum
Huntersville R98 Bartow
R99 Houchins
R2 North Caldwell R56 Marlinton
R4 Stone House Stony Creek
R4 Tottens Indian Draft
R9 Brink Woodrow
R14 Anthony Williams River
R17 Deeter R59 Sixty
R25 Renick R60 Knapp
R28 Golden R60 August
R31 Rorer R62 Clawson
Greenbrier R64 Harter
R32 Droop Mountain R67 Big Run
R37 Locust Creek R70 Camper
R42 Burnsides R75 Stony Bottom
R43 Kennison Dunmore
R44 Rexroad R78 Moses Run
R46 Seebert R81 Cass
Hillsboro R83 Cup Run
Hills Creek R83 1/2 Pine Flats
Rainetown R84 Wanless
Stamping Creek R87 Nida
R49 Violet R88 Hosterman
R50 Improvement Lick R93 Whiting
R52 Buckeye Krydertown
R53 Aumiller R94 Lentz
R54 Munday Lick R96 Durbin
Knapps Creek R97 Gum
Huntersville R98 Bartow
R99 Houchins
NORTH CALDWELL
In October 1941 the C&O leased a 4.45 acre tract along its line in North Caldwell to the Seyler Lumber Company, of Bluefield, for a sawmill. The mill was already on the property by the date of the lease, having been moved there in September. Brothers C. L. and F. E. Seyler were the owners of the company.1
According to a November 1944 letter from C. L. Seyler to a railroad official, the mill was located at North Caldwell to harvest the timber from a 1,500 tract the company owned in Monroe County. Originally it had been planned to take the logs to their mill in Bluefield but it was decided a mill closer to the timber would be better. He wrote that a shortage of labor was preventing the company from operating at the capacity they had hoped, but that they had been doing better in recent months. Seyler stated that his company was timbering in three locations on national forest land; one on Black Mountain in Pocahontas County and the other two near Neola, in Greenbrier County. He noted that the logs from Black Mountain were coming to the mill by rail and by truck from the other sites. Seyler also wrote that they had another project on Muddy Mountain, west of Lewisburg, and had purchased 1,628 acres from Cotton and Hanlon, located along the river south of Camp Allegheny. The cost of the land purchase was $8,000 – need location 2
The logs from Black Mountain were probably loaded at Marlinton; Seyler had a small tract leased from the C&O along its loading track in Marlinton.3
The purpose of the letter was asking the C&O to sell Seyler Lumber Company the land the railroad owned at North Caldwell, or at least enough of it, to provide space for planned expansion of the operation, including a flooring plant and wood-working establishment. Seyler pointed out all the potential business for the railroad that would come from their expanded operations.4
other deeds for land, 152-53, C&O to Seyler, 20, 309, and 73 acres; 153-115, deed for 254 ac, 4 miles s. of Lewisburg, also 39 ac. – Seylers incorporated their company in 1954, 188-641 is deed for transfer of land to the corporation
However, the Seyler Lumber Company must not have been one of the railroad’s better customers as its file from the Clifton Forge office on the lease to the company is full of letters from the North Caldwell station agents concerning difficulty in collecting the rent for the leased land, the lumber company’s lack of cooperation, and its lack of use of the railroad.
The company had ceased its operations by the late summer of 1956 as in September of that year the lease for the mill site was terminated. However, one year later the same tract was leased to the Lewisburg Lumber Company, a partnership of G. D. Smith and W. R. Serber.5
The Lewisburg Lumber Company did not make use of its leased land for long; by early June 1960 the company had dismantled the mill and cleaned up the railroad’s land.6
Mill
The only reference to the Seyler Lumber Company mill is a 1944 news item which stated it was a band mill.7
Although it turned out not to be a successful venture, a lease of C&O land at North Caldwell in November 1959 is at least of interest. C. E. Woodson, of White Sulphur Springs, requested the lease in 1957 for a small facility to manufacture baseball bat billets, to be sent to Hillerich and Bradsby in Louisville, Kentucky. Although, Woodson hoped to be able to ship fifteen to twenty or more carloads a year, by early 1962 the operation was limited and producing only about one car per year. His untimely death in a plane crash on August 26, 1962, brought this use of valley timber to an end. The lease was terminated by the railroad in November 1962.8
1 Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society, C&O Lease File, lease dated 10/11/1941, telegram, Charles Cox, Jr., to G. P. Gibbs, 10/6/1941
2 Ibid., C&O Lease File, letter, C. L. Seyler to G. B. Wall, Jr., 11/3/1944; the Cotton and Hanlon land was not deeded to the Seylers until 1946, GCDB 154, p 264, 5/17/1946, for tracts of 40 and 1588.5 acres
3 Ibid., C&O Railway, Drawing No. 61-47
4 Ibid., C&O Lease File, Seyler to Wall
5 Ibid., C&O Lease File, Seyler lease terminated 9/26/1956, Lewisburg Lumber Company lease dated 9/19/1957
6 Ibid., C&O Lease File, letters, K. R. Ketcham to C. B. Porter, 5/5/1960, Porter to Ketcham, 6/7/1960
7 PT, 2/10/1944
8 Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society, C&O Lease File, letters, R. T. Bowden to J.R. Cary, 6/26/1957, Forrest Jackson to K. R. Ketcham, 5/3/1962, lease dated 11/16/1959, terminated 11/20/1962; need reference for plane crash
BRICK YARD
This Greenbrier Division station appeared on the railroad’s schedule in 1902 under the name Stone House, from a nearby home. (The house still exists in —–.) In 1906 the name was changed to Brick Yard when the Greenbrier Brick Company located at this station one of the few non-lumber related customers for the C&O’s Greenbrier Division.9
The company was organized by —–
GC64-447, 5/28/1904, J. E. & Emma M. Caldwell to Caldwell Brick & Tile Co, 5 ac with rights to mine clay
However, it did not operate for many years. In May 1909 the company’s property was ordered to be sold in a court case with title “John C. Dice and Charles S. Dice, formerly doing business as the Greenbrier Brick Company vs. W. C. Hamlett, et al.” The sale included 5 acres and equipment to be sold on May 24. The property was sold to John C. Dice for $1,205.10
also have sold to JCD on 9/10/1904 for $3150,sale confirmed 9/15/1907, JCD directed that deed be to him and CSD 75- 182, 10/14/1907, Peerless Geiger engine and boiler, Hummer Jr. brickmaking machine, automatic cutting table, is the 5 acres in the deed?
need court records and deed to Dice
The siding gone by 1916, probably in early 1912.11
Footnotes
9 The Durbin Route, p 133
10 WVN, 5/8/1909, ad for sale in same issue of the paper, WVN, 7/17/1909
11 The Durbin Route, p 133
TOTTENS
In August Berton J. Cotton, a Binghampton, New York, merchant and lumberman, acquired a 40 acre tract and timber on tracts of 1,588.5, 744.5, 120, and 140 acres. These tracts were located —– and cost $13,869. In November 1915 Cotton purchased the 1,588.5 acre tract.12
As far as is known nothing was done with this timber until Cotton and Howard A. Hanlon formed a partnership in 1921. In 1923 a side track was installed at this station for the company. Additional timber, on 400 acres on the east side of the river, was purchased in July 1923.13
(The name of the railroad station came from a previous owner of the land, J. K. Totten, not a misspelling of Cotten.)
Exactly what did they do with the timber? did they install a sawmill? did they have a mill close enough to ship the logs to?
Ball Hooter, p xii, Hanlon states Cotton and Hanlon ran rafts and loose chestnut telegraph poles from Bowes to Tottens
There is no evidence the company was in the valley for very long.
In May 1946 the 40 and 1,588.5 acre tracts were sold to C. L. and F. E. Seyler, of Bluefield, for $8,000. The tracts were transferred to the Seyler Lumber Company in —- 1954. 14 then?
Cotton and Hanlon also at Nallan, Gassaway, Mayo, Va., Mill Gap, Va., Ashepoo, SC, various NY locations, and overseas
Footnotes
12 GCDB 83, p 501, 8/16/1912, $8620 paid, no due date given for balance, DB 89, p 46, 11/27/1915, $1000 + OVC
13 The Cotton Hanlon Story; C&O List of Industrial Tracks, siding contract dated 8/16/1923; The Durbin Route, p 133; GCDB 102, p 369, 7/9/1923
14 GCDB 154, p 264, 5/17/1946, DB 188, p 641, –/–/1954
BRINK
In July 1906, J. E. Rhodes and E. D. Brink, of Dunlevie (Thornwood), purchased the timber on a tract of 830 acres on the east side of the river – location – They also obtained a lease for a mill site along the C&O. The railroad established a new station with the name Brink and installed a siding in 1907. The partners operated under the name Clear Creek Lumber Company.15
Ralph H. Ely, of Alderson, loaned the partners the $4,360 needed to purchase the timber and in return they signed a deed of trust giving the timber as security for the loan.16
Also, in September, the partners and Ely signed a contract under which Ely agreed to purchase the lumber to be manufactured from the 830 acre tract. The prices to be paid by Ely varied based on the species with No. 1 and 2 poplar being the most valuable at $35 per thousand feet. Among the other prices outlined in the contract were $33 for No. 1 and 2 oak, $31 for No. 1 and 2 chestnut, $24 for No. 1 common poplar, $23 for common oak, $21 for No. 1 common chestnut, $17 for white pine, down to $11 for No. 2 common oak, and $10.50 for wormy chestnut. It was estimated that the tract will produce 2,000,000 or more feet of lumber. The lumbermen were to begin producing lumber within thirty days.17
In April 1907 Ely assigned his rights under the deed of trust and the lumber contract to R. M. Smith and Company, of Parkersburg. Another deed of trust was signed in June 1907 in which Clear Creek Lumber assigned its property to Ely, as Trustee, to secure R. M. Smith and Company for several advancements of money made to Clear Creek, amounting to $4,356.87.18
Although a sawmill was located on the site at the railroad and other work done in preparation for the production of lumber, the existing evidence is that only a small amount of lumber was actually manufactured. This may have been one of the least successful lumbering ventures in the valley as in less than a year a number of creditors were seeking judgments in justice of the peace courts against Clear Creek. In a document filed in one of the lawsuits it was noted “in fact, practically no lumber has ever been manufactured or shipped by said Clear Creek Lumber Company from the timber on the said Huddleston Lease.”19
A major problem for this operation was the fact that the timber was located across the river from the location of the sawmill. check to make sure this is correct
In —, the Merchant Grocery Company, of Alderson, and three of Clear Creek’s employees filed a suit in Greenbrier County Circuit Court. In the bill of complaint, the workers alleged they were owed a total of $167.54 in wages and the grocery company claimed $569.99 for sundry goods and merchandise sold to the company. The bill went on to allege that the Clear Creek Lumber Company was insolvent and after making the June trust deed, “the said Rhodes and Brink absconded from the state of West Virginia” and went to Pennsylvania “with no intention of returning.”
The plaintiffs noted that other creditors had cases against the lumber company before various justices of the peace and judgments had been awarded to some. They alleged the trust deed to Ely was an effort to “prefer the said R. M. Smith & Co., over all other creditors and to hinder, delay and defraud all other creditors including these plaintiffs in the collection of their debts against said Clear Creek Lumber Co.” The plaintiffs asked that a receiver be appointed to take charge of the property. The Circuit Court acted favorably on the request for a receiver and appointed J. S. McWhorter to this position in July.20
In their answer to the suit, Ely and R. M. Smith and Company “emphatically” denied that Clear Creek Lumber Company was wholly insolvent in June and “especially” denied that the trust deed that month was “made in an attempt to prefer the said R. M. Smith & Company, to the prejudice or exclusion of other creditors of said Clear Creek Lumber Company, or to hinder, delay and defraud them in the collection of their debts; but on the other hand, Respondents aver that the said deed of trust was a plain, honest and straight forward attempt on the part of Respondents to secure their just and honest debt against the said Company.”21
In their answer to the bill of complaint, Rhodes and Brink agreed that they were indebted to the plaintiffs as well as to others, in the amount of about $13,000. They “most earnestly deny the allegation of said bill that they have absconded from the State of West Virginia and that they left the state with no intention of returning,” noting that as soon as they learned of the suit, Rhodes returned and was in Lewisburg to respond to the case. The partners absolved themselves of blame for the company’s problems by passing it on to R. M. Smith and Company, stating “the whole trouble is due to the failure of the R. M. Smith & Co. to carry out their contract with them in relation to the June 1907 deed of trust.”
Brink and Rhodes claimed that RMS&Co had agreed to pay all the outstanding debt owed by Clear Creek, with the labor debts to be paid immediately, and to proceed to sell the property. They alleged RMS& Co. “pretended to be friendly to said respondents and to help them to realize upon their property” and was considering buying the Clear Creek operation. Once they left for a temporary absence on a visit to their old home in Pennsylvania, Brink and Rhodes claimed RMS& Co “showed their bad faith” by, instead of protecting their credit, but had the intention of “forcing their property into the hands of a receiver, and thereby greatly depreciating and damaging it, seek as the largest creditor to take advantage of the contract obtained from these respondents under the guise of friendship, and bring the property to a forced sale, ruin these respondents and leave them in bad odour with their creditors generally.” In the few days they were in Pennsylvania, a receiver was appointed “their works were disorganized, the men scattered, their credit ruined and they have suffered incomparable damage by the bad faith of R. M. Smith and Co., in the breach of the contract aforesaid.”22
In July the receiver reported to the Circuit Court on his inventory of Clear Creek’s property. He listed as assets, $304.76 in stock in the company store; $46 in camp equipment; $19 value in the blacksmith shop; $18.92 value in the “boarding tent;” $2,512.50 for the mill; $750 for teams, harness, and lumber; $1,500 for the cut timber; and $4,000 for the remaining uncut timber, for a total of $8,131.48. In a report the next month he estimated the company’s debt to be between $13,000 and $14,000.23
In his August report, the receiver noted store goods and the bedding and other camp equipment were in danger of losing value from deterioration, destruction by rats, worms and vermin, or theft. McCormack noted that the store has already been broken into and items stolen. He recommended the sale of these items. The court agreed and ordered a public auction to be held on September 5. At the sale $302.75 was raised towards the company’s debts.24
The case in Circuit Court was dismissed in October after the Clear Creek Lumber Company was adjudged to be bankrupt on September 12. (This action moved the case to federal court.) A sale of the company’s property, including the timber on 830 acres, logs, lumber, sawmill, and all equipment, was scheduled to be held on April 3, 1908. Purchasing the property was J. H. Chapman.25
The last reference found to this company was a legal notice in May 1909 stating the company had been adjudged bankrupt, had duly surrendered all property and rights to property, and complied with all requirements of law and court orders, and asking to have a discharge of their debts.26
As to the question of getting logs across the river, a petition filed by G. W. Groves as part of the court proceedings is of interest. He claimed that a skidding engine, wire rope, pulleys, and other attachments at the site were his property, not the company’s property. He said he had moved the equipment to Brink to demonstrate how it could be used to move logs across the river, “to be tried preliminary to negotiating a sale of the same to said Clear Creek Lumber Company.”27
Chapman sold the Clear Creek Lumber Company’s property he had purchased to A. M. Oliver, of —- Durbin? – in January 1909. Oliver sold it the same month to Charles Deal, of Elkins, for $7,500. In May Deal purchased a 140 acre tract of land on the river – which side location .28
The deed from Oliver to Deal also included a sawmill, machinery, and personal property located on the land — check earlier deeds — was Clear Creek’s across the river from the C&O?
If Deal did any logging, it was not for long because in September 1909 he sold the Union Lumber Manufacturing Company, of ——, a ten-ton Shay locomotive and 1.5 miles of railroad, laid with twenty-five pound rail — located on the Anderson land near Brink – need location 29 what did Deal do with the 140 ac? bill of sale to Union did not include sawmill or timber 1907 list of Clear Creek asssets does not include a locomotive
55-83, bill of sale, 2/13/1900, Edith Anderson to A. E. Huddleston, $400, tbr on GR, NE of Ronceverte
what did Huddleston do with the 830 acre tract or did he just buy timber? check date
Mill
Other than a reference to the mill having a daily capacity of 10,000 feet, no information has been located on the sawmill equipment used at Brink, although it was probably a circular mill.30
ANTHONY
In the last part of 1901 and early 1902, Joseph I. and John U. Henderson, of Putnam County, operating as Henderson’s Sons, purchased tracts containing 2,180, 834, and 396 acres as well as timber on an additional three tracts totaling 930 acres, located in the Anthonys Creek watershed and on the Greenbrier River. The total cost for this land and timber came to $28,100.31
The land was located on the headwaters of Laurel Creek and extended a short distance along the east side of Greenbrier Mountain.
The timber purchased was in the lower part of the Laurel Creek watershed. In addition to timber, the agreement on the timber tracts gave the Hendersons authority to build tramroads and slides, put in sawmills and lumber yards, use stone for foundations, use the water of Anthonys Creek and Laurel Creek, put booms in Anthonys Creek, burn sawdust, the right to bring logs to the mills from other land, and permission to “raise fowls and hogs about the mill shanties, to pen and shelter the same on the land and also keep a few cows and calves for milk and butter for the men, women and children of the camp and the right to shelter the same and enclose a lot in which to put them.”32
To harvest this timber the Hendersons installed a sawmill at the mouth of Laurel Creek, about a mile from the river.33
In April 1903 the Henderson Lumber Company was incorporated with the two Hendersons, with Anthony given as their residence, Thomas W. Bond, of Orange, Virginia, and J. E. Scaggs and T. S. Clark, both of Charleston, listed as the incorporators. The following month the Hendersons transferred all the property to the new corporation. Included were the sawmill at the mouth of Laurel Creek, as well as three miles of wooden rail tramway and a logging locomotive.34
The Hendersons may have taken their lumber to Alvon at first for loading on the Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad. Two listings of lumber operations in the 1904 – 1907 period include Henderson and Company under the Alvon listing. However, there is also evidence that the lumber was transported to the C&O at Anthony, over the county road and bridge. The C&O List of Industrial Tracks has an October 1904 contract date for a Henderson siding at Anthony but noted it was not built until 1907.35
In August of 1904 it was reported Henderson was “doing good business” and had a force of men building a bridge over the river. Work on the bridge was still underway in late September but was “getting along well.” The acquisition of a new locomotive, a Climax, in November of that year may have been the reason for the bridge work, allowing the direct rail connection between the mill and the C&O.36
The new engine was involved in an accident not long after coming to Anthony. On January 14, 1905, it was coming from the mill with two loaded cars, one of lumber and the other cross ties. As the train crossed the bridge over the river, the center span broke, dropping the engine and cars fifteen feet into the river. There were six men on the train, four in the locomotive cab, W. O. Robertson, engineer, John Johnson, fireman, O. S. Job, and C. M. Hull, and two on the end car, J. H. Perry and S. D. Boone, but other than bruises no one was injured. The C&O pulled the locomotive out of the river for the lumber company.37
There had been a fatal accident earlier in 1904. On February 27, Elliott Gregory, was hit by a truck on the tramroad and killed. The accident occurred about 3/4 mile from Anthony.38
The company stationery stated that it produced “Select Lumber, Laths, Wagon Felloes, Barrel Staves, & c.” (Felloes are rims for spoked wheels.)39
In 1906 the company decided to build a new sawmill and in June of that year J. I. Henderson purchased a tract of 74 acres at Anthony from the C&O, for $1,500. The new mill building was under construction the same month with the work “progressing finely.” At the end of July the machinery was being moved to new building and the mill was ready for operation.40
In August it was reported that the “coarse-throated whistle” of the new mill will soon be calling for “the youth who like to slumber late in this delightful air these fine mornings. The mill will make something profitable out of about all there is in every stick of timber . . . Charlie ‘Mack’ Lloyd is running the 999 on the Mountain State Express for the Henderson Lumber Company, and has first-class white oak logs for his passengers . . . J. L. Vaughn, Steve Ray and Ed Spitzer are up at the Rail Head with other peacocks of the race, and claim they have over 5,000 logs waiting for Charlie ‘Mack’ Lloyd to fetch down to the mill pond.”41
Other land and timber transactions occurred in 1905 and 1906. J. I. Henderson purchased a 955 acre tract in July 1905, located on the west side of the river, for $900; 122.5 acres on Anthonys Creek in August, paying $—; timber on — acres in June 1906, at a cost of $1,700; and 100 acres on —- in July, paying $—–. In May 1906 the company sold 111 acres to the Donaldson Lumber Company, receiving $——. Henderson sold the 955 acre tract to Donaldson in November 1906. Included in the 111 acre tract were 25 acres that had been sold to Donaldson in May 1904 to provide that company with a mill site.42
The new mill had time to hardly be broken in, however, when the Henderson Lumber Company went into receivership in November 1906. Although it was reported in early November that the “mill is running on time and with a full crew,” a new manager was on the job and “from the way the boys look out one corner of the eye they do not like that high collar and spectacles.” The mill was shut down by the end of November and in January 1907 the employees were paid off by the receiver. In April there was a news report on J. I. Henderson’s “household and kitchen furniture on the depot here [Anthony] marked to Richmond, Virginia,” and the mill “standing still.” “What we hope to see is that Mr. Henderson will return soon and take the property out of the receiver’s hand, and start the mill.”43
However, the Hendersons did not return to Anthony. The personal property of the company – sawmill, locomotive, and other equipment – was advertised to be sold at an auction on June 18, 1907. This sale must not have taken place as the property was again offered on sale on November 14, 1908. Again, no sale occurred, due to the lack of sufficient bids.44
The land, timber rights and bridge owned by the Henderson Lumber Company were finally sold at an auction on February 6, 1909, and purchased by Job E. Thayer, John J. Thayer, and O. A. Petty, of Charleston, for $5,100. In the next month the property was leased to their company, Greenwah Lumber Company, for two years. Under the terms of the lease, the company was to pay $6 per thousand feet for poplar and $5 per thousand for basswood, oak, chestnut, and hickory. The deed for the property was not made until February 1910 to the Thayers and Petty. In April 1911 they transferred the property to the Greenwah Lumber Company name for $7,500.45
The deeds to Thayers and Petty and from them make no mention of a mill or locomotives.
When (or if) Greenwah restarted the operation and the number of years it operated at Anthony are not known. The last reference found to this company was a 1931 lawsuit filed by the Edgewood Realty Company over an unpaid note issued by Greenwah in April 1911. The note was for $2,500, but with interest over the years, the suit was seeking $5,543.75. Judgment for this amount was granted by the Greenbrier County Circuit Court in July 1931.46
The 100 acre tract was sold in June 1911 and in September 1935 3,660 acres were sold to the U. S. Forest Service for $14,640.47
Locomotives
At least two engines were used on this logging operation. As mentioned before, the 1903 deed included a locomotive, but no details are known about it.
Second locomotive was the Climax:
Climax CN 523 20 tons 36 inch gauge
The November 1904 lease/purchase agreement with the Climax Manufacturing Company for this locomotive also included four log cars. The cost was $3,720 and the agreement called for the engine to be lettered “WVa. RR Co.” and given the number 999.48
Mill
The news accounts on the mill at Anthony at the time it was built referred to it as a band mill.49
Anthony must not have been a good place to operate a sawmill because there was another mill located near the station that also had financial trouble.
In January 1910 Charles A. Miller, of Boyd County, Kentucky, and G. W. Crosier, of Cabell County, purchased 1,859 acres on the east side of the river, located between Keister and Anthonys Creek, from Henry Gilmer. The land had been obtained by Gilmer from the Sherwood Company the previous month. To acquire the land, Miller and Crosier agreed to pay $4,391.38 and assume two notes owed to Sherwood, each for $5,577.50
The deed to Miller and Crosier for the land also included rights-of-way across three tracts adjacent to the 1,859 acres for “roads, tramroads, railroads, skidways, logways, and other things needed . . . . .” and to provide access to the river; location on each side of the river for bridge abutments; and the right to locate a sawmill, houses and other buildings on land on the west side of the river, along the railroad. After they finished their logging operation, the deed required Miller and Crosier to leave behind any manure they did not use.51
They also acquired one sawmill with appurtenances, a fifteen ton Climax locomotive, twelve logging cars, logging tools, boarding house equipment, store and office fixtures, and a stock of merchandise from C. A. Johnson and Company, of ——-. Cost was $5,500.52 where does C. A. Johnson & Co come from?
Also involved in the planned logging operation was J. W. Johnson and Company. This company, a partnership made up of J. W. Johnson, W. A. Williams, and S. M. Croft, provided Miller and Crosier the cash needed for down payment for the land and to purchase the equipment. They also secured the two notes on the land and agreed to advance money to Miller and Crosier as needed. Under the contract between the companies, J. W. Johnson and Company would handle the sale of the timber and withhold $2 per thousand feet for lumber and $0.05 per railroad tie until all debts and money advanced were paid.53
A siding on the C&O at Milepost 13.7, a short distance south of Anthony, was the most likely location for the Miller-Crozier mill.
In only two years, however, in January 1912, Miller and the Miller-Crozier Lumber Company were declared to be bankrupt. In March of the same year, all of the property of the company was transferred to the major creditor, J. W. Johnson and Company.54
In November 1912 Johnson had the mill, locomotive and four miles of rail advertised for sale. No record has been found on what happened to the material up for sale. The land was transferred back to Gilmer in March 1913 and the C&O removed the sidetrack the same year. The tract of land ——-55
Locomotive
Climax 15 tons56
J. W. Johnson & Company, of Lexington, Virginia, had a fifteen ton, 36 inch gauge engine, constructed in 1910, for sale in December 1912.57
Mill
In the ad for the sale of the property in November 1912, the mill was described as a circular mill with a daily capacity of 20,000 feet.
There were several small sawmills located in the Anthonys Creek watershed between Anthony and Alvon. One of these companies, the Kittanning Lumber Company, which had its mill at the mouth of Big Draft, moved its lumber to Anthony for loading on the C&O. The other mills in this area moved their lumber to Alvon for loading on the Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad. For information on these companies see Chapter XIV.
Logging The Greenbrier Valley 