Here are some pics y'all might enjoy of my hometown

[kissfan113]

Here are some links to pictures of my hometown in the glory days
(1901 - 1960) hope you enjoy them. A lot of lumber was pulled out of the area, some of it is still around in various places, including the Smithsonian, lol, the Wright Bro's bought the spruce for the Wright Flyer from the mill at Cass. I am still to this day amazed at the scale of the operation given the tools used, no powersaws, all crosscuts and hand tools. They finally gave up the horse teams and brought in Lidgerwood aerial skidders in the mid 40's if you ever get the chance take a look at an aerial map of the area, still easy to see where the skidder sets were, looks like spiders on the landscape.
anyway, just a little history for you guys, got the inspiration from the logging BC post.

http://www.msrlha.org/p-operations-1901-60/index.html
http://www.msrlha.org/p-spruce/index.html
http://www.msrlha.org/p-mill/index.html


I have some more links somewhere i need to find.
Kevin

 

[Rookie1]

Where was that stuff at. Im looking at google satelite map and all i can see is green stuff. Lots of green. Name some roads please. Cool website too.

 

[kissfan113]

look for a mountain called bald knob, roads running near are gum road, rt 66, and rt 28/92. snowshoe mtn resort is close by as well, as a matter of fact it was once the site of a skidder set if my memory serves correct. The rail line travels from 2500 ft roughly to over 4800 at the peak on bald knob. It has grown back well since 1960, now a state park www.cassrailroad.com

Kevin

 

[Rookie1]

Its hard for me to tell whats whats. I did find the roads you were talking about. looks like really nice country. I like Dirty road the best though. Whats that cleared out area off of delta road and 66. Looks like house with line of trees in front.

 

[kissfan113]

its' hard to say, i can't recall being out delta road, i know there is a pavillion built at whittaker station, they have a small simulated logging camp for display purposes there, but there is only an access road goin in there, main way in is by the old logging railroad.
Kevin

 

[kissfan113]

I've been told that when the snow fell in winter, loggers would cut trees at the snowline, come back in spring and harvest 8 foot stumps, lol, it's been a long long time since we've had snows like that, but it takes a notion every now and again on Cheat Mtn, and several others to snow. last big snow i know of (of that magnitude anyway) was in 78, schools were closed for 2 weeks while they used bulldozers to clear the roads.

 

[kissfan113]

to give an idea of the scale of the Cass operation, the Cass sawmill at it's peak turned out 250,000 board feet of lumber a day, that not counting the pulp wood operations at Spruce and in Cass itself. The Cass mill is said to have produced the finest hardwood flooring ever made, I'm a believer in that as I rented a house for a spell with flooring from the mill, very high quality tongue and groove construction, and even being upwards of 60 yrs old not a split, crack, or wave in it anywhere.

 

[acer saccharum]

I took the Cass tourist train ride a few years ago. Those old Shays are very impressive. As I recall one of the ones they have in service is one of the largest made. An incredible amount of wood did come off those hills. It is well worth the visit weather you like locomotives and trains, logging or just the view.

 

[joesawer]

If you like trains and logging, take a look at this. http://www.steaminthewoods.com/