Logging South Cheat
The History of the Snowshoe Lands
3rd Edition

by Dr. George H. Deike

This is an unopened BRAND NEW BOOK (not used).
We handle all books with white gloves (no fingerprints on your book).
A Railroad Bookmark is included with each book.
Book is wrapped and mailed in a top-quality, durable container.
We try hard to be the NUMBER 1 Railroad Book Dealer on ebay with 2,000+ titles.
Order before 3:00 pm (ET) for same-day postal mailing.

The history of this track of land prior to the coming Snowshoe is a story of one industry: Lumber.

For seven decades the land was home to wild and woolly lumberjacks, called “wood hicks” in these parts of West Virginia. They lived and worked on the mountain, and laced it with one of the most rough and tumble transportation systems: The logging railroad.

The trains brought to the remote forest land a strange variety of steam powered machinery, and the wail of steam whistle broke the silence here long before the chain saw or the snowmobile.

The southern end of Cheat Mountain was a wilderness known only to hunters and fishermen until 1900. This book covers the next 60 years in a detailed study of the timber industry.

Wonderful photos are on every page. Lumbering and the steam era of railroads including locomotives, loaders, and tower skidders and their operation are documented.

The construction of the second largest logging railroad in West Virginia is explored.

Detailed maps of three eras of work on Snowshoe lands showing relations to the resort’s facilities, numerous photographs, lists of locomotives, and drawings throughout.

Deike is a leading authority on West Virginia logging history and a past president of Mountain State Railroad & Logging Historical Association. Mr. Deike visited West Virginia in 1950, convincing his father to take him to see the railroads the served the logging industry. He did not yet have a driver’s license. As a college student, he came to the state often. He taught geology in Illinois, but soon longed for the mountains and moved to the state. He taught in Elkins, WV and began serious research on the railroad logging industry.

Exploring courthouse records and old maps was informative, but the best was talking to old timers about their work. See an older man? Ask him, “Did you ever work in the woods?” Now, sadly there are very few left to talk to.

Eventually his wife, Mickey convinced him to write. It was no accident that they bought a farm near the Cass Scenic Railroad. The whole subject is vast and fascinating, so a narrow gauge story of the nearby Snowshoe property seemed possible. Logging South Cheat is the result.

See photo of the Foreword for more info.

Saddle Stitched, 8.5x11, 48 pages, 65 b&w photos & illustrations, maps.
Printed on high-quality gloss paper.

Visit our ebay store to view other books of interest.
We sell books: Railroad, Aviation, and Modeling books of the Golden Age Era.

WE PACKAGE OUR BOOKS EXTREMELY WELL SO THE BOOK WILL NOT BE DAMAGED IN THE MAIL.
No one packages books better than we do.