Logging In Saulsville

Trucking Logs to the mouth of Cabin Creek on Guyandotte River

 

About the year 1900 Cole & Crane Lumber Co. purchased timber from Wyoming Land Co. on land drained by Cabin Creek and extending up to present day Vern Clay/Bob Hagamon properties (most land and timber above that line was privately owned and mostly cleared). Cole & Crane was mostly interested in choice logs of poplar, most oaks, hemlock and chesnut trees.
Cole & Crane began at the mouth of Cabin Creek and built a narrow gauge tram road up to around the Foley Falls and on to the present day Vern Clay line. The meandering creek was followed and required numerous small bidges and lesser number of longer ones for the track.
The track was constructed of wooden rails placed on cross ties about two feet apart. The 2X4 hickory or birch rails were nailed on top of 2X8 plate boards also nailed securely. The space between the rails was filled with rocks and dirt. Embedded chestnut or hemlock logs were used as a base for the rail crossings.
After the choice trees were cut by experienced timbermen using long crosscut saws, cut into 16' logs hauled to the landings & skid by ox teams, 5 oxen to a team hooked single file and driven by an experienced driver who had and used a long persuasive ?
After the logs were skidded to the log landing, they were rolled on to the skid way and then rolled and skidded to the waiting flat bed trucks. The trucks were about 8'long by 6' wide with trong standards to hold the logs from rolling off.