Finding New Ways to Revive a West Virginia Industry

The timber industry has played an important role in the economy and culture of West Virginia throughout much of its history. In the early-19th century, the hardwood forests of the Allegheny Mountains supported the cutting of timber for building construction and the production of charcoal. Later in the century, the production of paper from wood pulp became a major driver in the state's economy. However, by the 20th century, the market for the timber products exported from West Virginia was changing. At the same time, the environmental impacts of over a century of extensive cutting were also becoming evident.

Senator Byrd (2nd from right) tours the Northeast Experimental Forest in 1961 with representatives from the U.S. Forest Service.

In 1911, Congress passed the Weeks Act, authorizing the Forest Service to acquire land and impose natural resource management to protect watersheds and streams after two centuries of heavy timber cutting in the eastern United States. Among those areas designated for purchase under the Weeks Act was the future Monongahela National Forest in West Virginia. Covering over 900,000 acres, the Monongahela Forest occupies lands in Preston, Tucker, Grant, Randolph, Pendleton, Pocahontas, Webster, Nicholas, and Greenbrier Counties. Portions of the George Washington and the Jefferson National Forests also cover parts of eastern West Virginia along its border with Virginia.

Along with its major role in conserving forests in West Virginia, the Forest Service has also conducted significant research at its laboratories located throughout the state. Early in his senatorial career, Senator Byrd recognized the benefits an expansion of the Forest Service’s presence in the state could have for West Virginia's declining timber industry. Senator Byrd sought federal appropriations to support increased research on the conservation of forest lands and new and more efficient ways of marketing hardwood products that could be responsibly harvested and produced in West Virginia.

An architectural rendering of the Forest Products Marketing Laboratory in Princeton, WV.

In 1962, the first facility of the Forest Products Marketing and Utilization Laboratory opened at Princeton in Mercer County, West Virginia. Situated at the southeastern corner of the state, the Princeton Laboratory was created with the mission of “developing new, improved, or expanded uses for Appalachian Hardwoods.” Additional facilities were added in the following year and dedicated on November 12, 1963 by Senator Byrd.  In a letter to President Lyndon Johnson in late-1964, Senator Byrd urged the inclusion of funding for adding scientists and staff at the Princeton Laboratory.

Promotional image for newly-designed timber crossties from the Princeton Laboratory.

Forest Service scientists at the laboratory analyzed markets in which timber products had previously dominated to determine how current harvesting/production methods could be improved to increase market value. One area which the laboratory explored was the development of a new method of shaping wooden railroad crossties. By the 1960s, concrete crossties had taken over a large share of the market once solely supplied by timber. ​In response, the laboratory determined that by cutting the timber crossties with beveled edges, timber ties could be strengthened to a level where they would compete with the newer concrete products.

​However, scientists at Princeton were not only seeking ways to reinvigorate existing markets; they also examined new uses for West Virginia hardwoods. Recognizing the growing problem of aging, deteriorating residential structures in cities across the United States, the laboratory developed a new construction system that could be used to level sloping floors. The “Marcraft Floor Leveling System” utilized pre-fabricated wooden beams that could be placed in a room and leveled over the existing floor using a contracting foam (also produced in West Virginia) which bound the new framing to the existing floor. Once the framing was in place and leveled, a new floor could be installed. 

Promotional image demonstrating the installation of the Marcraft Floor Leveling System.

​The Princeton Laboratory also focused on the use of Appalachian hardwoods in furniture construction and its use in producing shipping pallets. On the conservation front, the laboratory also investigated the use of timber industry bi-products to support the Forest Service's efforts to restore East Coast woodlands. One such study included using tree bark as a stimulant to restart the growth of grasses on lands reclaimed from surface mining operations. 

The Princeton Forest Service Laboratory continues to operate today, fifty-five years after its creation. The laboratory is currently part of the U.S. Forest Service's "Ecological and Economic Sustainability of the Appalachian Forest in an Era of Globalization" program, which also includes the Forest Service laboratory in Parsons, West Virginia, another project supported by Senator Byrd in the early-1960s.