Before the timber boom in the New River area, the Glade Creek and Piney Creek valleys contained about 50,000 acres of virgin pine and substantial stands of yellow poplar and oak. This old-growth deciduous forest drew timber companies, and loggers using hand saws, axes, and teams of horses cut and dragged trees from the mountains to sawmills and mill towns. By 1930, as much as 90% of the gorge had been deforested. Logging practices of the time caused boom towns such as Glade and Hamlet to go bust, and old rail lines were abandoned. The Hamlet sawmill closed in 1936, and the metal girders atop the Glade-Hamlet bridge were recycled by the Chesapeake and Ohio at other bridges along its routes. New River Gorge National River, a unit of the National Park Service, now protects over 72,000 acres of Appalachian forest, including the remains of Hamlet and Glade. Stone foundations of the sawmill at Hamlet and the piers of the old bridge still stand in the New River, while mature hardwood forests are slowly returning as natural regrowth again covers the ridges, slopes, and valleys of Glade Creek and its tributaries.