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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>C.L. Ritter, who was W.M. Ritter's cousin, had the
milll at Gordon which was across the Tug River from the mouth of Clear Fork in
McDowell County. This was located between Roderfield and Wilmore.
To add to the confusion, C.L. Ritter established the community of
Ritter on the south side of the Tug Fork at the mouth of the Clear
Fork. Gordon siding was located opposite Ritter on the north side of the
Tug Fork.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>W.M. Ritter established one of his saw mills at
Ritter on the Dry Fork which empties into the Tug Fork at Iaeger. However
Ritter on the Dry Fork could not have a post office named Ritter, because C.L.
Ritter already had one named Ritter at the mouth of the Clear Fork. So the
post office at Ritter on the Dry Fork was named Avondale, even though everyone
called the location Ritter. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>C.L. Ritter bought the 40,000 acres the Flat Top
Land Association had in Wyoming/Boone/Raleigh County that was not contiguous
with their other propertties, which is why he probably reopened the Sandy Huff
mill. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">Mary Bowman wrote in her book on
Wyoming County, “From 1922 to 1927, The C.L. Ritter Lumber Company operated a
band mill at Sandy Huff to manufacture lumber from timber cut over the same
5,000 acres which R.E. Wood removed timber from 1898 to 1908, employing 100 to
150 men.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Two-thirds of them worked
at the mill and in the yards, the remainder in the woods.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Logs were transported across the
mountain from Huffs Creek in Wyoming County with a 35-ton Shay Locomotive and a
20-ton Climax locomotive on steel rails … Total cut at this set, 60,000,000
feet.” R.E. Wood had cut nearly 72,000,000 feet from the same property
from 1898 through 1908.</SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial size=2>C.L.
Ritter is probably remembered more for his hardware sales in WV, rather than for
his lumber business. C.L. Ritter also had extensive lumbering in
Virginia.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial size=2>There was
aslo a large saw mill at Ada on the East River run by W.M. Ritter (I
think). I would have to look up which Ritter operated which
mill.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial size=2>One of
the confusing things are the multiple rivers with the same names in the same
county as well as different counties. As an example the Greenbrier Coal
and Coke Co on North Fork Branch was named after the Greenbrier Branch (creek)
that emptied into the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek. However there is a
Greenbrier Branch that runs into Panther Creek that was more famous for
timbering.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial size=2>I won't
tell you how many times I have been confused about where some place was or which
river or creek was actually being talked about.</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"><FONT face=Arial size=2>Alex
Schust</FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> </SPAN></P></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">NW
Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">NW Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 05, 2009 3:20
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Lumber company in BS&C
territory in 1910</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV>Alex,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thanks for the additional info, but I need some clarification. In
order to familiarize myself with somewhat unfamiliar territory I have tried to
follow your descriptions on a map, but I have trouble understanding how the C.
L. Ritter Lumber Co. mill at Gordon on the Clear Fork that flows south
into the Guyandotte River upstream of Bailey Reservoir relates to a different
Clear Fork a lot farther south which flows north into Tug
Fork between Roderfield and Wilmore. It was this latter Clear Fork
which was followed by the N&W Clear Fork Branch.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Incidentally, in a online biography of C. L. Ritter it states that he
relocated from Pennsylvania, "...and in 1889 came to West Virginia and
entered the lumber business at Oakvale on East River." So, it looks as
though the N&W probably got his first business.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Gordon Hamilton</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">NW
Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">NW Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Monday, October 05, 2009 9:07
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Re: Lumber company in BS&C
territory in 1910</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The R.E. Wood Lumber Co had 27 miles of wooden
track from Wyoming County down Buffalo Creek and then down to Sandy Huff
where the the N&W connection was made. My new book, "Billion
Dollar Coalfield", will have a picture of Climax on wooden rails on that
particular railroad. C. L. Ritter took over that property in the
1920s and kept the mill going at Sandy Huff through the 1920s. C.L.
Ritter also had the first mill at Gordon and timbered along the Cleak
Fork. He probably had a lumber railroad running down the Clear Fork
which formed the basis of George L Carter's West Virgina Southwestern
Railway that eventually became the Clear Fork Branch.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Alex Schust</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">NW Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">3N&W Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Sunday, October 04, 2009 10:06
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> Lumber company in BS&C
territory in 1910</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Tunga size=2>Bluefield Daily Telegraph<BR>March 16,
1910</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=4>STEEL RAILS</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=center><STRONG>Replacing Wooden Ones on Track of Lumber
Company</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left> The C. L. Ritter Lumber Company, Inc.,
is rushing work on its Virginia plant and is replacing as fast as possible
all the wooden track which it inherited from the Yellow Poplar Lumber
Company, which it recently bought out. The old company had
Fifty-four miles of wooden rails and it is the intention of the new
company to replace this track as rapidly as circumstances demand with
steel rails. The company will also go down Dismal about seventeen
miles to reach a large tract of timber. The company's offices are at
Huntington, W. Va., while its working plant is now located at Whitewood,
Va. The C. L. Ritter Lumber Company, the Rockcastle Lumber Company
and the Tug River Lumber Company have joint offices in Huntington.</DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left>[<EM>I have seen old pictures of wooden track lumber
railroads, but I never had any idea that there would be 54 miles of such
track in one operation. The attached picture of a C. L. Ritter
Climax locomotive at Whitewood is from the collection of C. T. Stoner, and
is presented here by courtesy of climaxlocomotives.com. It
appears to be on wooden rails. Whitewood is in Buchanan County,
Virginia, on Dismal Creek in an area that was remote in 1910, so it would
be interesting to know how the lumber from that plant got to market.
According to Blackstock and Wilson's article in the July/August issue of
<U>The Arrow</U>, W. M. Ritter's Big Sandy and Cumberland narrow gauge
railroad reached Matney on Slate Creek in 1910, and Matney would be only
three to four miles north of the C. L. Ritter line down Dismal
Creek. Could there have been a connection over the divide between
Dismal and Slate creeks for C. L. Ritter lumber to go out on the
BS&C? Incidentally, the C. L. Ritter Lumber Co. is still in
existence in Huntington according to the websites such as <A
href="http://www.manta.com">www.manta.com</A>. </EM>]</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Script size=6>Gordon Hamilton</FONT></DIV>
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