USA > West Virginia > Lewis County > A history of Lewis County, West Virginia > Part 2
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CHAPTER II. BEFORE THE WHITE MEN CAME
Unlike most other portions of the American conti- nent Lewis County and West Virginia were not occu- pied by the Indians at the time the first explorers tra- versed the region. The whole expanse east of the Ohio river, rich as it was in game, held not a single permanent human habitation. There were Indians to be found in West Virginia during the summer and autumn months when they came from their camps and villages in the Scioto valley and elsewhere for the purpose of hunting, but at the approach of winter they always returned to their permanent homes.
Indications in many parts of the county point to a large aboriginal population of more or less permanence. Village sites, artificial mounds, burial places and other evidences of habitation are the reward of the antiquarian in almost any part of the county where he undertakes his investigations. On the present site of Cleveland just across the right fork of the Little Kanawha river in Web- ster County there were ten or twelve earth mounds, five feet in height and about twenty feet in diameter. They were thought to have been of Indian origin, but what part the mounds played in the social, industrial or relig- ious life of the Indian is unknown. Excavation has failed to reveal any trace of their use as burial mounds. Just across the river from Jacksonville, in Collins Settlement district, there is an old field which, tradition says, is the site of an Indian village. There are to be found even now many arrow heads and broken pieces of flint which have been only partly worked into proper shape, indi- cating that a maker of arrow heads lived there in the days before the white men came. Near Round Knob school
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BEFORE THE WHITE MEN CAME
house on Big Skin creek there is a similar village or camping site. The remains of an important village were found at Arnold, and nearby another mound. Near the mouth of Canoe run there was also a mound.
It is on Hacker's creek, however, that the most im- portant archaeological discoveries have been made. Seven Indian village sites have been found in the main valley of the stream, besides one on Mckinney's run and another on Jesse's run. Temporary camping sites and scattered Indian graves have been unearthed all through the valley. On practically every elevated knoll or con- siderable tract of high bottom land the first explorers found a space which had been cleared for a village and nearby a burial ground where the dead had been laid to rest, from immemorial centuries. The locations which have been identified are Minor Hall's residence within the corporate limits of the town of Jane Lew, a second bottom at the mouth of Jesse's run, two locations within a short distance of each other on the farm of the late John Alkire, the original John Hacker settlement about one mile below Berlin, the old Cozad farm in the same vicinity, and two sites in Upshur County, one at the mouth of Rover's run and the other several miles further up the stream.
At the last named location there was a trace of Indian habitation of great interest to the antiquarian, When cleared in 1821 the site was covered with a growth of young sugar trees about twelve inches in diameter indicating that the place had in very recent times been occupied by Indians. The remains of a great ash-circle one hundred eighty feet in diameter are to be seen at the present time. It consists of a clear space sixty feet across surrounded by a heavy deposit of ashes in a belt sixty feet wide. The inside circle is thickly strewn with fragments of bone, mussel shells, pieces of broken pot- tery, flint more or less broken, and stone implements and ornaments. When first cleared the field is said to have been literally covered with fragments of shell and bones,
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
evidently the votive offerings of a tribe which had either been exterminated or driven away.
In a mound close by the ash circle were found a flint spear head, a broken arrow point, a small piece of stea- tite paint-stone and a single bit of charcoal. A finely carved stone pipe made from brown sandstone has been picked up nearby. A perforated steatite "banner stone" in almost perfect condition was plowed up near the same place many years ago. An effigy-like figure of Indian origin was found on the crest of a hill adjacent to Bear knob. Three stone heaps each about three feet high by eight feet in diameter and surrounded by a curbing are located near the Lewis-Upshur line. One of them was removed some years ago revealing a small bed of ashes about one foot below the original surface. Nothing else was there save a small flint spear head, which showed traces of having been subjected to heat. It is claimed that a fragment of an engraved sandstone tablet was picked up near the site of Berlin, together with a fine "chungky" stone, and a small copper pendant. Grooved stone relics were seldom found, though mysteriously pitted cup-stones have been picked up in every glen in the valley. A grave opened in 1890 near one of the vil- lage sites below Berlin contained a fine stone bird-head pipe and a polished slate gorget; in another, was a well- made celt, slightly damaged at the poll; and in still an- other, a clay pipe and a broken clay vessel containing part of the shell of a turtle. Not all the relics found in graves, in mounds or scattered singly throughout the valley were of aboriginal make. Besides the copper ves- sel mentioned above there was found in one of the graves below Berlin a small fragment of bright blue home-spun woolen cloth. Iron and steel tomahawks and a clay pipe stem of undoubtedly European manufacture have been discovered in other Indian remains in various parts of the valley. These trinkets must have been taken as booty in wars with the English settlers of Virginia
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BEFORE THE WHITE MEN CAME
or else have been secured in trade either from the Eng lish settlers in Virginia or from the French in Canada who reached the region of Lake Huron as early as 1615. Probably they were obtained from the latter source. It is hardly supposed that the mounds, burial places, etc., were built by the later tribes who were merely hunters in the valley and who therefore would hardly undertake any considerable works. They must have been con- structed within comparatively recent dates by a tribe who made their permanent homes in West Virginia. It may have been shortly after the first permanent English and French settlements in America, or it may have been at a considerably later time.
The Iroquois, or Five Nations, of New York (who became the Six Nations by the accession of the Tusca- roras of North Carolina in 1713) began a series of wars against the surrounding Indians about 1650, and within a century they conquered the mighty tribe of Hurons living to the west of them and had overrun all the terri- tory as far west as the Illinois and Mississippi rivers and as far south as Alabama and Mississippi. West Vir- ginia was included in the early conquests of the New York tribe. There were traditions among the Indians of long and bloody wars fought between different tribes. Several battles were fought among the West Virginia hills during which the streams are said to have run as with blood. It is possible that the Iroquois found a strong tribe occupying West Virginia whom they had to exterminate because they could not drive them out. The ash circle found on Hacker's creek is said to be very uncommon among the American Indians, and it may be that it was built by a tribe different in civilization from most of the other tribes found east of the Mississippi. All attempts to solve the riddle have been futile. The permanent aboriginal inhabitants of West Virginia will probably remain undetermined.
Very different is the case of the Indians who made their hunting trips to West Virginia in historic times.
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
According to Indian tradition the Iroquois in 1713, leased to the Shawnees and the Delawares the rights to hunt and fish in the district now embraced in West Virginia. These two tribes had left their settlements along the. upper courses of the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers in Pennsylvania upon the approach of the whites and had taken up their residence in Ohio with their principal seat at Old Chillicothe. From there it was a journey of only a few days to the magnificent hunting grounds of West Virginia. The Shawnees often came in considera- ble bodies bringing their women and children with them and remaining from early fall until the near approach oi winter compelled them to return to their villages. While the tribe was on one of these annual hunts it is claimed that Tecumseh, the greatest Indian military ge- nius who lived within historic times, was born on Hack- er's creek. The date of his birth is supposed to have been 1768, one year before the first exploration of the valley by the whites. The place is unknown, but it is said that the chieftain declared it to be one of the village sites of the valley, either about one mile below the pres- ent site of Berlin or at the mouth of Jesse's run. Both these sites were occupied as camping grounds by the In- dians within a few years before the first settlement by the whites, as is attested by the finding of brass but- tons and other perishable objects of European manufac- ture among the rubbish heaps left by the earlier occu- pants.
The Indians came to the Hacker's creek hunting ground and to others farther east by way of trails leading up the Little Kanawha river from its mouth, and thence: across the divide to the waters of the West Fork. The principal trail in Lewis County followed Leading creek from its mouth to its source and then crossed over to Polk creek, down that stream to its mouth, up Stone Coal creek, thence across Buckhannon mountain and down Saul's run to the Buckhannon. Many years after the coming of the whites the Staunton and Parkersburg turn -.
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BEFORE THE WHITE MEN CAME
pike followed this trail except where the course was changed for political or industrial reasons. The Indians also reached Lewis County by coming up Sand fork and crossing to Rush run, and by crossing from the head of Oil creek to Indian Carrying run whence it is only a few hundred yards to the West Fork river. This is the only spot where the Indians, within historic times, por- taged from the watershed of the Little Kanawha to the West Fork. The streams navigable for canoes are not more than three or four miles apart and the watershed is low. The old portage is now used by the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. At the Indian Carrying place there prob- ably stood an Indian house of poles and bark or other light construction, mentioned in some of the older land office records. An Indian canoe which probably was brought over the carrying place was found moored to some willows near the mouth of Canoe run by some of the first white men to visit that section, and this circum- stance gave the name to the stream. Settlers on Canoe run and Carrion run have a tradition that these streams were also used by the Indians in crossing from Sand fork to the watershed of the West Fork, and the name of the latter stream is declared by some to be a corruption of "carrying run". Freeman's creek was a short cut used by the Indians on their way to the Hacker's creek settle- ment. During the later years of the Indian wars it be- came necessary to station a body of men at the mouth of the creek to intercept them. Down Kincheloe creek came Indians who had come up Hughes river and crossed the divide. The Indians never came to the region by canoes during historic times, on account of the dan- ger that their retreat might be cut off by a small body of men near the mouth of the Little Kanawha. During their war with the whites they never followed the streams in the vicinity of the settlements, but made their way along the ridges and benches from which they could ob- serve the country and be comparatively safe from am- bush.
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
The so-called "Seneca trail" by which the Indians reached the settlements on the upper reaches of the Ty- gart's Valley, Shaver's Fork, the upper course of the Greenbrier and the South Branch of the Potomac, passed through the southern part of the county. Sometimes the Indians followed the Little Kanawha through the "Shoe- string" and at other times they came down the Left fork of the West Fork river, crossed to Abram's run and thence to Knawl's creek, a tributary of the Little Ka- nawha. The Buckhannon and Bulltown turnpike follow- ed the course in later years.
Persistent traditions exist in several sections affirm- ing the presence of white men in Lewis county before the coming of the permanent settlers. Several trees in the Lost creek valley were found by the first explorers to bear the letters "T. G." cut into their bark. The ex- plorers believed that the man who carved the initials had been lost; or rather by a method of reasoning, which an- tedated the teachings of present day philosophy by a cen- tury and a half, they concluded it was not the man who was lost but the region through which he wandered; and the stream has borne the name of Lost creek ever since. The letter "G" was found carved on a beech tree beside a spring on what is now Gee Lick run. The identity of the person who did the carving has remained a mystery, and the spring and the stream has been called G (or Gee) Lick from that time. It is quite possible that cap- tives may have been brought here by the Indians while on their hunting trips, but why they should have carved their names on trees is another question. At any rate no impetus to settlement or advancement in geographi- cal knowledge has ever been made by the mysterious "G" and "T. G."
There are legends also of buried treasure in two dif- ferent sections of the county. In a cave at or near the head of Stone Coal creek a Buckhannon dentist found, in 1867, a group of strange inscriptions which are sup- posed to relate to a rich mine near Indian camp in Up-
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BEFORE THE WHITE MEN CAME
shur County near which buried treasure might be found. The inscription had been revealed to him by one Calvin Smith, a squirrel hunter, previous to setting out for the west. The inscription reads: "Was fought for the rich minds swartus cnancu 1555 riten snath done while the batel." The legend in explanation of the story is that an Indian wearing arm bracelets of silver arrived at Jamestown shortly after the first settlement. He offered to pilot a party to the place where he found the silver for his jewelry. A large group ranged about "Swartus Cnancu" (who, by the way, is not mentioned in Virginia history as being an immigrant) and they proceeded to the wilds of what is now Upshur County. After digging 1555 pounds of treasure they were set upon by the sav- ages, and a great battle was fought, during which the white men blasted great stones to cover the opening, and Snath escaped to write inscriptions to guide them to the place in case of a return. It is said that much digging after buried treasure has been done by citizens of the vicinity, but needless to say, none of it has ever been unearthed.
Near the head of Canoe run there is a stone bearing a turkey's claw which, when looked at in a certain way, points to the spur jutting out from the low ridge oppo- site the mouth of the run. A legend in the community says that the marker indicates buried treasure. On the slopes of the knob a great deal of digging has been done in search of this treasure at various times.
NOTE-Most of the important archaeological discoveries on Hacker's creek were made by L. V. McWhorter and are more fully described in his "Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia." The McWhorter collec- tion of relics occupies a notable place in the State Museum at Charleston.
CHAPTER III.
THE BEGINNING OF SETTLEMENTS
The western frontier of Virginia from its earliest set- tlement by the whites was constantly changing, con- stantly pressing forward. The Virginians moved west- ward as immigration increased the need for new land. The early Scotch-Irish settlers in Pennsylvania were dis- appointed with the system of land tenure there, and they moved southwestward into the valleys which lie between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies and made new set- tlements for themselves in the wilderness. One of these settlements was in the Shenandoah; another and a more important one for the history of central West Virginia is on the South Branch of the Potomac. All along this stream and its tributaries by 1750 there was a thriving settlement composed of frontiersmen who, inured to hardship and privation and scorning the perils of the wil- derness, had laid the foundations for a new common- wealth west of the mountains. The total population in 1754 was estimated at 10,000 whites and 400 blacks.
Soon the more daring residents of the South Branch began to make new settlements west of the divide. By 1753 pioneers had reached the upper valley of the Ty- gart's Valley river; the next year the Echarlys built their homes on the Cheat river; and by 1758, a party of settlers had located on the present site of Morgantown. The Indian forays following Braddock's defeat in the French and Indian war broke up all these settlements, and even endangered the pioneers in the valley of the South Branch. There were many bloody massacres in that outpost of English civilization in America during the years that followed.
The treaty of 1763 brought peace with the French
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THE BEGINNING OF SETTLEMENTS
and their Indian allies; but the peace was not followed by the immediate reoccupation of the hills and valleys west of the Alleghanies. His Majesty, King George III, desiring to close the lands of the west to settlement until the Indian title could be extinguished by purchase, is- sued a proclamation, 7 October 1763, which forbade any of the colonial governments to grant the lands west of the mountains to settlers. The daring frontiersmen, fear- ing neither the displeasure of the distant king nor the dangers of the primeval forest, prepared to press farther into the wilderness. Their western progress was de- layed for a small space by the conspiracy of Pontiac, who fell upon the exposed settlements of the Trans-Alleghany section with fire and tomahawk. For two years the frontier was ravaged by bands of Indians, until finally they were subdued by an invasion of their own country.
It is one of the vagaries of fortune that the white man's civilization should have been brought to the bor- ders of Lewis County by deserters from the troops fight- ing against the Indians. Two of the soldiers who had enlisted for service in the western wilderness against the French and their savage allies were John and Samuel Pringle, brothers. While stationed at Fort Pitt, in the year 1761, they deserted the service, and with two com- panions fled to the wilds of the lower Monongahela. Subsequently they went to the upper glades of the Youghiogheny where they remained until the next year, when the party ventured to the nearest settlements at Looney's creek in search of supplies. Their companions were recognized and arrested, but the Pringles managed to escape. They soon entered the service of John Simp- son, a trapper who frequented their former haunts in the Youghiogheny glades. Hunting parties from the South Branch were destroying much of the game, and also mak- ing the two deserters uncomfortable from fear of cap- ture, and the three men determined to go farther west, where Simpson could obtain more furs, and where the Pringles would be more secure from detection.
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
It was not to be supposed that the Pringles, who had refused to subject themselves to their military superiors, would long obey the orders of a trapper like Simpson. After a violent quarrel in the wilderness they parted company. Simpson continued west along the Indian trail from the crossing of the Cheat to the West Fork valley. He encamped one night near the present site of Bridgeport, and gave his name to the creek which flowed past his camping ground. Pressing on, he reached the mouth of Elk creek, where he built his cabin on land now" included in the city of Clarksburg. He continued his res- idence there until the coming of permanent settlers again impelled him to go farther into the wilderness in his search for fur-bearing animals.
The two Pringles, fearing the punishment of the Eng- lish military law far more than the fury of the savages, did not turn back toward the settlements, but continued up the Tygart's Valley and Buckhannon rivers to the mouth of Turkey run, where they took up their abode in a hollow sycamore tree. Probably fearing detection from the Indians who had a village in the vicinity, they did not build a cabin, but continued to live in the hollow syca- more for three years. Late in the autumn of 1767 they found that they had remaining but two charges of pow- der. The younger brother braved the danger of capture, and visited the settlements on the South Branch to ob- tain a supply of ammunition. There he learned that the war with the Indians had closed some years before, and that the deserters would be safe in returning to the set- tlements. He returned at once to his brother with the news. They determined to abandon the old sycamore and go to the South Branch.
The lure of their old home among the pleasant dales of the Buckhannon was too great to be resisted. The next year they led a party of prospective settlers to their old camping ground, who were so well pleased with the country that they resolved to build their homes there. In the spring of 1769, a number of men came
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THE BEGINNING OF SETTLEMENTS
to the Buckhannon valley to make clearings, put out their corn crops and build cabins for themselves, pre- paratory to removing their families there. The names of the permanent settlers, many of whom were later intimately associated with the history of Lewis County, were John Jackson and his sons, George and Edward, John Hacker and Alexander and Thomas Sleeth.
With residents on or near the present sites of Clarksburg and Buckhannon in 1764, it seems impossi- ble that the exploration of the territory now embraced in Lewis County could be long delayed. Simpson seems to have confined his hunting trips to the vicinity of his cabin, and the Pringles were either indifferent woodsmen, or they feared discovery by the Indians, for they seem never to have ventured far from their hollow sycamore. It was almost five years before there is a record of any white men in Lewis County. After the coming of the permanent settlers to the Buckhan- non river valley, in 1769, explorations of the surround- ing regions quickly followed.
Within the party there was formed almost im- mediately a rude sort of division of labor; the home- seekers-men who had families-preferred to work on their claims; others, for the most part wild youths, un- trammeled with the responsibilities of life, preferred to rove through the hills in search of game. Those who had commenced their clearings were supplied with an abundance of fresh meat through the efforts of the hunters; and the latter secured their corn from the small patches which had been put out by the more in- dustrious settlers. The hunters probably never culti- vated much corn even after they were married, leaving the task for the most part to their wives.
While on one of their hunting trips the party, con- sisting of William Hacker, Thomas Hughes, Jesse Hughes, John Radcliff, William Radcliff and John Brown, came upon the headwaters of a stream flowing in a westerly direction to which they gave the name of
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A HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY
Stone Coal creek. They believed it led directly into the Ohio; but after following it several miles they discov- ered that it emptied into a stream which seemed to flow north. They followed it some three or four miles prob- ably, in order to ascertain its true direction and named it West Fork. They then returned to the settlements by a different route (probably by way of Hacker's creek). They gave such glowing accounts of the land they had seen that others came to see for themselves and were so impressed with its superiority over the land along the Buckhannon river that some of them determined to make their homes in the more western valley.
The first permanent settler in Lewis County was John Hacker. He had made his claim near the pres- ent site of Buckhannon, and during the absence of Samuel Pringle in the South Branch settlements he had cleared part of the land. Upon the return of Pringle, Hacker learned that the land had previously been claimed by him. Hacker willingly consented to give up his claim in favor of the older claimant on con- dition that Pringle should clear an equal amount of land which Hacker had selected on the stream which now bears his name. In one of the most beautiful sec- tions of the valley, about one mile below the site of the present village of Berlin, Pringle cleared some land near an old Indian camping ground, and John Hacker built his cabin there, probably in the fall of 1769 or early in 1770. John Radcliff and William Radcliff fol- lowed in 1770, and made settlements on the creek not far from Hacker's cabin.
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