As Doug Ogle pointed out in his study of–or perhaps a paean to–Whitetop, The Great Meadow Mountain, mountains present different aspects to different people. Mountains provide solace to some; to others they can be menacing. They can present challenges and opportunities. We can approach them with awe and wonder or with avarice. We can learn from them or deface them.
Since the ice age there have been two significant ecological occurrences which affected White Top (and other area mountains): the Chestnut blight and logging activity, both at around the turn of the 20th Century. Humans played a part in both to varying degrees. The Chestnut pathogen was native to China but introduced to America in Nursery stock. Logging was a man-made debacle.
The logging boom
By definition the lumber industry is largely extractive. But even by contemporary standards the amount of timber that was extracted by the Damascus Lumber Company in 25 years was staggering. “During that time at least three and a half billion feet of lumber was taken from the mountains in Washington County, most of it in the Damascus area. The National Lumber Magazine in 1912 stated that Washington County, Virginia was producing more lumber than the entire state of Pennsylvania.” (LFH, p. 18)
Avarice or expedience?
“Trees were cut ruthlessly without regard for future growth.” (ibid)
Ben Broady, who began working for the Laurel Railway in 1915, provides a first-hand account:
“When [Luther] Hassinger bought out Damascus Lumber Company… they acquired a tract of timber in Green Cove (near Damascus)… .”
“There was a time just before we shut down there that we sawed day and night. That was about 1925–1925, 1926, 1927, 1928. They had a little generator and electric lights. Yes, they sawed day and night. Lord Have Mercy. You see what I think about it, you know probably a man like that…knowed things was going to get rough and they was going to get that lumber on the market. You know businessmen, they know. They can look ahead. They have to.”
While they may have been reckless in extracting timber, the Hassingers were good to their employees and had a strong civic sense, providing the community with schools and looking after the well-being of his employees. ” ‘Mr. Hassinger looked after that. They had the best school you could find. ‘ Broady added.”
“The Hassingers had a good company store. You could get anything you wanted at a reasonable price.” (Neal, p. 448)
Another major player in resource extraction in the Mountains of Southwest Virginia was the Douglas Land Company. “The main object of this organization was the development of possible iron ore and other mineral deposits indicated in these mountains. The company expended a considerable amount of time, money and labor in prospecting operations but such veins are were disclosed were inadequate or else too elusive to justify further expenditure. In consequence the company ceased operations and disbanded.” [M. Sheffey (Goodrich, p. 380)] For a time, the Douglas Land Co. was actively engaged in timber development, but in the end the company sold 28,000 acres to the U.S. Forest Service.
While the enterprise had failed in it’s extract wealth from the mountains of Southwestern Virginia, the saga of the Douglas Land Company did introduce a pair of quixotic characters to local legend. “In his youth and before his marriage to the sister of Theodore Roosevelt, Douglas Robinson made pilgrimages, unattended, to White Top Mountain. His attitude toward the mountain folk was not one of aloofness. He made friends with them in their cabins and along their trails. Having a keen sense of humor, he enjoyed their primitive customs and childish simplicity.” The other figure, Theodore Roosevelt’s young brother Elliott “was closely identified with the early development of the White Top property.” (Sheffey, [Goodrich], p. 382).
The Chestnut Blight
“In 1904, chestnut the disease was observed in the New York Zoo killing chestnuts, but there is reason to suspect it was here as early as 1893. The pathogen was later found to be native to China and was apparently introduced in nursery stock. In Asia the fungus was a weak parasite. In America…it spread very quickly.
“By 1940, chestnut was destroyed as a commercial species. The equivalent of 9 million acres of chestnut had been destroyed.” (James J. Worrall)
Whitetop:
- Whitetop: The Great Meadow Mountain of Virginia, Douglas W. Ogle (2011)
- The Virginia Creeper: Remembering the Virginia-Carolina Railway, Doug McGuinn. Bamboo Books (1998)
- “Laurel Farm,” Miriam Sheffey, from Smyth County History and Traditions, Goodrich Wilson. Kingsport Press, Inc. Kingsport, Tennessee (1932)
Chestnut Blight/Restoration:
- “Chestnut Blight: An American Tragedy,” James Worrall, Plant/Forest Pathologist: https://forestpathology.org/canker/chestnut-blight/
- American Chestnut Foundation https://tacf.org
Related: “Whitetop” https://archives-wcpl.net/Archive7_Appalachia/project/items/show/146