fth generation of Harkinses.

On the window of his law office in Prestonsburg, Floyd County, Kentucky,
appears in letters of gold, an unbroken line of five generations of
Harkinses who have followed the practice of law. Likewise the Harkins'
descendants hold unbroken title to the largest acreage of timber land in
the country. The virgin forest brought its owner more than $160,000 and
the second growth is ready to cut.

Lumber companies bought 70,000 acres of forest and constructed their own
railroads to carry out the timber. They calculated it would take about
twenty-five years to cull out all the big timber and by that time there
would be a second growth. Wasteful methods of lumbering, together with
frequent forest fires and man's utter disregard for the future, have
already brought about the necessity for reforestation in many mountain
sections. As far back as 1886 out of the Big Sandy alone was run
$1,500,000 worth of timber.

Rafts of logs carpeted the Big Sandy River and at its mouth was the
largest round timber market in the world. With its row of riverfront
saloons Catlettsburg, between the Big Sandy and the Ohio Rivers, was
then called the wettest spot on earth. Through its narrow streets strode
loggers and raftsmen. Theirs was talk of cant hooks and spike poles,
calipers and rafts. "You best come and have a drink down to Big Wayne's
that'll put fire in your guts." The boss wanted his whole crew to be
merry, so the whole crew headed for Big Wayne Damron's Black Diamond.

Today the old riverfront lives only in memory. That part of the county
seat is a ghost town. Timbermen and loggers gather no more for revelry
at the riverfront saloon. And should you ask the reason, the old river
rat will answer with a slow-breaking smile, "See off yonder--locks and
dams! Can't run the logs through that!"

Forests that were felled a quarter of a century ago are once again ready
for the woodsman's ax.

The present generation of timbermen look upon a very different scene.
Their dim-eyed grandparents complacently beheld the push boat, that
crude ark which was urged along the stream by means of long poles. It
gave way to shallow drift steamers. And in turn the steamers were shoved
aside for the railroad which was quicker. The boats, _Red Buck_, _Dew
Drop_, once the pride of the river, soon went to anchor and
deterioration.

The county seat changed as well. Once women came to do their trading
there with homemade basket, fille