ALEX: Does he write or talk to you?
JETT: He knows more about it than we do.
ALEX: That's important to because I was interested in
that and I was going to get to that. I am concentrating on the lumber industry. There is no way I can escape all kinds
of business activities in this county. But uh, how many
companies can you remember going out of business in this area?
JETT: Williams and Piper Lumber Company.
ALEX: Who were they ____
JETT: They were disbanded. The principles ____ Doctor
Wilson was one of the principles in that business. And a man by
the name of Piper and another man by the name of Williams. I
think they were the principle owners. Now, they had a mill here just
across the road from where the ____ used to be ____
motel and restaurants.
ALEX: Yeah, I know where that is.
JETT: Just across the road.
ALEX: Yeah.
JETT: ____ through there is
where the Department of Highways headquarters are.
ALEX: When did they go out of business?
JETT: I couldn't tell you. Now, you see it was an off
shoot of the Campbell Lumber Company. That's why we added a
little village up there called Campbell and Town. Now, that was
____.
ALEX: Now, I talked to some other people about that
operation. Can you think of any others? That may have gone out of
sales. Your span of service has covered the 40's, 50's and
60's.
JETT: Yeah. Our lumber company
ALEX: Okay. Got that.
JETT: _______________
ALEX: Can you think of any
small ones that might of been as you traveled as an county agent? You know sometimes
these fellows have to sit. You can cut over 100 acres 50 acres
and move on. At the several board 4 feet of lumber.
JETT: You know there was one founded by . . . It was
called the Ken Mill. It was founded in my Tim Mill. And they went
out of business.
ALEX: Where was it located?
JETT: Oh, right up there 39th just outside of town
between the road and Knapps Creek.
ALEX: Oh, yeah. Yes. They did have lumber there.
JETT: They sawed lumber but
they primarily made uh, made brackets for Telephones poles. You know the little brackets.
ALEX: Yes.
JETT: Little brackets with insulator on them.
ALEX: Oh, yeah.
JETT: They made them by the car loads.
ALEX: You mean that were threaded.
JETT: Threaded.
ALEX: Is that right. I've have a lot of those myself.
JETT: Uh.
ALEX: I have a lot of those
myself. Yeah, with the insulators on them. What about the ____ sheep growing.
JETT: Well, when I came to this county in 1941 there were
where about 40 thousand head of breeding ewes. Sheep breeding
ewes. But that number has declined how to half.
ALEX: About a half of that.
JETT: Sheep industry is decline. Not only in
West Virginia but throughout the whole
United States and when I came here
there was a lot of open range. Range these sheep the
mountains. A lot of the farmers would have the boys go out and burn our
the timberland raise their sheep on. And uh, and the
deteriorate of fences, decrease in the total number of farms.
People didn't look for small farms. The dog problem and the bear problem.
Is primarily responsible for the decline in the sheep business here in this county. Now this county was the
leading sheep producing county in the state. And probably still is.
But the sheep business is drifting this way. ____ ____.
ALEX: So the ____.
JETT: Yeah.
ALEX: So tend the flock.
JETT: No market place.
Last week our local auction brought 50-60-85 dollars or so. 100 weigh Lambs weighing over a 100
pounds. That's pretty good.
ALEX: Yes, it is. You ____ 3 or lay down 2.
JETT: If you average 1 1/2 that's pretty good return.
And uh, oh in 1946 as county agent. I helped organize the Producers
Cooperative Association. Built it's first own livestock ____
market in the State of
West Virginia. And it has operated
successfully ever since.
ALEX: Located where?
JETT: Located right up here on railroad property in the
beginning in 1970 we purchased what was known as the old
fairground property. The road here is to the right. A little valley 3
or 4 acres. And we built a brand new livestock ____ market.
ALEX: Is a lot of cattle sold here, too?
JETT: Yes, sell lots of
cattle. We started out with the cattle business. Oh, non-descript
bunch of cattle mostly in Pocahontas County. Probably the highest quality
or production of the highest quality in the State of West Virginia
or maybe in the eastern
United States.
ALEX: Where do these Feeder calves go?
JETT: Well, they go to the Feed Lot country, most of 'em.
ALEX: When are they purchased?
JETT: In the fall of the year, most of them. September,
October, November.
ALEX: Where do they bring ahead on the average?
JETT: 1973, they brought a hell of a lot of them. In
1974, 1975 they didn't bring very much. But it wasn't unusual in
1973 to get 60 or 70 cents a pound for those Feeder calves. In
1974, it was tough to get 30 cents a pound. Same in 1975.
ALEX: The money was made in 1973.
JETT: 1973 was the big year for the farmers. The
Livestock farmers beef cattle. We don't finish of any cattle in this
county. And these calves go all over the feeding country.
Pennsylvania, some
Maryland, Virginia, into Ohio, and all into Canada,
into Oklahoma. Some of our calves go into Texas.
ALEX: That's fantastic.
JETT: But uh, through a
constant effort to improve the down cattle quality that they cattle weaning etc all of this.
ALEX: What have you done to the land in the meantime?
Have you been building the land?
JETT: Initiated one of the first aerial fertilization
programs in the state of
West Virginia. Fertilize these pastures by air. Initiated the sod planting of the corn. Where you
go and use a chemical on them kill grass the corn, knock it
down, and plant the corn. You don't touch it again until time for
harvest. Never a plow put in it. We started that here in
the county and made a special effort to improve the quality of the
corn foliage and the number of people who are feeding the corn ____
to beef cattle. Corn ____ is the cheapest feed you can grow.
ALEX: What about your air fertilization program? What do
you use? What kind of plane do you use?
JETT: Airplanes.
ALEX: What kind? Do you remember?
JETT: Oh, the kind we use is heavy planes.
ALEX: Get pretty low.
JETT: Oh Yeah.
ALEX: Chemical or chemical fertilizer?
JETT: Chemical fertilizer. Granulated. Then we started
out getting it through special dealer 60 percent super phosphate through TVA a cooperative agreement. We had a good tax rate
unloaded it took it to the closes air strip to be located. On some
of these farms fields long enough to serve as air strips. And
then we used the plane carry up to 1,200 pounds when the air was
generally right just the break of dawn. That meant old Jett had to be out there ____ those farms at the break of dawn.
ALEX: Yeah. That cut your fleet short.
JETT: And in the evening just before it gets dark is the
best time. You can haul every load. The air is heavier midday and a day like this here gets hotter. We spread fertilizer
by the pound or two pounds.
ALEX: When did you say you came here as county agent?
JETT: 1941.
ALEX: Retired or gave it up?
JETT: Retired in 1972.
ALEX: 1972. You stayed on in the county. What do you
do? What is your job now?
JETT: I am a professional land and real estate consultant
and a tax consultant. I am working on a tax return right
now.
ALEX: I see.
JETT: I work part-time at the county court. I am
involved with about everything in the county. President of the local
Development Corporation.
ALEX: You have been familiar with this economic survey
taken a year or so ago.
JETT: Second economic survey?
ALEX: No, I believe this is a survey James Bright Sharp
served on and some others down here.
JETT: Oh, you're thinking about . . .
ALEX: Feasibility study.
JETT: Oh.
ALEX: About 2 volumes.
JETT: County Planning Committee.
ALEX: Yeah.
JETT: Hell, I started that.
I understand that I was the man that was instrumental to get the county court to a point a planning committee.
ALEX: Oh, yeah. Did you graduate from W.V.U.?
JETT: Yeah.
ALEX: Stayed down here all this period of time. You were
over here in this county when I started coming to this
county.
JETT: I've been here since '41. Oh, I might tell you I
took three years out beginning fall of '72. One for the
family and one over there, too. I came back the fall of '45.
ALEX: That's fantastic. Well, you say primary sheep and
cattle.
JETT: Sheep and beef cattle. We only have one commercial
grade A dairy. One time we had 13.
ALEX: Where is the dairy?
JETT: Down at below Denmar. You know where Denmar is?
ALEX: Yes, sir.
JETT: Go down that road. Right on down, turn off the
road that goes to
Greenbrier River, comes out at Renick. Turn right when you get down there.
ALEX: Do you have any
estimates of dollar values say of cattle shipped out?
JETT: Cattle, sheep and livestock market.
ALEX: Yeah, out of this market.
JETT: Out of this market. In 1973, the dollar was a
little over 2 million dollars.
ALEX: Sheep and cattle combined.
JETT: Yes.
ALEX: What would you say it is today? Price about half?
JETT: No, we have increased the volume some. It is
better than half. Last year, in '74, it was about 1.6 million.
ALEX: Seventy-five.
JETT: Seventy-five. A little more than that.
ALEX: 1.7.
JETT: 1.8.
A: 1.8. That's fine.
JETT: Increase in volume. You see, that's doesn't entail
the total sale in livestock from this county but any county.
ALEX: Where else might this livestock be sold?
Lewisburg?
JETT: Some goes to
Caldwell, Greenbrier County, some Monterey, Virginia, some small parts of and occasionally to Elkins.
There is always a certain amount of livestock sold on the farm.
ALEX: Oh, you have to say at best that this is a. . .
JETT: The total production is ____.
ALEX: Yes.
JETT: I would say in '73 the total livestock and
livestock products was sold out of the county.
ALEX: that's a big county.
JETT: A big county, but the total number of farms is only
29% of our land area. We cover almost amount is 1,000 square
miles, but only 29% is in farms.
ALEX: Government owns most of it.
JETT: The government owns half of it. The state owns,
railroads own land, western
Maryland and large lumber companies. We have a lot of state parks and forest.
ALEX: Yeah, we sure have.
JETT: And the
Radio Astrology Center replaced 28 of our good little farms. Senator Jay R. displaced about 12 when he
bought his holding.
ALEX: Uh Hmm.
J: Over 1,400 farms. Now, there about 600.
ALEX: Yeah, that's something.