Chapter XIV – Mills Served by the Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad (White Sulphur and Huntersville Railroad)

what did Jackson Perry to with the 3100 ac.?
Ferrell or Farrell - check

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One of the sales by Simeon Jones from his 4,067 acre tract was 931 acres  and timber on 220 acres on the east side of Peach Orchid Ridge to Joseph and Robert C. Schofield, Jr., of Ashtabula, Ohio, in August 1918.  Jones had sold the timber from the tract to the Kendall Deeter Lumber Company and it had transferred back to him timber that had not been cut.  It is assumed that the timber on the 931 acre tract was part of the uncut timber.  The Schofields also purchased the 220 acres of timber that had been originally purchased by Kendall and Deeter, paying ----- 19 

    need deed for the 220 ac or In his deposition, 12/16/1918, in Greenwah vs. K-D, Deeter referred to selling - "I sold" - the timber on the 220 tract to Schofield Brothers 

In December the Schofields "are now cutting and removing the timber over the Anthony Creek road to Anthony . . .”20  
The two Schofields transferred the land and timber to the Schofield Brothers Lumber Company, Inc. in April of 1921.  In less than year, in March 1922, the land and timber was sold for $---- to S. W. Hinkle.21  
The following year Schofield Brothers had for sale a portable sawmill, traction engine and boiler, three saw edger, and other sawmill related items, "everything that goes with a good outfit of this kind."  Of interest is the inclusion of a 3 1/2 ton Republic truck among the things for sale.  In the ad, the address for the company is Trout, which was a flagstop station on the Greenbrier Branch, - -- - -22                                 
 What Hinkle did with the property is not known except that in October 1935 he sold it to the Forest Service for $3,042.97.23

MOUNTAIN GROVE, VIRGINIA
 
	In October 1913 the Times reported on the acquisition of 20,000 acres of timber land on Big Back Creek and Little Back Creek in Bath County, Virginia, by the J. E. Moore Lumber Company.  The company, a partnership of John Edwin Moore and Edwin Moore, father and son, of Danville, Pennsylvania, had only recently completed a small logging operation on Locust Creek in Pocahontas County.  (See Chapter XII.)24     land or just timber purchased?
	The deeds for the land were filed in the early part of 1914, with the total coming to 18,400 acres.  A correspondent to the Times  estimated that it would take thirty years to remove the company’s timber.25   
	The company also acquired timber on other tracts in Bath County, coming to about - - -  acres, and tracts of 100 and 208 acres on Douthards Creek in Pocahontas County.26 
	A site on Little Back Creek, a short distance west of Mountain Grove, Virginia, was leased in May 1914 as the location for the mill.27 
	 A handicap with the mill location was lack of a railroad for bringing in supplies and equipment and to haul lumber to market.  The closest railroad to the mill site was the White Sulphur and Huntersville Railroad, which had a line up the North Fork of Anthonys Creek.  To gain rail access the Moores had to construct a -- mile rail line to reach the WS&H, at a location referred to as the “Dock” at the head of the North Fork.   At this point lumber was transferred from the cars of the narrow gauge logging railroad to cars on the WS&H for shipment to customers.28    is footnote neded?
		need to check distance to C&O
	The Dock was the location of a loading facility that was used during the effort to develop the vein of ore ore that is part of the rock formation exposed in this area.  (The effort to mine the iron ore in related later in this chapter.)  Lumber cut on the head of Douthards Creek in 1907-08 by G. W. Huntley and Son was also loaded here (See Chapter VI).
	To reach the Dock from Mountain Grove, the railroad went up Little Back Creek, crossed Allegheny Mountain at Rider Gap, where Rt. 39 crosses the mountain today, went down Laurel Run to Douthards Creek and up that stream to the North Fork.  The company obtained rights-of-way along Laurel Run and Douthards Creek in early 1914.  Survey and grading work on the railroad were underway by March of 1914.  In May the Pocahontas County Court gave the company permission to cross the Huntersville & Warm Springs Road (now Rt. 39) between the top of mountain and the ford of Laurel Creek and the Douthards Creek Road near the divide between Douthards Creek and North Fork.29   
	In October it was reported that the company had begun cutting and skidding timber and the railroad from the Dock would soon be completed to the mill site.  As soon as the railroad was completed, the mill would be hauled in and erected.30 
	By May of 1915, the mill was reported to be operating at the rate of 45,000 feet daily.   In November of that year there was a report that the company purchased a new 35-ton Climax and twelve new log cars.  The new engine was needed as the mill was shut down two weeks “due to lack of locomotives to get logs to mill as both engines were in use hauling lumber to the Dock.”31 
	J. E. Moore Lumber Company was reported to be doing a “rushing business” in February 1917.  In February of the following year, from the North Fork correspondent to the Times "The trains from Mt. Grove are making good time now, running every day."  In June there was an new report on the company opening a new camp within a half mile of the mill and about a mile from Mt. Grove.  "Every thing in this camp is new, the food is excellent, and the men will enjoy unusual opportunities as they can go to town and see the bright lights every night after the day's work is done."32 
	The predication for a long life for this company did not prove accurate.  At some point by early 1919, the company was in financial trouble.  Although it was advertising for horse teams for logging in February, on March 15, 1919, the J. E. Moore Lumber Company was declared bankrupt by the U. S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia.33 
	On October 11, 1919, the company’s property was sold at auction to Charles C. Hubbell, Trustee for the lumber company’s major creditor, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad.  In addition to the land, timber rights, and railroad rights-of-way, the sale included a Clark eight-foot band mill, twenty-three miles of railroad, three locomotives, sixty log cars (forty in “fairly good order” and twenty in “bad order”), one American log loader, four hand cars, and one motor car.34
	Based on the memories of residents, the Moore mill was operated until 1922 and the next several years are the period remembered as the “depression,” rather than the 1930s.35 
	In June 1926, the property was sold to the Tidewater Hardwood Company at Bacova, also in Bath County.  Tidewater took the equipment from the Moore mill and added it to their mill, making it a double band mill.36  

 	according to Cattle, Sheep & Whitetail Deer, Vol. 2, p 80, Tidewater completed logging of the Moore timber at the head of Little Back Creek, using a railroad across Back Creek Mountain to get to Bacova
	Ira King, 3/24/1979, said legal problems with creditors was the reason for the delay between sale and Tidewater’s purchase

	Pocahontas County death records include the death of Moffett Wheeler, 34, a section hand, from a concussion of the brain on April 28, 1915, at Rimel - this is too early for the Neola mill railroad to be at Rimel - perhaps he was a J. E. Moore employee? - need to check Bath County records.   37

Locomotives

	As stated above, the deed for the 1919 property sale listed three locomotives:

		Climax					30 tons
		Climax					30 tons
		Climax					15 tons

	However, little is known about them.  The smallest engine is probably the one the Moores had at their operation in Pocahontas County (CN 1094).38  

Mill

	The 1920 deed for the Moore property gives the mill as an eight-foot Clark.39 
	
NEOLA

Beginning in the fall of 1906 and continuing into mid-1907, John R. Droney, of Olean, New York, acquired tracts of land totaling 13,955 acres and timber rights on acres in excess of 4,500.  These acquisitions were in the Anthonys Creek watershed and all in Greenbrier County, except for the largest tract, 5,861 acres, which extended into Pocahontas County.  This tract came from the Sherwood Company.40   		more detail					
Droney also purchased a tract of 3,886 check acres, located ----, and 1,050 check- acres on Laurel Creek in Monroe County in June 1906, at a cost of $17,276.41
(Earlier in 1906, in February, Droney had acquired the property of the Island Lick Lumber Company in Pocahontas County and began the operation at Watoga.  He was also involved in the lumbering operation at Spice Run.  See Chapter X.)
Droney acquired twenty-six acres at the mouth of Meadow Creek in June 1907 for the location of his sawmill and gave the site the name Neola, supposedly by rearranging the letters from Olean.42 
The mill was was reported to be under construction in April 1907.  In July work on the railroad was underway on Anthonys Creek and in September 1907 the Times noted “Droney has his mill and town well underway at the mouth of Meadow Creek, a short distance from Morehead’s [sic] big band mill.  Eight miles of railway has been graded and some steel laid.  On the head of Meadow Creek large camps are being built. The cutting contractor has arrived from Pennsylvania, having come the whole distance overland with his teams, men and outfit."  The mill was completed by August 1908 and in October it was reported that “J. R. Droney [is] running mill full blast.”43 
In November 1908 Droney sold all the land, timber rights, mill, town, and railroad to the Neola Lumber Company for $25,000 and “other valuable consideration.”  This company had been incorporated the previous month with C. W. Wallis, of Olean, C. A. Yeager, of Marlinton, Walter S. Taylor, of Wilmington, Delaware, Michael E. Pue, and Eugene Petty, both of Neola, as incorporators.  (Wallis was Secretary of the J. R. Droney Lumber Company.)44 
Not transferred to the Neola Lumber Company were the 3,886 acre tract and the land in Monroe County.  They were sold in February 1909, for $17,500.45
This sale to the new company was probably more of the paper variety than a real change of ownership as Droney was given as President of the Neola Lumber Company in a news report on the April 26, 1909, startup of the mill.  The article implied that it had been shut down for some time.  Wallis, given as the General Superintendent, was reported to have been at Neola for two weeks overseeing the  cleaning of the grounds and houses - “houses that had disease were fumigated.”  The houses were being filled with tenants according to the article.46 
Neola Lumber Company acquired additional timber from the St. Lawrence Boom and Manufacturing Company in August 1909, on tracts of 1,376.5 and 607 acres on Anthonys Creek. Also obtained were 136 acres on Middle Mountain and another 200 acres of timber in December 1909.47   
In November 1911 Neola Lumber Company was reported to be pushing construction of its railroad towards the head of Anthonys Creek.  In March of the following year a new mill was installed and when started on the 18th, “It is doing splendid work."48 
However, the very next month Neola Lumber Company was reported to be in bankruptcy.  One account called it a voluntary bankruptcy while another stated that the company’s creditors forced the bankruptcy.  Default had occurred on the payment of --- in bonds and based on a November 1908 deed of trust, the bondholders requested the property to be put up for sale.49 
The trustee’s sale of the property was held on October 29, 1912, with the high (and probably only) bid of $100,000, from Allen Hastings, who was acting on behalf of the bondholders.  The property was deeded to him in November.50 
 In March of 1913 the Neola property was under new ownership.  At the request of the Neola bondholders, Hastings transferred the property to the Blue Ridge Lumber Company.  This company was chartered in January 1913 with J. R. Droney, Frank R. Bartlett, A. E. Smith, all of Olean, C. F. Webster, of Girard, Pennsylvania, and L. W. Olds, of Corry, Pennsylvania, as incorporators.51    
The property was under the Blue Ridge name for only a few months.  In June 1913 the property was transferred to the Dana-Guthrie Lumber Company, of Charleston, for $175,000.  This company was created the same month and incorporators were H. A. Lightner, A. S. Guthrie, R. K. Ford, J. S. Dana, and W. E. R. Byrne.52   
This transfer seems to have ended Droney’s involvement with Anthonys Creek timbering, as his name no longer appears in news accounts or legal documents.
The same month it acquired the property, Dana-Guthrie got a contract with the White Sulphur & Huntersville Railroad for 55,762 feet of rail for the railroad on Anthonys Creek.53
The few news reports on Neola during this period suggest the mill operated on an irregular basis.  In September 1914 it was reported the mill had been started, after operations were suspended for three months.  Repairs were made on the mill, engine, and loader, and the mill pond cleaned prior to the start-up.  In March 1915 the mill was reported to have resumed operation after being shut down since early December.54 
	In August 1915 there was a news report on the the death of George Irvine, about 75, on the railroad "near Neola."  The article does not indicate if a Dana-Guthrie log train or a WS&H train was involved.   An engine was moving slowly pushing several cars. Mr. Irvine was very deaf and may not have heard the train and he was not seen by the train crew.  He was struck as he was walking along the track and run over by the entire train.  Mr. Irvine was not a resident of Neola but lived in Pocahontas County, near Edray

.  Mr. Irvine made his living by traveling about trading horses, pulling teeth with forceps of his own make, and selling cedar oil, a cure-all he discovered and distilled.  “He made no charge for extracting teeth but would always find ready sale for his all-healing oil among his suffering patients.”  55
	In another article on the death, - - - - -

- - - - - - - - -

In the final year of the time when the Neola mill was owned by the Neola Lumber Company it was referred to as Tomb Lumber Company in several newspaper news items in late 1911 and early 1912; one person interviewed by the author also gave this name; and there were two sales of lumber in early 1912 by the Tomb Lumber Company and part of the lumber was located at the Neola mill.  A sale in January was for 2,500,000 feet with 500,000 feet at Neola and one in February for 2,000,000 feet located at Neola.  At this time the mill at Watoga was being operated by Tomb Lumber Company.  Tomb had purchased that mill and timber land from J. R. Droney Lumber Company in 1909.56  Review PC 47 -446
  The reason is not known at this time.  As noted above, Droney was part of Neola Lumber Company but no direct connection has been found between him and Tomb Lumber Company, which was a New Jersey corporation dating back to 1905.  Perhaps, Droney and the owners of the Tomb Lumber Company knew each other through their common business interests.  
But at least one connection between the two companies is that they were both declared to be bankrupt in April of 1912.  This may be only a coincidence or it may indicate a legal link between the two companies.  In the case of Tomb's bankruptcy, Droney was appointed as -- a  the ---  trustee by the federal court in Pennsylvania handling the bankruptcy.57
To further muddy the historic waters at Neola in this period, the American Lumberman magazine for --- 1910 made a reference to a Greenbrier Lumber Company at Neola, with a 60,000 foot capacity mill, twelve miles of railroad, one locomotive, and twenty cars.  There was a Greenbrier Lumber Company chartered in 1909, with Edward S. Jones, F. B. Ward, Louis LaFountain, C. M. Callander, all from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and A. J. Wilson, of Philadelphia, with Neola as its office.  Other than the magazine reference and two news items on the incorporation, no other references have been found to this Greenbrier Lumber Company.  However, the February 1912 lumber sale by Tomb Lumber Company, referred to above, was to Edward S. Jones.  Perhaps, the men involved with the incorporation of the Greenbrier Lumber Company were looking towards buying the Neola operation but for some reason, maybe the bankruptcies, did not carry out their plans.58

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In slightly over two years the mill at Neola again had a new owner with the sale from Dana-Guthrie to the Huntley Lumber Company in September 1915.  With this transfer came the most successful period of the Neola operation.59
George W. Huntley, Senior and Junior, were not strangers to the Neola area.  G. W. Huntley, Sr., was a contractor for St. Lawrence Boom and Manufacturing Company, both on Anthonys Creek and in the 1907 and 1908 log drives on the river.  Both Huntleys were involved in timber purchases on Knapps Creek.   (See Chapters V, VI, and XII.)    
Also in September 1915 the Huntley Lumber Company acquired timber in Pocahontas County on five tracts totaling 2,114 acres on the headwaters of Cochrans Creek and G. W. Huntley, Jr., transferred to the company timber on two tracts on Cochrans Creek, Knapps Creek, and Laurel Run, with a total of 4,416 acres.  He had obtained the timber rights on the 4,416 acre tracts from the Allegheny Improvement Company in December 1912, for $11,040.  (The 4,416 acres were former SLB&M land, acquired by the improvement company from the boom company’s receivers, also in December 1912.)60  
• May 1916 - news report that the railroad being repaired and log hauling expected to begin soon.
• August 1916 - the railroad is within two miles of Rimel, “but is resting.”
• February 1917 - the railroad is within 3/4 of a mile of Rimel “and still coming.”
• July 1919 - news report on the company lumbering on Allegheny Mountain, above Rimel.61 
The Huntley railroad that went into the Laurel Run watershed and the J. E. Moore railroad from Mountain Grove crossed each other at Rimel.  To reach the Laurel Run timber, a railroad reaching -- miles from the mill at Neola was needed.   
As it did with other lumber companies, the C&O provided some of the rail needed by Huntley for its railroad, leasing the lumber company 63,600 feet of rail in June 1919.62 
In September 1919 a tract of 1,987 acres on the headwaters of Meadow Creek - or is it the headwaters of Laurel Run? - was purchased from the Sherwood Company.  This acquisition was probably the reason for an April 1920 agreement with the Meadow Mountain Lumber Company.  Under the agreement:   
• Meadow Mountain gave Huntley the right to build railroad up Meadow Creek and Laurel Run; also a right-of-way on Meadow Mountain
• Huntley gave Meadow Mountain the right to build a railroad on the “old route” to the present Huntley railroad and then use it to the main line
• Meadow Mountain permitted to use the Huntley railroad from the main line to one mile above Columbia Sulphur Spring.63
  	note that different "Laurel Runs" are involved

George W. Huntley, Sr., died on February 17, 1921, in Emporium, Pennsylvania.64
In July 1921 the company had a problem on its railroad along Cochrans Creek.  That month  two rails were removed from the track and a pole fastened across the track at -------.  The right-of-way across this section of land had been purchased in 1916 for five years with the right to continue by making a $50 a year payment.  The lumber company immediately filed a lawsuit against landowners G. W. Alderman and Remus Smith.  In its complaint to the court, the company admitted that the payment, due on July 3, was late, as G. W. Huntley, Jr., was away to settle his father’s estate.  The company told the court it made an effort to pay the money, but it was refused.  The court was asked to order the landowners not to interfere with its use of the railroad.  The requested injunction was issued the same day the complaint was filed, July 26.65 
The store building at Neola was damaged by fire on December 4, 1921.66 
In a accident on the log train on April 1, 1922, Lon Trainer, 24, lost both of his legs.  He was riding on one of the log trucks and somehow fell through.  The location of the accident is given only as Allegheny Mountain.67 
Huntley Lumber Company acquired other land and timber on Anthonys, Cochrans, and Meadow Creeks in the 1916 - 1920 period, totaling 3,928 acres in land and 3,676.5 acres of timber.  Total cost was about $35,000 for these purchases.68  
In October 1924 there was again a change in the ownership of the Neola mill.  Huntley Lumber Company  - deed or contract? -  R. T. Ervine, of Big Stone Gap, Virginia, the mill, the rights to the leased eight acres that contained the mill, the twenty-six acres where most of the town was located, the logging railroad up Anthonys Creek and over onto Cochrans Creek, two locomotives (a 50-ton Shay and 45-ton Climax), thirty logging cars, a Barnhart log loader, and all railroad rights-of-way at a cost of $36,000.  Huntley retained ownership of its land and timber rights, selling the timber to Irvine at $3 per thousand feet for timber on Knapps and Cochrans Creeks and $4 per thousand feet for all other timber.  After the first year, Ervine was to cut a minimum of 5,000,000 feet of timber, with the minimum to be paid whether it was cut or not.69  
At this time the mill must not have been running, as Huntley Lumber Company was described as a “somewhat extensive dormant lumber operation."  Why the mill was not operating or why it was sold with timber remaining to be cut, is not known.  Perhaps after the death of his father, G. W. Huntley, Jr., decided to return to his native Pennsylvania and other business interests.70  
Not long before making the sale of the mill, G. W. Huntley, Jr., purchased timber on a 150 acre tract on Laurel Run, near Rimel, in June 1924, for $625.  Rather than moving the logs to Neola, he reached an agreement with W. E. Pennybacker for the sawing of the logs from this tract.71 
Also in October, a new Neola Lumber Company was chartered, with its principal office at Big Stone Gap, Virginia, and Irvine transferred his purchase to it.  In the Virginia certificate of incorporation, the officers of the new company were given as W. B. Walker, President and General Manager, Neola; E. M. Lawson, Secretary, Big Stone Gap; and C. W. Bondurant, Treasurer, Neola.  However, stationary used by the company in 1925 gave R. T. Irvine, President, C. C. Johnson, Jr., Treasurer, E. M. Lawson, Secretary, and W. B. Walker, General Manager.  The notes to cover the debt to Huntley, issued in November 1924, were signed by R. T. Irvine as President.72 
Permission from the Pocahontas County Court in early December 1924 for two road crossings  - where - suggests logging began on the existing railroad into that county.  However, in April 1925 the company entered into a contract with Pasquale Anastacio for the construction of the grade for a railroad up Meadow Creek and Laurel Run.   The work was to start at the “old band saw-mill building” (SLB&M mill) on Meadow Creek, up the creek to the mouth of Laurel Run, and up Laurel Run about two miles.  For this work the contract called for him to be paid $2,560 per mile for the grade along Meadow Creek and $1,200 per mile on Laurel Run.  A second contract, in May, gave Anastacio the job of laying the rails on the five miles of new grade, at cost of $550 per mile.  (This would imply that Huntley did not build the line up Meadow Creek that the agreement with Meadow Mountain Lumber Company was about.)73
does this mean Huntley did not use the permission it got from Meadow Mt. to build the rr on Meadow Ck and Laurel Run?  under Locomotives, I have deposition of GHH, Jr. that rr was built in 1925

In January 1925, the Ritter-Burns Lumber Company, of Huntington, signed a contract with Neola Lumber Company for purchase the lumber produced at the Neola mill.  Ritter-Burns agreed to purchase lumber at $22 per thousand feet.74  
However, this second Neola Lumber Company’s operation was faced with financial difficulties almost from its start.  Lumber was shipped under the Ritter-Burns contract, but none of the obligations in the agreement with Huntley were met and employees and vendors went unpaid.  Huntley Lumber Company paid to keep the leases for railroad rights-of-way from lapsing.75 
“Looking backward, I am probably justified in the assertion that the Neola Lumber Company’s operation from the very start was attended with almost continuous financial difficulties.  No money was put into the enterprise at the time of the purchase from the Huntley Company, and little or none, apparently, was supplied during the few months of its active existence” was the way the Commissioner in Chancery put it in his report on the operation after the court system was involved.76   
The first labor liens for non-payment of wages were filed in October 1925.77
In early December 1925 the mill was shut down and lawsuits followed almost immediately, with the first filed the same month by Anastacio, the contractor for the construction of the rail line up Meadow Creek.  He claimed that he was owed $3,095.2178 
Other cases filed against the company were by:
• Patsy Portolese and five - check - others, all employees of Anastacio, in January 1926, alleging they were owed -----    the $3,095 includes the employees
• R. W. Morrison. -----, filed in July 1926, claiming he was owed $345.89 ($406.96 with interest)79
In January 1926, Huntley Lumber Company offered a ninety day option to Irvine for the sale of all of its property for $115,000 in cash, with this amount including what was already owed by him and Neola Lumber Company.  Irvine, along with S. M. Croft and Charles E. Thompson, accepted the option and in March Huntley agreed to extend it to May 1.  Permission was also granted for the mill to resume operation.80 
In April Neola Lumber Company assigned the option for the purchase of the Huntley property to the West Virginia Hardwood Company, of ---  Croft was Vice-president and General Manager of this company.  Thompson was -----   Ritter-Burns Lumber Company agreed in March to assign its January 1925 contract with Neola to W. Va. Hardwood.81 
On March 22, 1926, West Virginia Hardwood put the Neola mill back in operation.  However, in only slightly over a month, on April 30, the mill again was shut down.82    
In August 1926 the three suits against Neola Lumber Company in the Greenbrier Circuit Court were consolidated and H. L. Vansickler was appointed Commissioner in Chancery to report on the issues before the court.  His report, in November, stated that Neola Lumber Company had assets of $58,297 versus debts of $111,357.  In addition to what Irvine originally purchased from Huntley in 1924, the assets included the new rail line on Meadow Creek, 659,000 feet of lumber on the mill yard, and about 375,000 feet of logs at the upper end of the railroad on Laurel Run.  The largest debtor was the Huntley Lumber Company, which was owed $64,541, followed by various suppliers at $23,694, and the labor liens at $20,955.83 
A possible solution to the financial situation occurred the month before, October, when Neola Lumber Company sold out to Ellis H. Wilkinson, of Bristol, Virginia.  The deed required Wilkinson to pay all that was due to Huntley Lumber Company, the debts to the employees in either in cash or part in cash and other terms that could be agreed upon, and to pay debts to other creditors in a way that could be agreed upon.84 

GC 108-488 Memorandum of Agreement, 9/29/1926, between Oak and S. M. Croft - Croft allowed to go on Oak’s land and remove 600,000 feet cut by W. Va. Hardwood Co. - Croft to pay $5/1000 ft and take the logs to the Neola Lbr Co mill

In December, Wilkinson transferred the property to the Wood Motor Parts Corporation, of Wilmington, Delaware.  He was President of this company, which had been organized the same month.85 
However, in May 1927 the property was back in the ownership of Huntley Lumber Company. Wilkinson must not been able to work out an agreement with all of Neola’s creditors as on December 9, 1926, the Greenbrier County Circuit Court ordered the property to be sold.  At the sale on April 18, 1927, it was sold back to Huntley for $24,000.86 
Huntley Lumber Company sold its re-acquired property to Wood Motor Parts Corporation in November 1927, with the cost now $68,759.  This transfer involved the same property, equipment, and timber as the 1924 sale to Ervine.  Upon receiving payments of $117,759, Huntley agreed it would deed Wood its timberland.87 
The next month (December 1927) Wood Motor Parts Corporation acquired additional timber by purchasing from the Oak Lumber Company the timber on tracts of 5,718, 2,499, and 9,904 acres for $10,000 plus $5 per 1,000 feet, up to $100,000.  (If that amount is reached, the property would be deeded to WMPC.)  The timber was located between the top of Allegheny Mountain and the road from White Sulphur Springs, on the waters of Meadow Creek, Laurel Creek, White Draft, and Whitman Run.88 
In addition to acquiring the mill, railroad, and timber, Wood Motor Parts Corporation also obtained a lease on the White Sulphur and Huntersville Railroad for three years, at $3,500 per year, along with an option to buy the railroad, for $55,000.89 
Still needed was a facility, with dry kilns, for the actual production of the automobile parts.  To provide the estimated $360,000 needed to construct this plant, purchase logging equipment, and furnish working capital, the company turned to Small Issues Corporation of New York City in the spring of 1928.  The Executive Committee of SIC received a report on WMPC at a meeting in August of that year:
The Wood Parts Company recently was organized by experienced lumbermen to manufacture hard wood parts of the concealed frame of automobiles, at the source of timber supply, substituting this procedure for the present method of manufacturing at the automobile plant.
It is expected that important savings in material and freight will result, and the parts may be made from No. 2 and No. 3 common and wormeaten wood, which under normal circumstances, is of little value.
The report went on note that the stockholders of WMPC had already put in $236,000 for the purchase of over 100,000,000 feet of timber on 40,000 acres, a sawmill and town,  and  a logging railroad with it equipment.  Lease of the White Sulphur and Huntersville Railroad was noted and most importantly, “The company has a three year contract with the Willys-Overland Company to supply parts for a minimum of 150 and a maximum of 300 automobiles per day.  Based on the estimates furnished, this should result in an earning of a minimum of $172,000 annually for the protection of the holders of the senior securities.”90 
The proposition before the committee was to provide Wood Motor Parts Corporation with the  money through the purchase of $400,000 in 7% Serial Notes to be issued by WMPC.  
Small Issues Corporation Vice-president Brice P. Disque spent spent time over the next several months looking into WMPC and its plans for the facility at Neola.  He spent time helping WMPC improve the project, making several trips to Neola and to the Willys-Overland Company.  In early 1929, probably in February, Small Issues Company agreed to purchase the notes, dated March 1, 1929, which were to be repaid over the next thirty-six months.  While the notes were outstanding the agreement between the two companies called for SIC to name a majority of the WMPC Board of Directors and a nominee of SIC was to be the chief executive and financial officer of the parts company.  WMPC was to begin shipment of parts in May 1929 and to be operating to capacity by June of that year.91
At some point in 1929 WMPC President Ferris J. Meigs resigned due to ill-health and Disque became Chairman of the company's board.  Wilkinson still held the position of Vice-president at this time and was the Manager at Neola. 
In August 1929 WMPC purchased a 137-acre tract at Neola, which included the site of the sawmill, for $6,500.92 
How many automobile parts were produced at Neola is not known, but the available evidence strongly suggests that the facility did not have a long operational life.
Clark Galford recalled that his father got a contract in 1928 to cut timber on Laurel Creek for the motor parts company.  At that time the railroad was in a deteriorated condition and the train ----, he remembered  Although they were promised good timber and the opportunity to make good money, the timber was of low quality and his father soon returned home.93 
In September 1929 there was a news report that Winston Herold, of Minnehaha Springs, had accepted the job of Superintendent in charge of building the factory at Neola  “This plant at Neola is a wood working one the product to be used in the construction of automobiles.”94 
 By February of the next year, Wood Motor Parts Corp. was already in financial trouble.  The company’s Board of  Directors met for a special meeting on the 10th and “The Chairman stated that the purpose of the meeting was to consider the necessary steps to be taken for the refinancing of the Company, made necessary by reason of the critical condition in which the corporation finds itself at the present time.”  Disque reported  that all of the money received from the sale of the notes to SIC was exhausted but still owed about $140,000 on the plant and equipment.  Also, about $30,000 was needed for the payroll due on the 15th and current debts, mainly for merchandise in the company’s store.  It is not totally clear from the minutes of the meeting the exact status concerning the contract with Willys-Overland.  A letter had been received from the car manufacturer on the 4th “consenting that the time of commencing deliveries under their contract be extended to approximately March 1st, 1930, . . .”  Whether this referred to a failure of WMPC to deliver or Willys-Overland to accept parts, is not clear.95 
Wilkinson reported that he had gotten some creditors to give the company more time to pay, but the payroll had to be met and payment would have to be made on other obligations.  The Board voted to seek another $75,000 from Small Issues Corporation.  No record has been located of whether the request was successful.96 
At a Board meeting in March, Disque was continued in the position of Chairman of the Board, while Wilkinson became President.97 
In June members of WMPC’s Board of Directors were notified by Wilkinson of a special meeting to be held on the 12th. “It is important that all directors be present to consider the present condition of the company, which has been compelled to suspend operations and now has several suits pending instituted by creditors.”  According to the letter the cause of the suspension was the failure of the new dry kilns and an important matter at the meeting was to be how handle a claim against the suppliers of the kilns, the Johns Mannsville and National Dry Kiln Companies.98 
 In May of 1931 in the effort to raise operating money for the company, Disque wrote a letter to Charles L. Bradley, an official of the C&O, seeking a loan of $150,000.  He claimed that “If it had working capital today, it could be running to capacity, filling firm contracts on profitable and fixed prices.”  Disque assured Bradley the loan would put Wood Motor Parts “in splendid condition” and enable it to provide the railroad with “about two thousand (2,000) cars of freight annually . . .”  However, Bradley’s reply was not encouraging.  He wrote “I am not optimistic of the outcome . . .”  It is probably safe to assume the loan was not forthcoming.99   
Only a few days later, in a letter to Disque, Wilkinson reported that a receiver was to be appointed, ending his efforts to obtain more money from Small Issues.  Disque’s replied that “It is a sad ending of what should have been a very successful operation.”  He wrote that “Small Issues Corporation is without cash and could not possibly do a thing to save the situation.100 
Also in May, there was a news report that the company was in receivership, with $900,000 in debts.101 

need to look in Greenbrier County Circuit Court records to see if a receiver was appointed at this time

Wilkinson must have remained in the area, for in April of 1932 he wrote a letter to Disque that, although concerning personal financial problems, probably well summarizes this ill-fated business:
I am in devil a fix, and can hope to stay with this business any longer.  So it up to me to get some help for eats for I was sued small bill here in town 38.00 last week.  Have promise of a job in N. J. and must go up to land it if possible.  I know you hard up, but I need $100.00 by Wednesday.  This is not for company expenses for E.H.W.  So if you can help me this time I will repay it personally.  I am flat broke.  So, if possible sent it to me quick.  It is sure hard letter to write but never less a fact, but you know I have stayed with this thing to the very last with very little aid.  You know what I been through and you be the judge of my honor in the matter.
So if you have any way send me letter quick to ease me a little, until can get into new place.
With kindest regards,
Unfortunately, Wilkinson got little sympathy from Disque, as shown by his reply;
There is nothing I would rather do than to meet the wishes expressed in your letter of April 2nd, but it is impossible.
With both my sons out of work, my brother almost disposed of his furniture and apartment, my mother extremely ill, and about 25 other fairly intimate contacts that more or less expect things from me, I am at the end of my string and can do nothing more.
This is a sad situation but I have done everything in my power to keep things straight up, and am helpless to change the trend.
With best wishes,102 
The company was no doubt a victim of several factors.  Going into business just as the country was about to go into the Depression was probably one, but a change in the material going into the production of automobiles was undoubtedly the main one.
Various creditors filed suit against the company and in an August 13, 1935, decree the Greenbrier County Circuit Court ordered the property to be sold.  The sale was on October 29 and the purchaser was the holder of the first lien on the property, the Huntley Lumber Company, for $15,000.103  
According to the deed, at this time there was ten miles of railroad in place on Anthonys Creek and four miles on Meadow Creek.  A third locomotive, a Heisler, but only fourteen log cars, and two Lidgerwood skidders, described as “loose,” were part of the sale.104 
Huntley Lumber Company sold its property, 14,291.5 acres, to the US Forest Service in December 1935, with 4,197 acres in Pocahontas County and 10,094 in Greenbrier County, for $83,703.  Earlier in the same year, the company received $8,618.60 from the federal government with the sale of the remaining timber on the Allegheny Improvement Company land in the Laurel  Creek ? watershed.105   
With the purchase of the Huntley property, came the entire town of Neola.  Included were twenty-eight residences, a factory building, dry kiln, boiler house, power house, sawmill building, machine shop, office and garage, eighteen-room hotel, store, electric light system, and water system.  With the exception of the factory building, the Forest Service disposed of the structures within a few years.  During the existence of Civilian Conservation Corps Camp Anthony on this site, the factory building served a a garage for housing equipment and as a repair depot.  On December 24, 1954, fire from an overheated stove destroyed this building, ending the existence of the only town ever purchased by the Forest Service on the Monongahela National Forest.106 
Under its various owners, the mill at Neola had one of the longest existences of the sawmills in the Upper Greenbrier Valley, but for many of those years the mill was probably inactive rather than being operated.
Summary of owners at Neola:
	J. R. Droney				         - 1908
	Neola Lumber Company		1908 - 1913
	Blue Ridge Lumber Company 	1913 - 1913
	Dana-Guthrie Lumber Company	1913 - 1915
	Huntley Lumber Company		1915 - 1924
	Neola Lumber Company (second)	1924 - 1926
	Woods Motor Parts Company		1926 -

Locomotives

At least three engines were involved with the mill at Neola, one of each geared locomotive type.
The first was a Climax, which was acquired new:

	Climax		CN 826	1907		40 tons		2 trucks

A November 1907 agreement was made between J. R. Droney Lumber Company and Climax Manufacturing Company for this engine.  The cost was $6,590.107 
The trustee sale for Neola Lumber Company in 1912 listed one locomotive, a log loader, and about twenty log cars.108 
The second was a Shay, acquired by the Huntley Lumber Company:

	Shay		CN 2254	1910		42 tons		2 trucks109 

As related before, the deed from the Huntley Lumber Company in 1924 listed two locomotives, a 50-ton Shay and a 45-ton Climax, as well as thirty cars and a Barnhart log loader.  According to one source the Shay was acquired by Huntley in 1918.110  
A two truck Heisler was the third:

	 Heisler								2 trucks

It was not mentioned in the 1924 sale but a Heisler was included in the 1935 sale of the property.111 
Some questions occur from the list of known locomotives.  The first is, considering the length of railroads operated by the various companies -- , it would seem that two-truck engines would not have provided sufficient power.  The climb over the divide between Cochrans Creek and Anthonys Creek would have been the steepest grade for trains with loaded cars, but there was also the grade along Cochrans Creek prior to the climb between watersheds.  
Also, as related in Chapter ---, there was a three-truck Shay under the name of Huntley that was sold to West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company in 1915.  Assuming that date is correct, one has to wonder why Huntley would have sold this larger Shay just prior to taking over the Neola operation.
In the construction of the rail line up Meadow Creek and Laurel Run in 1925, an 18-ton Porter steam locomotive was reported to have been used, owned by G. Lynn Clark.  This is probably the engine that had been purchased in 1907 by Moorhead Lumber Company at Shyrock.  It is very likely that Clark obtained the engine after Moorhead's bankruptcy - their mill was on land leased from him.  He did some logging on the North Fork 1914-1919 and had a logging railroad.112 
Also included in the 1935 sale were a Barnhart log loader, fourteen log cars, and two Lidgerwood skidders, as well as the locomotives.113  

Mill

G. W. Huntley, Jr., described the the mill in 1926 as an eight-foot Clark, with a Prescott gang edger, two stationary engines, and four boilers “set in a nest of dutch ovens.”  Capacity is given as 30,000 feet in another source.114 

SHRYOCK

In February 1903, John C. Moorhead and R. W. Moorhead, of Kittanning, Pennsylvania, partners trading as J. C. Moorhead & Son, acquired the timber on 5,110 acres of land on Middle Mountain, between the North Fork of Anthonys Creek and Anthonys Creek, for $55,000.  The next month the J. C. Moorhead Lumber Company was incorporated and the timber transferred to it.  The incorporators were the two Moorheads, Edwin Wilson, Harry R. Gault, L. N. Nevins, Karl B. Schotte, John Allen, and J. D. Daughtery, all of Kittanning.  Cost to the new corporation was $90,000, made up of a payment of $60,000 and $30,000 in stock.115 
In April 1903 the lumber company purchased the timber on 4,349 acres, paying $5,000.  However, this timber was not located near the first purchase, but on Kates Mountain, south of White Sulphur Springs.  A small tract of 104 acres on Tuckahoe Creek was purchased in June.116 
Timber on several smaller tracts was acquired in 1906 and 1907, but few details have been found.  Acreage is unknown on two tracts and the others contained 65, 136, 50 and 70 acres.  One of the tracts with the unknown acres was on One Mile Run, a tributary to the North Fork, and the 70 acre tract was located on Anthonys Creek.117
The company also had a 1,300 tract in Monroe County - need details  

To operate the timber on Middle Mountain, a tract of land near the junction of Anthonys Creek, Meadow Creek, and the North Fork was leased in September 1905 for a mill site.  (The lease refers to a log pond so the mill may have already been constructed.)  An April 1907 news item stated Moorhead had been operating a band mill for two years "and have about 5,000 acres yet to cut."  The mill was also referred to in a September 1907 news report  “Droney has his mill and town well underway at the mouth of Meadow Creek, a short distance from Morehead’s [sic] big band mill.”118   
The Moorhead Lumber Company was the first major customer of the newly constructed Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad, other than the railroad's owner, the St. Lawrence Boom and Manufacturing Company.  The name of the mill location came from Thomas J. Shryock, who was President of both IM&G Railroad and SLB&M Company at this time.
In addition to the band mill at Shryock, there are references to the company having smaller mills at various locations.  A May 1907 advertisement in the Southern Lumberman magazine listed mills at Tuckahoe, White Sulphur Springs, Dickson, and Horrock, as well as the band mill.  The ad continued “We seek the trade of wood-working factories who want a dependable supply and fair treatment.  Having our own timber and mills assure the trade of getting prompt shipments.  Let us have your inquiries.”119 
(Tuckahoe and Dickson were stations on the main line of the C&O, while Horrock was on the Greenbrier Branch.  The mill at Horrock is somewhat of a mystery as no record of timber purchases by Moorhead in this location have been found.)    check to see if the T and D mills fit the Kates Mt. tbr

An article in the same magazine in July 1907 on the company stated it had 10,000 acres of timber on the IM&G Railroad, with an estimated 40,000,000 feet of lumber.  According to the article, Moorhead was operating a single band mill “as a starter.”  It also reported to be manufacturing lath and shingles “which will be made a specialty of its output.”120 
However, as it turned out, the company only a very short life.  The company suffered a major loss when the Shryock mill was destroyed by fire on July 17, 1908, along with a quantity of lumber.  The loss was estimated to be $30,000, with no insurance.  The origin of the fire was unknown, but was thought to have started in the boiler room.121 
Although news reports indicated Moorhead had intentions of rebuilding, there is no evidence that this occurred.  Financial difficulties followed the fire and the company was declared to be bankrupt on March 30, 1909.  The major creditor was the Safe Deposit and Title Guaranty Company, of Kittanning, holder of $54,000 in bonds issued by the lumber company.  The bonds were declared due on October 30, 1909, and May of 1911, permission was given by ---- for the title company to foreclose.122  
A sale of the company’s property was held on November 22, 1911.  Involved in this sale were the timber holdings of the company and a minor amount of personal property, including a small locomotive, some rail, ten logging cars, and a few other items.  Other than a trimmer, there was no sawmill equipment included in the sale.  H. A. Colwell, of ---, was the purchaser, paying only $200.123 
The deed to Colwell identified him as a "Trustee."  For who or for what company he might have been a trustee for has not been determined or what he did with the timber rights he purchased.
Other than the Shryock mill, it is not known for certain how many other mills the company operated.  As noted above, the 1907 company advertisement listed four besides the band mill.  The Tuckahoe mill is also included in the State Gazetteer for 1908-09.  However, the article on the mill fire mentioned only two other mills, one on Middle Mountain and the other at Harts Run.  (Harts Run was a C&O main line station within a mile of Dickson and the reference could be to the same mill.)124 
A 1917 listing of sawmills included a circular mill at White Sulphur Springs owned by J. C. Moorhead.  Whether this indicates a least one member of the company remained in the area or the list had not been corrected is not known.125  
The 5,110 acre tract on Middle Mountain (6,026 acres in deed) was sold to the Forest Service in August 1935 for $21,092.   The 4,347 tract -------  126
Reference to one death during the company’s brief time of operation has been located.  This occurred on June 21, 1906, on what the newspaper account referred as the company's logging railroad.  A sudden stop of the train caused Oscar Kirkpatrick, age about 22, to fall from the train.  Both of his legs were crushed off and he died later the same day.  The location of the accident was not given in the news article.127   

Locomotive

Although the account of the accident related above stated that it involved a logging train, there is no evidence the company actually operated any logging railroads.  At the time the company’s property was sold in 1911, one locomotive was included:   if it did not have a rr, how did it get logs to the mill?

	Porter 		CN 3943	1907		22 tons128

The engine probably had a 0-4-0 wheel arrangement.  
This engine could have been acquired by G. Lynn Clark, used on his logging in One Mile and Two Mile Drafts in 1914-1919, and used by Neola Lumber Company (second) to build its line up Meadow Creek.  Clark was the owner of the land leased for the Shryock mill.129
If Mr. Kirkpatrick's death was on an actual railroad, then an earlier locomotive would have to have been owned by the company.  More likely the fatal accident occurred on an animal/human powered tramroad.  A January 1905 trust deed includes ---- but not a locomotive.130

Mill

The only reference found to the Moorhead's mill, the April 1907 news item, referred to the mill as a band mill.131

SUE or Little Creek

In December 1901 Levi E. Patterson, of Perryville, Maryland, operating under the name Little Creek Lumber Company, acquired timber on a 238 acre tract on the headwaters of Little Creek, for $400.  Timber on a 606 acre tract on Long Run, a tributary to Little Creek, was also purchased, but the date is not known.  In September 1903 a tract of 52 acres was purchased in fee, but it was not kept long and sold in December of the same year.132 
Patterson’s initial plans for shipping lumber must have been to use the C&O’s new railroad along the Greenbrier River, as it would have been closer than hauling it to the mainline at White Sulphur Springs.  The C&O installed a siding for the Little Creek Lumber Company across from the mouth of Spice Run, probably in 1902.  In April 1902 the Pocahontas County Court received a petition from the lumber company concerning the road on Spice Run.  The meeting minutes do not indicate what the petition concerned, but it is probably safe to assume it requested improvements to be made to the road; what, if any, response the Court made to the petition failed to be recorded.  (At this time the road up Little Creek split at the head of Spice Run with one branch going down the run and the other continuing to Huntersville.)133  
With the construction of the Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad up Anthonys Creek, a second means of shipping lumber became available to Patterson, one more convenient for his timber on Little Creek than hauling it to the C&O.  The IM&G began freight service in early 1903.
In the spring of 1904 a group of men from Pennsylvania become involved with the operation and in July the company was incorporated.  The incorporators were Patterson, Henry F. Wireman, of Philadelphia, Edwin A. Gaskill, of Glenside, Nathan B. Gaskill, and Robert P Nicholson, both of Jenkintown.  The principal place of business for the corporation was given as Sue.  Patterson was listed with the most stock, 134 shares, Wireman and Edwin Gaskill had 82 shares each while the other two incorporators had only one each.  By a July deed Patterson transferred the company’s timber and personal property, including “teams, wagons, engines, mills, office furniture and fixtures, etc.,” to the corporation.134 
Patterson may have had no choice but to include new people (and their money) in the business, due to debts.  In an August 1904 letter to Frank R. Hunter, Cashier of the Bank of Marlinton, Patterson made reference to his debt to that bank.  “I have been waiting to hear from the young men with the check which they were to send as soon as I got the deed fixed and turned over to them which I did the first of the month.  I sent it to Lewisburg to be recorded and sent Mr. Gaskill word, but as yet I have no reply.”  (The company had overdrawn its account, but the bank had honored $350 of its checks.)  In a deposition given the next year, Edwin Gaskill testified when the corporation was formed, it was agreed Patterson would assume full responsibility for all outstanding debts.135
However, the money owed the bank was not forthcoming and it filed a suit against Patterson in October in the Greenbrier County Circuit Court.  Brent, Bull and Company, a manufacturer of pants in Baltimore, had already filed suit against him, in August, claiming it was owed $122.43 for pants Patterson purchased for his commissary.   The Millheim Banking Company, of ---, the holder of a note signed by Patterson, and the Greenbrier Grocery Company, of ---, also filed lawsuits.136  
	need results of these cases
How active Patterson remained with the company is not known.  He sold all but five shares of his stock in August 1904 and four more in January 1905, no doubt in order to raise money due to his debts.  He did have a verbal agreement with the buyers that he could buy them back.  On company stationary in use for letters in 1904 and 1905, Patterson was given as President with Edwin Gaskill as General Manager.  Wireman was Secretary and Treasurer in 1904 but a B. W. Hamilton was in this position on the 1905 stationary.137 
Patterson’s debt problems had no direct impact on the new corporation and it continued its business of producing lumber.  In June 1904 there were agreements with land owners for timber on two tracts on Little Creek.  Additional timber was purchased by the Little Creek Lumber Company in October 1904 and May 1905, on three more tracts on Little Creek totaling 633 acres.  Cost for the timber on these five tracts was $3,380.138 
With its timber located in non-adjacent tracts, the company had a number of sawmill “sets.”  The exact number is not now known, but there there are references to mills being located on Little Creek and at the head of Spice Run.139  
Little Creek Lumber Company had the misfortune to have its mill burn on the night of November 23, 1904.  At this time the mill was located at a point six miles from Sue, which would put it in the Spice Run headwaters.140  
In May 1906 and March 1907 the company advertised for contractors to haul lumber on Spice Run a distance of four miles to the C&O Railway.  The 1907 ad stated the contractor would be hauling 100,000 feet of stacked white pine, 110,000 feet of stacked hemlock, 95,000 feet of hemlock on skidways, and 180,000 feet of pine and hemlock lath.141 
In both March and April of 1907, the company was reported to be “doing a rushing business.”  However, the latter report also stated “They expect to finish in about a month.”  The following month, May, it was reported “The Little Creek Lumber Co. is finishing up its business here [Sue]. They will be soon through sawing at Mays.”  (Moffett May was one of the landowners who sold the company timber.) 142
The company did not cut all the timber it acquired, selling the timber on a 363 acre tract in April 1907, for $2,500.  (Clarence L. Cole signed this deed as President of the company and E. Gaskill as Secretary.)143 
- - - - - - - - - - 

The sale of timber on the 363 acres was to W. M. Pitts and G. J. Bradish, of Charlottesville, Virginia.  Prior to buying the Little Creek Lumber Company timber, the two had already acquired timber on a 145 acre tract on Little Creek earlier in April and on 778 acres on Anthonys Creek, located along the road from Alvon to Columbia Sulphur Springs, in January, for a total of $8,249.  Pitts purchased timber on 320 acres located ---- in December 1906 at the cost of $2,300.144
Other than the deed records only one additional bit of information about Pitts and Bradish has been found.  It was a May 1907 news report, "The Pitts Lumber Company has bought most of the timber in and around Sue and will commence operations soon."145

Mills

Almost

SHERWOOD COMPANY LAND

As noted in Chapter V, the Sherwood Company continued in existence following the demise of the St. Lawrence Boom and Manufacturing Company and owned the remaining assets of the two companies.  In acreage, the largest was the 73,634 acres of mineral rights, but ------- acres of surface ownership also remained.  Unlike the mineral rights, which - still --- owned until ---- - the surface land  was sold within a few years, mostly with two large sales in 1917 and 1918.
In both cases there certainly were hopes of making a good return from the development of the timber on these tracts.  However, this was not to become reality and over the next nineteen years these two tracts of land went through a number of owners, with some attempts at logging, and a few lawsuits thrown in, before becoming part of the Monongahela National Forest.
The 1917 sale occurred in July and was to the Pocahontas Coal, Land and Timber Company.  The sale involved a tract of 16,397 acres and one-half interest in a 881 acre tract.  The sale price was $42,094.25.  The larger tract was in both Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties, with about 11,000 in the latter.  The Greenbrier County section of the property was located on the east side of Beaver Lick Mountain, along the North Fork of Anthonys Creek, north of Neola.  In Pocahontas County the tract was on Beaver Lick, Brushy, and Middle Mountains, taking in the headwaters of the North Fork, Douthards Creek, and Cummins Creek, with a small portion on Beaver Creek.  The tract with 881 acres was located ---- Another one-sixth interest in it was obtained in August.  (In the following paragraphs, “the 16,400 acre tract” also includes the 881-acre two-thirds interest.)146  
In February 1919 the 16,400 acre tract was sold to the Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company.  This company had been incorporated the same month by a group of Pocahontas County men, H. M. Lockridge, N. J. Lockridge, W. C. Herold, E. G. Herold, and C. S. Kramer.  With this transfer, the value of the tract had grown to $80,000.147

The second major sale by Sherwood consisted of 18,120 acres in three adjoining tracts and was to Sidney M. Croft, of Huntington, in May 1918.  The cost was $73,571.20.   The land was entirely in Greenbrier County and located on both sides of Meadow Creek Mountain and west side of Allegheny Mountain, extending from --- to ----.  By deed with the same date, Croft transferred the land and the debt to the Oak Lumber Company, of ---  148
In April 1919 the Oak Lumber Company entered into a contract with the J. C. Myers Lumber Company, of White Sulphur Springs, for the sale of the 18,120 acres it had acquired.  The agreement suggested some cutting was underway, as it referred to lumber and logs already cut as well as tramways, buildings, sawmills, and equipment.  Myers agreed to assume seven notes of $7,321.40 each owed to Sherwood and seven notes of $2,518.60 owed to Croft.  A reference was made to a mill purchased from James G. Babb.  Myers was to deliver to him enough pine lumber to complete the purchase of the mill.149 
 Myers was also to pay $8.50 per thousand feet for the logs already cut, $3 per thousand feet for lumber, $2.50 per cord for tan bark, $1 per cord for pulp or extract, $1 per telegraph or telephone pole over 35 feet long, and $0.50 per pole under 35 feet.  A minimum of $15,000 was to be paid by Myers to Oak each year.  The actual transfer of the land would occur when $58,000 has been paid, according to the contract.150 
J. R. King signed the deeds as President of the Oak Lumber Company and and C. A. Eakin signed as Treasurer; Jeremiah C. Myers signed as President of the J. C. Myers Lumber Company and J. A. Viquesney as Secretary.  J. G. Babb was Secretary/Treasurer of the Anthony's Creek Lumber Company.  At this time, Viquesney was the Forest, Game and Fish Warden for West Virginia.  check
An agreement was made in June 1919 between JCM Lumber Company and S. M. Croft giving him one-half interest in any profits derived from the contract between Myers and Oak,  either from the sale or the operation of the property.  In exchange Croft agreed to retain his $5,000 in stock in Oak, hold one check, pay another, and ends with the clause “It is further understood that in the event of the purchase of the White Sulphur & Huntersville Railroad that both parties are to share equally in the deal.”151
Croft is referred to as a "trustee" in the agreement but it does not say who Croft is trustee for.  In a statement filed with the Greenbrier County Circuit Court in October 1920, he stated he “was acting solely for the said Bath Hardwood Lumber Company.”  Croft stated he was a director and general manager of Bath Hardwood, a Delaware corporation.152
(Bath Hardwood Company had a 1917 agreement with Huntley Lumber Company but it was for leasing the Huntley store building and hotel at Neola and nothing directly to do with lumber production.  Both leases were for $50 per month.  Croft signed this agreement as General Manager for BHC.)153

Meadow Mountain Lumber Company

In July 1919 the timbering operations on both tracts were placed in the hands of the newly incorporated Meadow Mountain Lumber Company, of White Sulphur Springs.  The Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company sold its land to Meadow Mountain and J. C. Myers Lumber Company assigned its recent contract with Oak Lumber to Meadow Mountain.154  
For the land from G-P Land Company, Meadow Mountain agreed to take over payment of $35,000 in notes due to Pocahontas CL&T Company and to pay Viquesney $77,782 as the timber was cut.  Meadow Mountain also took over a 1919 contract with the Deford Tanning Company, of Luray, Virginia, for tan bark and a debt to Deford for an advance of $10,000.155
In the deed from Pocahontas Coal, Land & Timber Company to Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company, there was the information that G. Lynn Clark “has without contract, right or permission” from PCL&T had been cutting and removing timber from the land being transferred.  PCL&T assigned to the new owner the right to recover the value of any timber Clark may have cut.
In August 1919 Greenbrier-Pocahontas filed a lawsuit against Clark, alleging he had been illegally cutting timber on land in One Mile Draft and Two Mile Draft (tributaries of the North Fork), beginning in 1914 and continuing up to July 1919.  The bill of complaint claimed Clark had “with men, horses, wagons, tools, implements and appliances including saw Mills, and Railway tracks, and did then and there wrongfully and willfully steal, cut down, haul out, peel trees, saw up manufacture and remove from the land” 500 cords of tan bark, two million feet of oak, one million feet of white pine and hemlock, worth a total of $24,000, and other timber with a value of $10,000.  The suit also alleged in doing the logging Clark did great injury to the surface of the land and destroyed small timber growth, damaging the plaintiff in the amount of $10,000.156   
G-P stated all this timbering was done without the knowledge of the Sherwood Company or Pocahontas Coal Land and Timber Company and when they made the sale of the land they assumed their timber was all standing.  (It seems like that in six years someone would have already moved to stop this alleged illegal timbering.  Clark owned the land at the mouth of One Mile Draft and so he may have initially been logging on his own property, before knowingly or unknowingly moving onto the Sherwood tract.)157   
An agreement in May of 1920 brought the suit to an end.  Clark, Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company, and Meadow Mountain Lumber Company signed a contract which called for:
• the lawsuit to be dismissed
• Clark given the right to remove and manufacture logs already cut on Meadow Mountain’s land in One Mile Draft
• Clark to release all other rights to timber on the company’s land
Clark grants Meadow Mountain the right to use a right-of-way in One Mile Draft and the company grants Clark a right-of-way on North Fork.158  
    check for more details
The Southern Lumberman's 1924 mill list included G. Lynn Clark under the Neola section with a circular sawmill, 7,000 feet daily capacity.  As noted before Clark may have used the 0-4-0 Porter locomotive originally owned by Moorhead Lumber Company on the railway tracks mentioned in the lawsuit.159
Rather than bringing logs to one large mill, Meadow Mountain went the way of using a number of circular mills, located around its timberland.  Jack Huffman wrote that he took a job as Assistant Superintendent for "Captain Powell at Neola" and "we had 7 circular saw mills running under contract to deliver the lumber to the railroad, owned by the company."  A contract for lumber in 1920 also referred to seven sawmills.160   what is the contract?    check the Huffman quote

A fully accurate list of the mills is probably not possible now; neither source in the preceding paragraph gave any locations.  From a variety of other sources, the following is at least a partial list and locations:
• agreement in October 1919 with C. H. Swearengin for the sale of a mill to him to be used at Wade’s Siding; whether this is referring to Wades Draft near Alvon or Wades on the North Fork in Pocahontas County is not clear.  (However, the agreement was filed at the Greenbrier County Court House, not in Pocahontas.)161    
• agreement in June 1920 for the sale of a sawmill to Meadow Mountain from R. W. Webb, one and a half miles from Neola, located on company land, “near Meadow Creek”162  
• agreements in April and September 1920 with Homer L. Wells for him to furnish a sawmill; location not given but as part of lawsuit later that year, the Wells mill at Two Mile Draft was attached by court order163   
• Wade place on the North Fork164     
• Walker mill below Columbia Sulphur Spring165    
• Fisher mill between Neola and Columbia Sulphur Spring166 
In April 1920 Meadow Mountain and the Huntley Lumber Company signed a contract concerning rights to build and use railroads:
• Meadow Mountain gave Huntley the right to build railroad up Meadow Creek and Laurel Run; also a right-of-way on Meadow Mountain
• Huntley gave Meadow Mountain the right to build a railroad on the “old route” to the present Huntley railroad and then use it to the main line
• Meadow Mountain permitted to use the Huntley railroad from the main line to one mile above Columbia Sulphur Spring.167 
In addition to the large tracts of land and timber, Meadow Mountain acquired several small tracts; 110 and 62 acre in Rogers Draft in August 1919, 100 acres on the North Fork of Anthonys Creek (Wade land) in September, and 100 acres in Whites Draft in May 1920.  The property in Rogers Draft was sold in June 1920.168     
In February 1920 the Ritter-Burns Lumber Company agreed to purchase 500,000 feet of oak lumber at a cost of $70 per thousand feet.  The lumber was to be delivered within six months.169    
By the fall of 1920 Meadow Mountain was having financial problems.  These were serious enough that in October the company transferred its assets to a trustee, Henry Gilmer, “to aid in the liquidation of the affairs of the” company.  Transferred were all the company’s lumber, logs, mills, equipment, and logging outfits:
• lumber located at various sites, including at the dock at the end of the White Sulphur and Huntersville Railroad, and near Wade’s, both in Pocahontas County; at the mill at Two Mile, at the siding on Clark land near Neola; and on company land on Anthonys Creek in Greenbrier County.  Excluded from the lumber transferred to the trustee was some sold under the agreement with the Ritter-Burns Lumber Company and some chestnut lumber that had been sold to the Wood-Mosaic Company, of New Albany, Indiana. 
• logs in the woods, logs piled along the WS&H Railroad, and piled along the Huntley Lumber Company’s railroad between Neola and Columbia Sulphur Springs
• lath piled 

• lath piled near the trestle across Dry Creek at the “planing mill”
• the mills located along the WS&H Railroad, on the Huntley logging railroad between Neola and Columbia Sulphur Spring, and the Webb Mill on Meadow Creek.170 
Under the conditions of the trust deed, Gilmer was to sell the all the property that came under his control, although, if he deemed it in the interest of all parties, he could manufacture additional lumber from the logs for up to thirty days.  He was not to cut any additional timber, except for a “few sticks” that might be necessary to complete an order for lumber on hand.  The property that Gilmer could not sell privately by November 15, was to be sold at public auction according to the trust deed.  Also, he was not to conduct the business at a loss.171 
In a second trust deed the company’s assets in Pocahontas County were transferred to Gilmer:
• 100 acres on the North Fork, on which the company had a store, sawmill, and camp
• all of the company’s interest in the stock of goods in the store, which was operated under the name Meadow Mountain Mercantile Company.172 
It did not take Gilmer long to discharge his responsibility under the trust deed as in early November he and J. C. Myers reached an agreement for the sale of company property to Myers, as trustee for ----, for $55,000.  Included in the sale were
• lumber at numerous places - along WS&H and Huntley railroad between Neola and Columbia Sulphur Springs; Huntley yard at Neola; mouth of Two Mile Draft; "big mill" at the Wade place on North Fork of Anthonys Creek; Gib Wade mill near the Dock; Walker mill and Fisher mill on the Huntley railroad between Neola and CSS;   estimated to 1,300,000 feet
• logs at several places - in the woods along WS&H Railroad on the North Fork and Huntley Railroad, on Meadow Creek watershed,  at the various mills   estimated 2,000,000 feet
• six two-horse teams and all associated equipment for log skidding
• all tools for cutting timber
• use of existing tram roads and tram trucks used to bring logs to the mills and in the mill yards   no mention of any motive power for the tram roads
• lease of sawmills  -  "large mill" at the Wade  place, Gib Wade mill near the Dock, Webb mill on Meadow Creek, Fisher mill on Huntley railroad
• use of two tables at the office of the MMLbr. Co. at WSS (but not the typewriter or Burroughs adding machine     173 

Later the same month there were two contracts for the sale of lumber and ties:
• agreement for the sale of 6,500,000 feet over the next year from Meadow Mountain to Myers, who was trading under the name Neola Tie Company, for $7.50 per thousand feet.  Assisting with the financing of this purchase was the Harmount Tie and Lumber Company, of Chillicothe, Ohio.  (Was Myers selling to himself in this agreement?)174
• contract between Neola Tie and Harmount Tie.  Neola to manufacture all white and chestnut oak along the WS&H into 6x8x8 ties, 200,000 minimum, before the end of November 1921. Ties to the produced at the rate of 10,000 per month in January and February, and 15,000 a month thereafter, with delivery to be completed by January 1, 1922.  Harmount to pay $1.12 for each first class tie, and $0.97 for each second class tie.175
Unfortunately, as with so many of the valley's timbering operations, Meadow Mountain/Myers fizzled out in the court room.  Lawsuits were soon being filed:
• G. E. White filed a case against Meadow Mountain in December 1920, claiming to be owed $--- for 100 acres he sold to the company in May 1920.  The court issued an order of attachment on December 10 on the H. L. Wells sawmill located at the mouth to Two Mile Draft.  In May 1921 Wells received a judgment for $2,254.60.  Included in the order was requirement that anyone using the Wells mill is to pay White $0.50 per thousand feet for all lumber, ties, or “other stuff” sawn on the mill.176
• S. M. Croft, et al vs. Neola Tie Company  - - - - -177
• Croft vs. Myers - - - - - - 178
• The Bank of Marlinton filed a lawsuit against Myers --- in --- seeking ----.  In an order on October 21, 1921, the court awarded a judgment of $---- in the Bank's favor and ordered the sale of a 672 acre tract.  The property was sold on April 1, 1922, for $2,000 to the Kanawha Valley Lumber Company.179 
• Henry Gilmer,  in his role the Meadow Mountain Trustee sued J. C. Myers and S. A. Moore  over ----   A judgment for plaintiff in the amount of was ordered $4,063.63 in August --- 180

The Neola Tie Company was declared to be bankrupt in -----.  referred to the bill of complaint for Bank of Princeton vs. Pocahontas CL&T Co. 
On May 20, 1922, a Sheriff's Sale for Taxes was scheduled to be held at the “Old Wade Place” on the North Fork.  To be sold are one sawmill, engine, and equipment, recently operated by the Meadow Mountain Lumber Company.  It is not known if the sale was held.181     check for case reference

One possible reason for the unsuccessful end of this logging venture was given by Gilmer.  “Within 60 days after the sale the price of lumber slumped 25 to 50% and within 6 months after defendant sold the business virtually stopped” - from Henry Gilmer answer to lawsuit filed by  J. O. Tomlinson    182

Only one reference to an injury occurring during the few years Meadow Mountain operated has been found.  In October 1920 there was an news article on serious, maybe fatal, accident to Robert Lyall on North Fork of Anthonys Creek.  He was a brakeman on a Meadow Mountain train and was hit in the head with iron brake beam.  Lyall was taken to Hinton hospital -------  The exact date of the accident is not clear from the article, either September 29 or October 6.183

Kanawha Valley Lbr. Co.  tract - mostly north of Wades Draft - sold to USFS, 125-309, 9/10/1935 - 749.7 ac in deed to FS, $1,881

Locomotives

Although there a few references that suggest Meadow Mountain Lumber Company operated (or perhaps planned to operate) railroads in its logging activities, including the accident mentioned above, there is no definite confirmation of this and no information at all on any railroad equipment the company might have owned.  (The accident to Lyall might have involved a non-locomotive powered tramroad, perhaps.)

- - - - - - - - - -

Following Meadow Mountain Lumber Company’s demise, the 16,400 acre tract bounced around through the court system and several owners before becoming part of the Monongahela National Forest. Over fourteen years passed before 
- - - lawsuits were involved:
• Bank of Princeton vs. Pocahontas County Coal, Land and Timber Company, Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company, Meadow Mountain Lumber Company, and several individuals
• Empire National Bank of Clarksburg against the Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company and others
• International Bank, of Washington, D. C., against the Pocahontas Timber Security Company
• National Exchange Bank of Weston against Mountain State Investment Company

New companies appearing during this process were:
• Harmount Tie and Lumber Company
• Viquesney Timber and Ore Company
• Pocahontas Timber Security Company
• Mountain Timber Corporation
• Realty Investment and Security Company

This tract finally reached stable ownership in late December 1934 with the sale by Realty Investment and Security Company to the Forest Service.  The amount of land acquired by the government was surveyed at 17,005 acres, with 11,266 acres in Pocahontas County and 5,739 acres in Greenbrier County.  The final selling price, $46,764.02, was almost the same as the price in the deed from the Sherwood Company in 1917.184
During this period the only logging done was by the Mountain Timber Corporation which acquired the property in April 1928.  The history of Mountain Timber’s brief effort to log the Douthards Creek section of this timberland is related in Chapter XII (under Knapps Creek).  Mountain Timber’s operation did not lead to financial success and the court system was again involved in the history of the 16,400 tract of land in 1930.185 
- - - - - - - -

The future of the 18,000 acre tract following Meadow Mountain Lumber Company’s problems was not as complicated.  In August 1921 Meadow Mountain surrendered back to Oak Lumber Company all its rights in the land due to being in default of the agreements between the two companies.186 
As previously related, Oak sold the timber on the 18,000 acres to Wood Motor Parts Corporation in December 1927.   Existing evidence does not indicate if any lumbering was done on the land between 1921 and 1927.187 
As also related, WMPC was in financial trouble by the early 1930s, so any logging activity on the tract would probably have come to an end at the same time.  In December 1936 the land went to the Forest Service in two tracts for $37,487.10 following a condemnation proceeding.  One contained 12,306.8 acres on Meadow Creek and Wades Draft.  The other had 5,678.7 acres and was on Whitman Draft and White Draft.188

IRON ORE

 The rock formations exposed along the geological structure known as the Browns Mountain Anticline in both Greenbrier and Pocahontas Counties contain this mineral and its development was the hopes of a number of people as late as the 1960s.  Unfortunately, for those who invested their money, the ore has not been found to be rich enough to be worth mining. 
However, this unfortunate fact about the iron ore was not known as the resources of the Greenbrier  Valley were first being developed - or reports about its true nature were ignored.
The first reference found concerning this ore was the incorporation of the Glenmore Iron Company in March 1889 by a group of Greenbrier County men; Adam C. Snyder and J. W. Mathews, from Lewisburg, George Grant, R. M. McLeod, and Russell W. Montaque, from White Sulphur Springs.  Only one other reference has been found on this company, a September 1889 news item on the company prospecting on - Bob's? - Ridge and Beaver Lick Mountain.  Since this was before a railroad was constructed up Anthonys Creek and the principal place of business for the company was given as Richmond, Virginia, the incorporators may have had their main interest on ore elsewhere.189    
In May 1890 the Beaver Lick Iron Company was incorporated by some of the same men involved with the Glenmore company.  The principal office for this company was to be White Sulphur Springs.  In addition to mining and selling iron and other minerals from Beaver Lick Mountain and other lands, the new company had authority to ---  The incorporators of this company were Snyder, Grant, and Montague, joined by Homer Holt and A. F. Mathews, both of Lewisburg.190
The lack of a railroad anywhere near Beaver Lick Mountain was the same problem that existed the year before and no further reference has been found to this second iron company formed by Greenbrier County men.
As the original name, Iron Mountain and Greenbrier, of the railroad up Anthonys Creek indicated, its incorporators from the St. Lawrence Boom & Manufacturing must have also looking at the development of the iron ore resource in the valley as one of their goals, in addition to moving logs to Ronceverte.  In addition to the name of the railroad, news articles at the time of the railroad’s construction made it clear that the iron ore was in the minds of its organizers. 
In two articles in November 1902, The Pocahontas Times reported that the northern end of the railroad had been changed to Huntersville and the map and profile for IM&G up North Fork and down Douthards Creek to Huntersville had been filed at the Pocahontas County Court House.  The paper commented  “The real object of this road is supposed to be the development of the vast iron field in the central part of Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties.”191
	An article in the Hinton Daily News in October 1903 gave an optimistic view of the future for the new railroad, noted that its route included “valuable deposits of coal,” “countless numbers of the world’s greatest healing fountains,” “more than 2,000,000,000 feet of merchantable timber,” marble deposits, and:  
	Over $25,000 has been expended by the company in developing its iron ore property which geologists find to be the largest and most valuable iron ore field in the south.  At a certain place where a cross tunnel has been constructed the iron ore deposits proved to be 150 feet thick.  With iron ore, limestone and coal all in such a position pig iron can be produced in this field and marketed with a greater profit than that made anywhere else in the United States.192 
(The author can't help but wonder as to the location of the coal deposits and "greatest healing fountains" that were supposed to be along the route of the IM&G RR.)
Once there was a railroad on Anthonys Creek, interest in the iron ore became more serious.  In July 1905 the Times reported that the firm of Williams and Duncan had received a contract to survey an extension of the Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad up the North Fork of Anthonys Creek to the divide between that stream and ----- Creek.  This is about fourteen miles from Marlinton and the article stated "It seems more than probable that the Greenbrier and Iron Mountain Railway will be extended to Marlinton at a date not far distant."  The article went on to say:    the article incorrectly states Beaver Ck
Owing to the efforts of Col. D. O’Connell a move is now on foot for the development of the immense beds of iron ore which lie on the border of Pocahontas County and Greenbrier, and are nearer to Marlinton than to White Sulphur.  A connection with the Greenbrier Division will put them in easy reach of both coal and limestone, and save about sixty miles on the haul to Pittsburg, the greatest iron market in the world.  While the coal fields of Pocahontas and Greenbrier are as yet undeveloped, there is no question that coal in great quantities underlies a large territory in each of these counties.193  
In February 1906 there was a news report that men, under the supervision of Daniel O’Connell, were “at work the past few months uncovering an iron ore ledge on Beaver Lick Mountain.  They have tunneled in the ledge for eighty feet and are not through it yet.  The ore, it is said, is of an exceptional quality, of easy access by the Greenbrier and Iron Mountain Railway and easy to work.  There is no limit to the supply.”194

The prospecting for mineable deposits of the ore continued on both sides of the county line --- into   with the usual high hopes for development of this resource.

In April 1907 it was reported that the railroad was “but a mile or so from the” divide between North Fork and Douthards Creek.195 
The next reference to iron ore development in the Times appeared in August 1907 when it was reported “that an iron ore mine will be opened on Anthonys Creek and possibly a furnace built.  For some months representatives of the iron company at Goshen [Virginia] have been prospecting, digging, and tunneling, – ‘cross sectioning.’  They have given out information that there is enough ore in sight to justify developing it, and have brought on a steam drill to further test the amount of the deposit.  A ledge fourteen feet thick has been uncovered . . .”196 
In early 1908 there was another news article on iron ore operations on Anthonys Creek.  J. W. Bell, Superintendent of the Goshen Furnace and the mining operation on the creek, reported mining had begun.  He was quoted as saying “prospects for mining ore on Anthony’s creek on an extensive scale are exceedingly bright.”  He stated that the ore is “of an excellent quality, running from 50 to 60 percent pure iron and there is almost an inexhaustible quantity.  Experts estimate the amount in sight at 280,000,000 tons.”  One vein was opened, sixty feet wide and over 500 feet deep and a quantity of ore is ready for shipment, Bell stated.197 
The Staunton (Virginia) Spectator had an article titled “Iron Prospects” in February or March 1908.  The article began by reporting that the Goshen Iron Company had acquired the Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad, “has taken possession of its property and is now operating it.  The company expects to mine and ship to its furnaces at Goshen, 200,000 tons of ore this year.”  
The article noted that from the end of the IM&G Railroad it was about fourteen miles to Marlinton and a connection with the C&O, hence with that line from to Durbin and a connection with the Coal and Iron Railroad, “giving direct Pittsburg connections for the transportation of Pig iron or ore.”  At Marlinton the Campbell Lumber Company railroad “extends into the coal fields of western Pocahontas county, from which coal could be hauled to a furnace established at the mines of this company . . . ”  The article also mentioned the Warn Lumber Company railroad which went to the coal field at the head of Cranberry River.  It was further noted that instead of using the C&O to get to Durbin, the IM&G could be extended there by way of Douthards Creek to Knapps Creek, on to Dunmore, to Deer Creek, up that stream to its head on then to Durbin.  This route would go along the belt of iron ore from the company’s mines as far as Green Bank.  
As in the 1905 article quoted above, O’Connell was given credit for promoting the iron ore:  
The Iron land was purchased some years ago by a Mr. Daniel O’Connell now residing at White Sulphur, probably the shrewdest and most far seeing person ever interested in the lumber interests of West Virginia.  It formerly belonged to C. P. Huntington, O. E. Storrs of New York, R. H. Catlett and J. Fred Effinger of Staunton, Va., and H. A. Holt and A. F. Mathews of Lewisburg, W. Va., who placed a value on it as iron land, but seemed never to have been able to locate the vein.  After some years of disappointment in proving its value, they sold to Mr. O’Connell, who had been cutting timber on adjoining tracts and who had faith in the existence of ore in paying quantities.  He impressed its value on certain Baltimoreans, viz: Mr. C. C. Homer of the Second National Bank, Messrs. T. J. Shryock and Geo. F. M. Hauck of the same city, and a company was formed known as the Sherwood Co. of Baltimore city, afterwards incorporated in West Virginia under the name of the Sherwood Co. of W. Va.”
Since the purchase by the new company, they have sent about 200 men to the mines who are now at work building shanties and such houses as are necessary for the operation of the mines and are installing a cable from the mines to the railway track, and in a little while work will begin in earnest. The ore is brown hematite of excellent quality, yielding about 55 per cent or pure iron, and is easily mined.198 
The article referred to O’Connell as “Being an old Colorado miner.”
However, the good news on iron ore development came to an abrupt end in late March with the report: “We understand operations at the iron ore works have been suspended, as waiting improvements in general financial conditions.”199 
Another possible reason for the end of the work on the iron ore, or perhaps the main reason, was trouble between O’Connell and his associates in developing the ore.   
In January 1908, O’Connell filed a suit over his interest in the mineral lands, naming Sherwood Company, St. Lawrence Boom and Manufacturing Company, Second National Bank of Baltimore, T. J. Shryock, and A. E. Boothe as defendants.  The basis for the suit was a January 1905 agreement by which O’Connell sold his 125 shares in The Sherwood Company to Shryock.
 In his bill of complaint, O’Connell reviewed the purchase of the land owned by Sherwood that contained the iron ore, giving himself major credit for the discovery of the ore and doing the preliminary work needed for the acquisition of the land.

“”However more recently valuable deposits of iron ore have been found upon the said land, the discovery and the existence of which ore was principally made by this plaintiff.”

“That this plaintiff suggested the purchase of the lands aforesaid; that he knew their value for timber and believed that they were valuable for minerals, especially for iron.  That this plaintiff made all of the purchases, personally examined all the lands and did all the work necessary to their acquirement by his associates, the said Homer, Shryock and Hauck, and himself”

“. . . and in his endeavors to discover minerals, and especially iron ores, up the said lands, he spent much time, and thousands of dollars of his individual means; and he further avers and charges that it was through his said efforts, as well as in presenting the lands to persons interested in the manufacture of steel and iron, that the said property became known as an iron property of great value, and he further charges that it was, directly or indirectly, through his said efforts that the present proposed purchasers or lessees learned of the land, and of its value as a mineral property.”   noting that Homer, Shryock and Hauck are in business in a distant state and not in a position to do the work O’Connell had done - only he “has been over all the property and who really does know its value.”

“When plaintiff fell sick in the Spring of 1906 the demeanor of the said Homer, Shryock and Hauck changed toward him entirely, they, or at least Shryock and Hauck believed his malady to be fatal, and their treatment of him from that time on, and up to and including the present time has been such as to lead him to believe that they considered his rights in the property to amount to nothing.  This conduct so unexpected, so unjust and almost unnatural, has forced him to appeal to this Court for protection,  . . .

O’Connell claimed that although he had sold his 125 shares of stock in The Sherwood Company to Shryock, he had retained his one-fourth ownership of the minerals rights on the land owned by the company.  He alleged that Shryock had transferred the shares to Boothe (his son-in-law) but 

O’Connell asked the court to establish his right to one-fourth interest in the iron ore and minerals in the lands owed by Sherwood; issue an injunction against a sale or lease of his interest until the proposed sale is presented in court, so he may accept or reject the sale; appoint a trustee who would be fair to him and properly safe guard his rights

Chancery Order Book 19, p 421, -----, removed to Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of West Virginia
Chancery Order Book 20, p 321, settled and dismissed (in federal court?)

In the Supreme Court record for Paul Golden, et al vs. D. O’Connell, et al, appeal of the 12/11/1912 ruling from the Greenbrier County Circuit Court, there are references to Sherwood Mineral Company and A. J. Moxham - case goes back to 1906 - a previous ruling on 11/20/1908 had gone to the Supreme Court and on 5/9/1911 was set aside, reversed and annulled and the case sent back for further proceedings - an amended bill of complaint was filed in March 1912
In his answer to the amended complaint, O’C claimed he has 625 shares of stock in the Sherwood Minerals Company a “corporation of a very solvent nature with large holdings in Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties, W. Va., its principal holdings being the minerals rights in about 80,000 acres of land.” - the 625 shares are 1/4 of the stock - which he referred to in his original answer when the suit was first instituted - claimed neither the court nor his creditors considered this property - again he pointed out the existence of this stock and argued that his real estate should not be subject to sale “whilst this personal property remains unsubjected to the payment of his debts.  The lands which are the basis of said stock, were, about four years ago, leased to one A. J. Moxam [sic] for $20,000.00 per year for twenty years, and that one-fourth of this $20,000.00 is the property of this respondent and is now in the hands of said Moxam with its interest applicable to the debts of this suit.  Not one dollar of this sum has been withdrawn.”
O’Connell argued that either the rent money due him, now over $20,000, and rent to come should be far more than needed to pay his debts - or if the stock was sold, there would be money enough to pay his debts.  “The said renter A. J. Moxam, is reported to be and respondent believes is a man of great wealth.  He is a vice president of the DuPont Powder Company, a corporation existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, and reputed to be one of the richest and most powerful corporations in the United States.
“In addition to the above lease or rent of said mineral rights by said Moxam, he has entered into a conditional contract to purchase said Minerals or the stock of the said company, at the sum of $2,000,000.00.  Whether he will exercise that option the respondent does not know but this circumstance tends to show the great value attached to the said property by a man of such business accumen [sic].”  

Arthur J. Moxham (1854-1931), was a native of Great Britain, coming to the U. S. in 1869 - learned the iron business in Louisville, Ky, went to Birmingham. Al, in 1878, and organized the Birmingham Rolling-Mill Company, moved to Johnstown, Pa, about 1878, he and Tom L. Johnson, formed the Johnson Company, maker of iron girder rails, later the Lorain Steel Co., 1899 this company and Minnesota Iron Co. merged to form the Illinois Steel Company, went to Nova Scotia and built the Dominion Iron and Steel Co., in 1902 associated with T. C. duPont in forming the E. I. duPont de Nemours Powder Co,, in 1914 formed the AEtna Explosives Co., retired in 1917
from Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. VII, Dumas Malone, Ed., Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, 1934 

Moxham also appears in case O'C vs. IM&G RR Co., Arthur J. Moxham, and John W. Harris, Trustee, filed 3/2/1909
In its answer to the suit, the railroad agreed that O'C owned one share of stock in the company and that the remaining 507 shares had been sold by SLB&M to Moxham 
 An interesting statement in SLB&M's answer in this was that on/about December 31, 1907, all St. Lawrence stock (500 shares) and seven shares held by its directors in the Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad were sold to Arthur J. Moxham, a native of Great Britain living in Delaware.

Pocahontas County geology book, p 314  “During the latter half of the nineteenth century and the early part of the present century great interest was taken in the West Virginia iron ores but at the present time this interest lies practically dormant, due to the discovery and operation of vast quantities of a more accessible and purer grade ore in the Great Lakes region.”
the book has descriptions of three mine prospects in Pocahontas County

West Virginia Geological Survey, Bulletin Six, Summary of Recent Prospecting for Manganese and Iron Ores in Southeastern West Virginia, by Frank Reeves, 1942 - has map showing 14 prospects/mines on the Browns Mt. Anticline in Greenbrier and Pocahontas Cos.

MJ (?), 11/12/1942, Greenbrier Ore Company adjudged bankrupt last week - Seth Chapman, of New York, with claims of $52,000 - H. L. Snyder, referee in bankruptcy, June McElwee receives -------

MJ, 10/4/1951, article on strip mine for iron ore on Little Mountain - Allegheny Mineral Co.

Allegheny Manganese and Iron Corporation, PCDB 112, p 53, certificate and agreement of limited partnership, 3/22/1962, general partner, Allegheny Minerals, Inc.; limited partners, ------ Company, C. R. Jacobson, Rush Meadows, Donald H. Ford

Sunday Gazette-Mail, 10/23/1988 - article on manganese mining possibility Mercer thru Pocahontas Counties

67-126, 7/21/1930, Sherwood Minerals to J. W. Baxter, Trustee

108-68, 7/---/1961, plat showing Sherwood oil and gas leases, 112,000 acres

75-79, 81, Clinton Ore Co.

History of the 16,400 Acre Tract 19    - 19     In Detail

As the first step in what became a tangled process, the Bank of Princeton filed a suit in Greenbrier County Circuit Court in ----- against the Pocahontas County Coal, Land and Timber Company, Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company, Meadow Mountain Lumber Company, and several individuals over non-payment of three of the $2,500 notes that had been issued in February 1919 by the Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company in payment for this tract.200 
The court ordered a sale of the land by a decree issued on May 17 and it was held on ----, 1922.  At the sale Viquesney became the purchaser for $25,900.  Following approval of the sale by the court, the deed was prepared in September.201 
On the same date in September Viquesney used the property to secure Timmons Harmount, of Chillicothe, Ohio, who did business as Harmount Tie and Lumber Company, for the payment of $50,000 in five notes due in six months.202 
The next step occurred the next month when Viquesney transferred the property to the Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company.  In exchange, Greenbrier-Pocahontas agreed to to pay $27,500 owed to Mountain State Investment Company by Viquesney and the $50,000 owed to Harmount Tie Company.203 
Move on to January 1924 and the sale of the property to the Viquesney Timber and Ore Company.  According to the deed Viquesney was the owner of all but four shares of stock in Greenbrier-Pocahontas and was to get all 2,000 shares of stock in VT&O, which was pay off the $100,000 debt which was against the land.204 
Next in this legal soap opera was a lawsuit filed in Greenbrier County Circuit Court by the Empire National Bank of Clarksburg against the Greenbrier-Pocahontas Land Company and others in February 1924.  The bank stated in its bill of complaint that it had obtained a $4,543 judgment in the Barbour County Circuit Court against the land company on October 20, 1923.  As the judgment had not been paid, the bank asked for the sale of the 16,400 acre tract.  Over a year later, on May 27, 1925, an order was issued for the land to be sold and a public auction was held on November 14, 1925.  The sale was made to two residents of Washington, D. C., Fred McKee and Julius Peyser, who were trustees for the American Commercial Savings Bank, of ---, and H. W. VanSenden.  The amount paid at this step of the process was $23,275.  The commissioners handling the sale noted "that considering the character of the land, being wild and for the most part cut-over land and very inaccessible, your commissioners are of the opinion that the said price was a fair one."205
Entering the stage now was the Pocahontas Timber Security Company, of ----, which acquired the land from the two trustees in May 1927, for $30,000 in mortgages and $1,398 in other debt.  In April 1928 the land was sold again, this time to Mountain Timber Corporation, of Baltimore, which agreed to assume the $31,398 debts against the property and pay an additional $28,602.206
 The history of Mountain Timber’s brief effort to log the Douthards Creek section of this timberland is related in Chapter XII (under Knapps Creek).  Mountain Timber’s operation did not lead to financial success and the court system was again involved in the history of the 16,400 tract of land in 1930.  In May of that year, the International Bank, of Washington, D. C., filed a suit in Pocahontas County Circuit Court against the Pocahontas Timber Security Company over the nonpayment of the portion of the debt on the land owed to it.207
The case was referred to a commissioner of the court in June and his report in October stated there liens amounting to $83,697.65 against the property, consisting of $64,842.23 owed to mortgage holders, $5,549.90 in taxes, and $5,803.58 in labor liens, $5,926.29 in judgments, and $1,575.45 in open accounts from the operations of the Mountain Timber Corporation.  On October 22 the court ordered the land sold and this took place on March 2, 1931, with the Realty Investment and Security Company, of Washington, D. C., being the purchaser.  The bid was $15,600 for the 16,400 acres and $2,875 for the 881 acres.  The deed to Realty Investment (a subsidiary of International Bank) was not made until December 1934.208 
This tract finally reached stable ownership in late December 1934 with the sale by Realty Investment and Security Company to the Forest Service.  The amount of land acquired by the government was surveyed at 17,005 acres, with 11,266 acres in Pocahontas County and 5,739 acres in Greenbrier County.  The final selling price, $46,764.02, was almost the same as the price in the deed from the Sherwood Company in 1917.209   

While the ins and outs of the future of the 16,400 acre tract was unfolding, Viquesney made a purchase of four tracts of land on Cochrans Creek, containing 2,992 acres, in January 1920.  In May of 1922 he sold the property to the Mountain State Investment Company for $9,000.  Unfortunately, in a lawsuit filed in ------ in Pocahontas County Circuit Court by the National Exchange Bank of Weston against the investment company the sale of this property was declared fraudulent and set aside by a court order on October 19, 1925.  A sale of the property was ordered and took place on June 1, 1926.  It was sold for $---- to     --- land --  210      check deed book
included in the sale ad: 967.7 - on C. Creek, D. Creek, and Anthonys Creek ?
part of 345 - on C. Creek, and A. Creek
1632 on C. Creek, William A. Rawson land 
47 joining 1632 

either this case or some other ended up with Viquesney going to  prison - he was referred to "is now a convict" in Chancery Book 12, p 63, 4/14/1926, entry in above case    He had two judgments against him in favor of the bank, $7813.35 in January 1923 and $4119.82 in April 1923.
PT, 12/17/1925 news article on JAV being sentenced to four years in prison - "Fraudulent Use of Mails is Alleged In Connection With Timber Company" - found guilty in one of eight indictments in Barbour County alleging forgery - he alleged to have have signed a note in 1921 bearing the names of the officials of a defunct corporation that passed out of existence in 1917 - note was for $3574 - other indictments of a similar nature - now resides in Washington - date of trial not in article - sentenced to four years by circuit judge W. B. Kittle - JAV admitted to signing the names but claimed he had the authority to sign granted by the officials whose names he signed - also a federal case - indicted on charges of using the mails to defraud in connection with financial operations of Viquesney Timber and Ore Company - alleged c. $122,000 was obtained by the company's financial operations and none of the money went into the company's treasury

In the answer of Timmons Harmount, in Empire Nat. Bk. vs. G-P Land Co, refers to $5,500 of the "$27,000.00 attempted to be secured to the Mountain State Investment Company is usury." 

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 The future of the 18,000 acre tract following Meadow Mountain Lumber Company’s problems was not as complicated.  In August 1921 Meadow Mountain surrendered back to Oak Lumber Company all its rights in the land due to being in default of the agreements between the two companies.211 
As previously related, Oak sold the timber on the 18,000 acres to Wood Motor Parts Corporation in December 1927.   Existing evidence does not indicate if any lumbering was done on the land between 1921 and 1927.212 
As also related, WMPC was in financial trouble by the early 1930s, so any logging activity on the tract would probably have come to an end at the same time.  In December 1936 the land went to the Forest Service in two tracts for $37,487.10 following a condemnation proceeding.  One contained 12,306.8 acres on Meadow Creek and Wades Draft.  The other had 5,678.7 acres and was on Whitman Draft and White Draft.213