Lumber

If one is interested in that great mountain, Keeney’s, that towers to the West of Alderson, then Mr. Elbert Taylor and his wife, Fannie O’Dell Taylor, are valuable sources of information.

The largest lumber operation ever located in the Alderson section cut the timber from a 5400 acre tract on the Keeney’s Mountain range.

In 1906 the Commonwealth Lumber Company of Pennsylvania, started operating at Glen Ray, west of town between the C. & O. Rail- way and the Greenbrier. Commonwealth built the village of Glen Ray of twenty houses, a store, a boarding house and a barn. Three well- known carpenters, Emmett Taylor, Gilbert Miller and Matt Kershner with helpers, built the town. (Five houses still stand.) A six-foot Clark band mill, the first in this part of the state, was built and was capable of producing 35,000 board feet of lumber a day. Then the company built a bridge across the Greenbrier and started a standard gauge railroad to haul the logs to the mill. They had three engines, one Climax and two Shays. Eventually, there were twenty-five miles of railroad going up Griffith’s Creek and winding all over Keeney’s Mountain. A Mr. West was the first superintendent who supervised all of the first building. He was followed by Harry Curl. Mr. Elbert Taylor started as water boy on the railroad.

At the same time, C. B. Thompson of Columbus, Ohio, built a mill in Glen Ray known as C. B. Thompson Lumber Co. Commonwealth had a contract with Thompson to furnish hickory timbers to make wagon wheels and wagon parts. Commonwealth did not have enough hickory to fulfill the contract and went into receivership about 1911 to avoid damages and void the contract.

About 1912 a new company started operation, Glen Ray Lumber Company, which was essentially the same company as Commonwealth, operated by the same management and ownership. Some of the bosses were "Dad" Briggs, superintendent, "Dad" Eastman who was mill foreman and who was succeeded by John Rossey. John Hughart was a yard foreman. The first store manager was a Mr. Brewer, followed by Carl McLaughlin. Archie Parmenter, an Englishman, was bookkeeper. Elbert Taylor became a timber cutter and was promoted to superintendent of the woods and the railroad.

Glen Ray Lumber Company had about one hundred men working. The standard wage was $1.00 per day for laborers and higher pay for skilled workers. The Company also operated a lath mill producing plastering laths. All lumber was shipped by C. & O., mostly to flooring plants in Pennsylvania. Some was exported via Newport News, Virginia. Much of the export timber was 5" by 3" to build docks.

One huge log, a white oak, was nearly six feet at the butt and from it was cut 1696 board feet of lumber.  Glen Ray Lumber Company quit when the timber was depleted in 1915. One virgin stand of timber of about 250 acres on the head- waters of Lick Creek was not accessible and is still there, said to be owned now by J. B. Belcher and Son’s Lumber Company.

Ref: Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Taylor, Griffith's Creek.

Another sizeable lumber operation that operated in Alderson was owned by Frank N. Mann. It started about 1892 and was the F. N. Mann Sash, Door and Moulding Company. Within three years the business employed thirty men and by 1906 employed sixty men. But three of the original employees still live. Mr. Charley Holcomb of Alderson is one of them.

This mill made fine inside trim of locally purchased timber, much of it cherry. Most of its finest products were shipped to the Empire City Woodworking Company of New York City. Production was about a railroad carload per week.

The mill’s first foreman was Sol Faust from Pennsylvania, and the first bookkeeper was Guy Stulting, followed by Fred Faust.

The mill burned March 10, 1910, and Mr. Mann moved to Huntington where he was given a site to erect another mill called Hunting- ton Sash, Door and Trim Company. The site of the old mill was sold to J. J. Tait who rebuilt the mill and ran it for several years. At present, Russell Quillen has a mill located on the same site.

Ref: Mr. Frank Nash, Alderson

One of the most unusual businesses ever to operate in Alderson was a large magazine agency. W. Lacy Dixon was stricken with tuberculosis in about 1920 and became bedfast. He had courage, ability and determination. He started a magazine subscription-by-mail business that became nationally known as the Dixon Magazine Agency. The family lived at the top of the hill on Wolf Creek Road and in time, Lacy Dixon had a sizeable staff handling the large volume of outgoing and incoming mail. He directed this business from his bed. He sold subscriptions to every magazine published in the United States. The address, Alderson, West Virginia, was known in almost every town in the country. Lacy Dixon left Alderson in the late 30’s and operated in Lexington, Kentucky for a time. He died a few years later.

Next: Federal Reformatory for Women

The contents contained in this series is copyrighted and the sole property of The Greenbrier Historical Society - Lewisburg, WV
Used by permission - November 18, 2008