USA > West Virginia > Lewis County > A history of Lewis County, West Virginia > Part 16
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The Presbyterian church which had been estab- lished by the New Englanders soon after their coming to French creek was not in Lewis County, but it exercis- ed a great influence over the people of the upper West Fork valley, particularly those on the Left fork. The Seventh Day Baptist church near Roanoke was not yet in existence; its greatest period of usefulness to the community came at a later date. The same may be said of the nascent United Brethren churches on Freeman's creek. The Christian church, which was established by Alexander Campbell of Brooke County early in the nine- teenth century, never obtained a foothold in Lewis County ; but one of its ministers, the Rev. James Shurt- leff, spent some time preaching in the county.
The chronicles of the stirring times of the Indian
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
wars in northwestern Virginia were published in 1831 under the title of "Chronicles of Border Warfare." The author, Alexander Scott Withers, came to Harrison County in 1827, and engaged in the collection of his- torical materials for the work. He was greatly assisted by Judge Edwin S. Duncan, first commonwealth's at- torney for Lewis County, and by William Hacker and William Powers, both residents of the district around West's fort. The work was read with avidity by old and young of the county. It has been recognized by critics as one of the best chronicles of Indian wars ever written. The author moved to Weston some time before 1837, taught school, kept a store and became a justice of the peace.
The exploitation of the natural resources of the county began about 1840 when the cutting of timber which lined the banks of the larger streams was begun for commercial purposes. Part of the lumber was sold in the home markets, but a vastly greater quantity of timber, particularly poplar and walnut logs, was floated down the West Fork and its tributaries to the mouth of the river where rafts were formed to be taken to Pitts- burgh. Where clearings were made on the smaller tributaries the large trees were deadened and burned as before.
Conditions in agriculture improved somewhat. In all but the extreme southern and western portions of the territory at present embraced in the county, the farmers were raising wheat in sufficient quantities for home consumption. The establishment of new mills made this form of agriculture general, and the improve- ment in the equipment of all the mills made it exceed .. ingly popular. Soda biscuits and salt-rising bread sup- planted the humble corn pone at some of the meals. The methods of raising wheat were still very crude. It was cut with a sickle or cradle, and threshed with a flail or by spreading it on the threshing floor and run- ning horses over it. The straw was afterwards thrown
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off with a fork, and the grain separated from the chaff by means of a crude fanning machine. Flailing wheat was a hard task, and there were many men who went from one farm to another flailing grain for a fixed price per bushel.
In preparing the seedbed the crudest kind of ap- pliances were in use. Wooden mouldboard plows were in common use among the more progressive farmers where the land had been cleared sufficiently long to be free from roots. Crude iron plows were used on more freshly cleared lands. The "coulter" was a small bar of iron or steel which was fitted into the plow stock to cut roots; the "bulltongue" a very narrow, strong plow was run next; lastly, a shovel plow was used to tear up the soil and put it into proper shape. The harrows in use were usually equipped with wooden teeth.
The principal source of wealth continued to be cat- tle, though the prices were low. An appraisement bill of an estate in 1828 shows the following prices:
1 pide cow $7.00
1 red cow 8.00
1 brindle pide Heifer 5.00
1 2 year old stear 8.00
1 red heifer with white back 3.00
1 small black bull 1.75
The cattle were driven east to Baltimore or to the terminus of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. Helpers were given twenty-five cents a day. They traveled on foot. On their return they received one cent a mile with which to purchase food. In order to eliminate profiteer- ing, the prices for the keeping of live stock were fixed by the county court in 1821 :
For Horses per day. .8 cents
For Slaves per do 20 cents
For cattle per do. .6 cents
For sheep and hogs per do .4 cents
A very important event in the history of Lewis County was the introduction, about 1840, of pure bred
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shorthorn Durham cattle. The more progressive farm- ers began improving their herds. Many farmers, dislik- ing innovation or ignorant of breeding principles, con- tinued to keep scrub stock.
Sheep raising could not reach its highest develop- ment so long as wolves continued to exist in the county. The county court very early made efforts to rid the county of them. Wolf bounties were paid to citizens of Weston in 1820. By an act passed in 1824 the county court of Lewis County was authorized to place a bounty of not to exceed $8 for an old wolf and $4 for a young one, in order to encourage the killing off of the beasts more quickly. In a few cases the effect was just the opposite of the intention of the bill. The increased re- ward led certain worthless individuals to take up wolf farming. When the den of a she wolf was discovered it was left unmolested until the young wolves were just ready to leave it. They were then killed, but the wolf was left in the hope that she would escape from the other hunters to return to the same place and rear her young another year. In 1832 the court paid bounties on the scalps of nineteen old wolves and fifty-five young ones. The last wolf on Hacker's creek was seen about 1854. On account of the large number of wolves in the county the value of sheep in 1828 was much greater than at a later date, By 1850 the number of sheep had increased until it was 13,393.
The administration of the county continued to be under the supervision of the justices of the peace. The court consisted of twelve justices whose remuneration consisted of the office of sheriff, which went to each justice in turn; but by the time a justice became entitled to the office he was too old for its strenuous duties. He therefore sold it to some younger man. The sheriffs rode over all the county from east of the Buckhannon river to the present Wirt County line, collecting taxes, making arrests, serving subpoenas and levying on the property of citizens to satisfy judgments. The law re-
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quired that all the property of the debtor was subject to levy ; but the sheriff was prevented by law from lifting a latch or raising a window. If a man could bring his property into his house before the sheriff came he could save it. That the administration of justice was some- what crude may be inferred from the number of returns of the sheriffs which read :
"Saw the defendant, but he ran and could not be arrested."
In the absence of newspapers one of the principal sources of information was the militia organization which was formed under Camp immediately after the formation of the county. The great musters which were attended by all the citizens of the county of military age were occasions for old friends to get together and pass around the gossip of the neighborhood, for candi dates to make themselves known to their prospective constituents, and for the discussion of political, moral, economic, social and religious questions of the day. The militiamen had no guns and were not drilled in the manual of arms. As a military organization they were of no value.
Lewis County had a one-man share in the Mexican war. Under the direction of Lieutenant Thomas J. Jack- son, then on a furlough after having just graduated from West Point, a company was formed by Dr. {Bland, who offered their services to the government. As the term of enlistment was only six months the offer was refused by the government. Lieutenant Jackson joined his regiment and acquitted himself with credit in the most difficult part of the campaign.
By the year 1845 Lewis County was just beginning to take on the air of a finished settlement. The United States government extended the postal service to reach most parts of the county at that time. The United States
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
postal guide for 1851 gives the names of the postoffices and postmasters of Lewis County as follows:
Bennett's Mills W. M. Bennett, Jr.
Big Skin Creek Daniel Hall
Bush's Mills William Rohrbough
Collins Settlement John G. Arnold
Ireland Isaac W. Bowse
Jane Lew Isaac Jackson
Leading Creek Henry W. Sleeth
Little Skin Creek W. B. Peterson
Weston James A. Hall
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CHAPTER XVII.
EARLY TRANSPORTATION
One of the causes of the agitation which resulted in the formation of Lewis County was the neglect of the Harrison County court to furnish means of transporta. tion for the people of the southern part of the county. There is no doubt that the people of that section had a grievance. Almost immediately following the organiza- tion of the county court that body began the work of creating a network of roads to bring all the settled por- tions of the county into easy communication with one another. Within two years an immense volume of road orders had been passed. Viewers were appointed to locate new roads in practically the whole expanse of the territory of the county. Especially was there an effort to develop the natural route east and west from Weston which had not been given much attention by the county court of Harrison County.
The first road order passed by the Lewis County justices appointed viewers to mark a way for a road from near Bulltown to the Elk river above Sutton. Other im- portant roads opened within the first two years of the existence of the county were from the ford of the West Fork river at Weston to Harpold's on Murphy's creek; from Abner Mitchell's mill below the present site of Roanoke to the ford of the river below Henry Camden's (now Jacksonville) ; from the head of Rush run to First street in Weston; from the forks of the West fork river to the mouth of Crane's Nest Camp; up Dry Fork of Polk creek to intersect the road from the mouth of Free- man's creek to the mouth of Rush run; from Freeman's creek to the Harrison County line at Middle Island
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
creek; from the forks of West Fork to the Haymond salt works. Every road mentioned afterward became an important highway, and practically every one at its establishment gave an outlet for a flourishing settle- ment. Like most of the other roads in northwestern Virginia at that period, these roads were, hardly more than trails through the woods. None of them was met- aled. In most cases they led through the primeval for- est where the action of the sun in drying up the ground was not often of much effect. There were no culverts, and as a result the roads were generally muddy. They were not ditched properly, if at all. Yet they were roads, common property of the people of the county, which had been secured at little or no expense, and which held possibilities of being later important arteries of commerce.
The roads were not kept in good condition at all. Sometimes they were not even worked by the people who had been designated in the order creating the road. Road overseers were frequently in trouble with' the courts for "failing to keep the road in repair." At a single session of the county court held in 1821, indict- ments were returned against George Fisher, John Wag- goner, Henry Flesher and John Sleeth, all of whom were in charge of important roads through rather pop- ulous communities. Two of the roads which were not in repair were approaches to Weston, one by the river from the north, the other from Polk creek.
The hopes of the early residents of Weston for the rapid growth of the town were not so much in the build- ing of roads, as in the development of slackwater navi- gation on the West Fork river. One of the reasons for the choice of the site as the county seat was the belief that the mouth of Stone Coal creek was the head of nav- igation of the Monongahela. In 1817 a company was in process of formation to canalize the river, which, if it had succeeded, would have made Weston a great commer- cial center.
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EARLY TRANSPORTATION
The launching of the enterprise was not a sudden spurt, but followed a long period of agitation accompan- ied by some development. In 1793 the General Assembly passed its first act for the improvement of the Monon- gahela and West Fork rivers, making them navigable for passage by canoes and flatboats. In 1800 it declared the Monongahela a public highway. As we have seen, it was much used by the settlers along its course. Almost from the beginning it was the surest and best highway by which the produce of the upper valley could be taken to market.
The prospects for a great increase in the amount of the agricultural produce in the upper valley of the West Fork, if adequate means of transportation could be se- cured, led to the incorporation of the Monongahela Nav- igation Company in 1818. The prime mover in the en- terprise was the indefatigable John G. Jackson, who was the business genius of the early northwest. He associat- ed himself in the enterprise with the leading men of the section. The charter conferred upon the company authority to make the Monongahela and West Fork rivers navigable for rafts, flatboats and lumber by build- ing dams throughout the course of the stream and by diverting the flow of the Buckhannon river into the West Fork by way of Stone Coal creek. The capital stock of the company was fixed at $150,000, of which two-fifths was to be subscribed by the state as soon as the remain- der was subscribed by private parties.
The company began work of construction at once. Several dams were constructed, mostly on the lower course of the West Fork in Harrison County. The com- pany did not build any dams in Lewis County, nor did it attempt to divert the waters of the Buckhannon to the West Fork. It was soon discovered that more water al- ready coursed down the channel of the West Fork than the dams could hold back, for during the exceptionally great floods of 1819, most of the improvements were washed out or were completely ruined.
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
Twenty-one thousand dollars had been sunk in the enterprise without apparent result, and the stockholders determined to abandon the project. In 1820 the Board of Public Works ordered a survey from the courthouse of Lewis County to the Pennsylvania line to determine the advisability of taking up the work further. Ten years later proceedings were begun in the courts to have the franchises of the Monongahela Navigation Company de- clared void and to vest them in the Board of Public Works of the state. The opportunity was never taken advantage of by the state. Before long the dams of the company which had withstood the flood were declared public nuisances and ordered to be removed by the courts. Thus ended the only serious attempt to improve the navigation of the West Fork river. The people of northwestern Virginia were never able again to secure the aid of the state in a project for making the river navigable.
If the roseate dreams of John G. Jackson and other promoters of the enterprise had been fulfilled, Weston, at the head of navigation of the West Fork river would have been the metropolis of central West Virginia. If the project was to fail, it is as well that the work was abandoned before the added volume of the water from the Buckhannon river spread over the rich bottoms of Stone Coal.
The trade with Pittsburgh and other points down the river grew in volume notwithstanding the failure of the Monongahela Navigation Company. Flatboats con- tinued to be built and canoes continued to be floated down the river filled with the produce of the settlers. The owners generally returned in canoes, bringing the necessities of life or cash which they had received for their produce. The river was also used for the transpor- tation of poplar and walnut logs which were floated to Clarksburg, and there formed into rafts to be floated to the shipyards above Pittsburgh.
The principal interior routes of transportation con-
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EARLY TRANSPORTATION
tinued to be the roads which had been constructed through the forests or along the edges of clearings. New roads were located every year, and those in exist- ence were improved. The worst places were corduroyed with poles. Gradually bridges were being provided to enable the traveler to cross the streams at all times. In 1820 a small bridge was thrown across Maxwell's run by the supervisors of three nearby precincts on the order of the county court, but it was an insignificant structure, the work of thirty men for two days. Most of the smaller bridges of the county were similarly constructed by the combining of "companies" of different overseers. A special act was passed by the Assembly in 1826 which enabled the county courts of Lewis and Tyler counties to lay an additional levy of 331/2 cents to build bridges, repair roads and locate new roads. The act bore imme- diate fruit in Lewis County. The same year the first bridge of any considerable size in the county was con- structed across Stone Coal creek near its mouth by Jas- per Butcher. It was a rather sorry structure which re- quired considerable repairs in 1832 and was replaced by another bridge after ten years' service.
The next bridge to be built by the county was one across the West Fork river at Weston. In July, 1829, the county court appointed Levi Maxwell and John Lorentz commissioners to build a frame bridge across the West Fork river at the western extremity of Second street, to be placed on stone pillars "if in their Opinion it will be best." The bridge was completed the next year "on stone pillars." It remained in use until replaced by the state bridge in 1847-48. In 1832 the court ordered the erection of a large and expensive bridge across the Buckhannon river at the mouth of Jaw-bone run, which stood for many years. The same year bridges were built across Hacker's creek just below McWhorter's Mills, and across Freeman's creek about a mile above its mouth. The latter continued to do service until the present cen- tury, though it was often in poor repair. The efforts
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
of the court for the next few years were confined to meeting the assessments for the construction of the Staunton and Parkersburg turnpike. In 1839, the build- ing of bridges was resumed when Abner Mitchell was designated to construct a wooden bridge to span Canoe run near its mouth. From that time forward many of the most important crossings of the county were bridged with more or less permanent structures, some of which have continued in use until almost the present day.
A last attempt to clear the West Fork and the Lit- tle Kanawha rivers and render them navigable was made by the court in 1836. A resolution was passed ordering the sheriff to summon the justices to meet at the October term to determine the advisability of letting a contract to clear the rivers of stones, trees and rubbish. A copy of the resolutions was ordered forwarded to the courts of Monongalia, Harrison and Wood counties, but no answers were received, and there is no record of any further action having been taken by the court of Lewis.
Prosperity was to come to Weston from the im- provement of the old Indian trail through the Polk creek and Stone Coal valleys, which by 1847 was a part of a main highway extending half way across the state. As early as 1823 the General Assembly directed the Board of Public Works to inquire into the expediency of a survey by the principal engineer of the state to fix the location of a road from Staunton to the mouth of the Little Kanawha river. The board reported promptly, affirming the desirability of such a survey. In March, 1824, the General Assembly passed an act providing for the opening of the road "to promote the improvement of that part of the State," and "to reduce the amount of the mileage of the public officers going to and returning from the State Capital." The sum of $1,600 was appro- priated each year out of the revenues derived by the state from Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Lewis and
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EARLY TRANSPORTATION
Wood counties to open the road, provided, that the counties named would raise an equal amount.
The share apportioned to Lewis County was $400, but the county court seems not to have taken any action toward laying a levy for the construction of the road. Private citizens resolved not to allow the opportunity to pass for want of sufficient funds from Lewis County. They organized a campaign and raised the amount by subscription by the latter part of 1825.
Most of the funds raised at this time were expended in making improvements in roads already in existence. The Randolph County court in 1814 had provided that a packhorse road should be laid out from Buckhannon to Beverly ; Harrison County had established a ferry across the Buckhannon river and provided for laying out a road from Buckhannon to Henry Flesher's (Weston) ; Lewis County had established a road from the ford of the West Fork at Weston to the ford of Polk creek above Henry Flesher's, and later (1821) from Lewis Stallman's on Leading creek to the Wood county line on Hughes river. The Staunton and Parkersburg turn- pike followed practically the route of these old trails, which may be said to have been the beginning of the through route from Richmond to the Ohio river at Par- kersburg.
The location of the turnpike was not finally fixed for several years. By the end of 1826 it had been sur- veyed only to the mouth of Riffle's run in Randolph County. In order to hasten the work, the General As- sembly directed that the county courts of Lewis, Ran- dolph and Wood counties should each appoint one com- missioner to lay off the remainder of the road by way of Beverly and Weston to Parkersburg. In 1828 the principal engineer was directed to examine the location of the road from Weston to Parkersburg with power to change the location already fixed by the commission- ers. The work of surveying the route was finished the same year.
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
An act of the general Assembly, passed in 1830, pro- vided for the raising of $50,000 by a lottery, the pro- ceeds of which were to be divided among the counties of Pendleton, Pocahontas, Randolph, Lewis and Wood according to a stated proportion. The act also directed the county court of each of the above-mentioned coun- ties to appoint a superintendent of construction. Two years later the amount appropriated for the construction of the road by the General Assembly was further in- creased, provided the county courts of the four counties through which the road passed should raise an equal amount.
The work of construction of the road to Weston was vigorously pushed. With the completion by the Lewis County court of the bridges across the Buckhannon and the West Fork rivers, the turnpike was a fairly good dirt road from Staunton to a point beyond Weston by 1835. The effects of the construction of the turnpike were already being seen in that year in the great num- ber of new settlers who bought lands on Stone Coal and Polk creeks, and in the increased patronage of the Wes- ton Inn and the Weston Hotel. The crowds were made up mostly of emigrants who came as far as Weston and then went either to the Northwestern turnpike at Clarks- burg or followed the trails which led westward from Weston. By 1836 the business of keeping emigrants had become so profitable that Martin Smith, of Stone Coal creek and William J· Rice, of DeKalb, on the Little Ka- nawha river, applied for licenses to keep houses of pub- lic entertainment.
The work of completing the road west of Weston was delayed by the slowness of Wood County in rais- ing the amount apportioned by acts of the General As- sembly. In 1837 it was reported that the road was un- completed through Wood and the western part of Lewis. The principal engineer of the Board of Public Works made an examination of the country the following year with a view to eliminating the difficulties with the Wood
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EARLY TRANSPORTATION
County court, which seemed satisfied with the Northwest- ern turnpike then connecting Parkersburg with the east. In his report he recommended several alternative routes west of Weston which would have made it join the Northwestern turnpike east of the boundaries of indif- ferent Wood County. The change in the location was not carried out, as the General Assembly had determined to construct the road by the most direct route without regard to the aid received from the county courts. A long step forward was taken in 1838 when the legisla .. ture authorized the Board of Public Works to borrow $150,000 for the construction of the road from Staunton westward.
Work was begun in earnest in 1838. Large forces of . men were engaged at both ends of the line but little pro- gress was made in the eastern section for some time. The Board of Public Works experienced considerable difficulty in securing laborers due to the higher wages paid in the east and to the competition of such works as the Valley turnpike and the James River canal. The difficulties were gradually overcome and the construc- tion of the road hastened somewhat by the large grants of money from the state legislature. No longer com- pelled to rely upon support from the backwoods coun- ties through which the road passed, the promoters had reason to expect that it would soon be completed ac- cording to the best principles of highway construction then known.
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