History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 28

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066

USA > West Virginia > Kanawha County > Charleston > History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens > Part 28

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Seeing that there was not room for two rail- roads, the two enterprises were practicaly con- solidated, and General Watts and Judge Drew united their efforts to build the railroad, but were unsuccessful up to 1901, when General Watts opened negotiations with John V. R. Skinner and E. E. Fox of Massillon, Ohio, who organized a syndicate composed of themselves and others from Cleveland, Canton, and Coshoc- ton, Ohio, prominent among whom were Con- gressman J. W. Cassingham, and Judge Wm. A. Lynch. This organization owned large and important tracts of coal land in the Coal River basin. A "memorandum plan" was adopted whereby a portion of the railway stock was sold to the Ohio syndicate, and an agreement was made for the issuance of bonds of the railroad company, which were subscribed and purchased by the Ohio syndicate, and out of the funds thus furnished, the first actual construction of the Coal River Railroad was begun in August, 1902. The work was under the supervision of Mr. Skinner, and was completed to the mouth of Fork Creek on Big Coal River, a distance of 17 miles, in 1904.

The road was equipped, and operated for a period of about eighteen months, when the shareholders of the railroad company made sat- isfactory arrangements with the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. for the shipment of the coals from the lands owned by them; the General Watts Syndicate and the "Ohio syndicate" then sold their shares to Senator W. A. Sproul of Pennsylvania, who subsequently sold the same to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Co. who are operating the road at this time, having ex- tended the system up both Big and Little Coal rivers, embracing a mileage of about eighty- five miles.

Marvelous developments have attended the building and extension of this railroad, until it has become the principal freight and passen- ger feeder of the main line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway west of Richmond.

In 1899 Judge Drew and associates had pur- chased of the late D. W. Emmons of Hunting- ton, a tract of land on Brier Creek, of the waters of Big Coal River, of about 6,000 acres in extent, underlaid with the celebrated "Black Band coal;" they opened mines on the same, and constructed a line of railroad into the interior

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of the tract about four miles in length, connect- ing with the main line of the Coal River Rail- road.

THE KANAWHA & MICHIGAN RAILWAY COMPANY

The present company was twenty-one years old on April 25th, 1911, having been incorpo- rated in 1890, but before that date the railway itself had appeared under many different names, the first being the Guyandotte and Ohio River Railroad and Mineral Company, chartered by an act of Legislature, February 28, 1872, to build a railroad, but which was unable to carry out its intention. Possibly the name was too much of a handicap for on April 26, 1881 it was changed to the Atlantic and Northwestern Railroad Company.

The Richmond, Toledo and Chicago Railroad Company on February 21, 1881, was incorpo- rated to build from some point on the Ohio River in Mason County through the Counties of Mason, Putnam, Kanawha, Fayette, Raleigh, Summers, Monroe and Mercer to the state line and on June 27, 1881 this company sold its property, rights and franchises to the Atlantic and Northwestern Railroad Company.

North of the Ohio River the Atlantic and Lake Erie Railway Company was incorporated June 12, 1869, to build from Pomeroy on the Ohio River in Meigs County, northward through central Ohio to Toledo. This company likewise found it desirable to change its name April 29, 1876 to the Ohio Central Railway Company, which succeeded in building 28 miles of line between Bremen and Central City, Ohio, before passing into the hands of a re- ceiver, July 9, 1877. March 26, 1878 the Co- lumbus and Sunday Creek Valley Railroad Company purchased the middle portion of the unfinished line, namely between Central City and Athens, and on the same day the Ohio Central Railroad Company purchased the north end of the line between Central City and Toledo and the south end between Athens and the Ohio River. December 20, 1879 these companies were consolidated as the Ohio Central Railroad Company, by January 1, 1880, the line had been completed from Thurston to Corning, and June 30,1882 the line having been constructed from Corning to the Ohio River, was consolidated

with the Atlantic & Northwestern Railroad Company under the name of the Ohio Central Railroad Company, this company went into the hands of receivers Oct. 31, 1883, in the meantime however, the bridge over the Ohio river had been constructed and the line extended from Pt. Pleasant to Charleston. On October 22, 1885 the railroad in Ohio was sold to the Ohio and Kanawha Railway Company, the portion in West Virginia to the Kanawha and Ohio Railway Company, on June 25, 1886, the bridge was sold to the Pt. Pleasant Bridge Company. The two ends of the railroad were again consolidated April 20, 1886 as the Kana- wha and Ohio Railway Company, which how- ever passed into the hands of a receiver Feb- ruary 19, 1889. The present company, the Kanawha and Michigan Railway Company, was incorporated April 25th, 1890 and on July I, 1890, purchased the Charleston and Gauley Railway from Charleston to Dickinson which was then extended to a connection with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at Gauley Bridge and opened for operation August 21, 1893.

For the first ten years of its existence the present company was controlled by The Toledo & Ohio Central Railway Company and made little, if any, advancement; for the next ten years it was controlled by the Hocking Valley Railway Company and during this period its first real development took place. Through the financial aid and co-operation of the Hocking Valley Railway Company it was enabled to se- cure the equipment necessary to secure traffic and its earnings were used to bring the line up to the requirements of modern transportation.

In March, 1910 the control of the company again changed hands and is now owned jointly by The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company and The Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railway Company, each of which owns more than four-ninths of its capital stock. The con- trol of the property by these two great cor- porations, which are vigorous competitors for business at all points, augurs well for the future of the property and assures its continuous de- velopment.

COAL AND COKE RAILROAD

This line of transportation extends from Charleston on the Kanawha up Elk River to

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Elkins in Randolph county, where it unites with other roads, going eastward to the coast at Bal- timore and other cities. This road began as a small affair, and was known as the Black- Jack-Railroad. But little had been done there- on when it went into the hands of the Charles- ton-Clendenin and Sutton Railroad Company in 1890-1904, when it became the Coal and Coke Railroad. Henry G. Davis is the presi- dent thereof.

While in the control of the Charleston-Clen- denin and Sutton it was built to Clay Court House-about sixty miles-and by the C. & C. Ry. Co. to "Roaring Creek," near Elkins-183 miles. Senator Elkins was greatly interested in the Coal & Coke Railroad and was doing much to make it pay.

We find in the Superior Court of Appeals the record of the suit in which is involved the question whether the two-cent railroad fare was or was not legal in the case of this road, owing to the fact that the country through which it runs is a sparsely settled one with but little development, etc.

Like all railroads, the C. & C. Ry. Co. has had complaints made of it, to the effect that it was running to help its own concerns and in- dustries and that when there was waiting to be done, it was the other fellows that had to wait.

This road passes through territory filled with coal, timber, oil and gas, that may make a good farming country some day. It has the pros- pects for great wealth in its future development and in the hands of Mr. Davis, its president. it should grow in favor of all men.

VIRGINIAN RAILROAD

The Virginian Railroad .- This railroad runs its cars from Charleston to the South and East, through the great Pocahontas coal field. through Blue Stone, Bluefield, Radford and Roanoke to Norfolk. It is a different road from all other roads: it is well built and well managed and, while it may not make as much noise as some, it keeps going and hauls as much coal or more and does as much business as any road.

KANAWHA AND W. VA. R. R.

The Kanawha and West Virginia Railroad

This is a short line running up Elk, on the north side of Elk River, until it reaches the mouth of Blue Creek, and then it crosses Elk River and the Coal and Coke Railroad and proceeds up the creek known as Blue Creek to- ward the Gauley River. It is passing through coal, oil, gas, timber, farming land and a good country, and is developing all of these products. Lately an oil well has been found at the mouth of Blue Creek which promises a new oil field.

C. C. & S. R. R.

The Charleston, Clendenin & Sutton R. R. Co. was built from Charleston 64 miles up Elk river ; 28 miles was added and crossed Elk and from Elkins to Charleston is 175.6 miles; with its branches, C. & C. is 199.8 miles. It con- nects at Charleston with the Kanawha & Mich- igan Railroad and over the K. & M. tracks with the Chesapeake & Ohio. The Coal and Coke trains arrive and depart from the depot in Charleston from the station of the Kanawha & Michigan Railroad. They have thirty loco- motives, twenty-four passenger cars, and 2,186 freight cars, etc. ; and cost of this equipment is $1,885,956.30. From Elkins via Western Maryland R. R. you pass through Parsons, Hendricks, Thomas to Piedmont on the Balti- more and Ohio Railroad.

DAVIS CREEK R. R.

The Davis Creek Railroad has been in a crippled condition, owing to the overflow of said creek and the washing-out of many of its bridges and culverts about the time of a change in the management of the coal property along its line. This property must come to the front as a coal property and it must have this railroad repaired.

B. & O. R. R.

There is the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, with its main line through the north end of the state, from Wheeling and from Parkersburg to Grafton and eastward to Washington and Baltimore : also from Pittsburg down the Ohio river through Ravenswood, Millwood, Point Pleasant, Huntington and Kenova, and from the Ohio to Spencer in Roane County and to

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Ripley in Jackson; and other lines directing their ways to Kanawha on all sides.

The Norfolk and Western Railroad is al- most the only road that has not made an at- tempt to reach Kanawha County. We know that it runs from Hagerstown, Md., south through Virginia to Barie and to Roanoke. We know that it runs from the Ohio river at Kenova up Dandy river, through Wayne, Lo- gan, Mingo, through the towns of Welch, Bluefield, Radford and Roanoke, and from Roanoke to Norfolk.

With the railroads and the rivers, it must be said that the Kanawha country is blessed with the facilities to go almost anywhere with- out doing much walking, which was not the case when Daniel Boone represented this county in the legislature, for, it will be remem- bered, he walked all the way to the Capitol and back home again, carrying his baggage.

KANAWHA AND PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD

This may be called a short line, or a begin- ning of a line that may be made a very im- portant one to Charleston. It runs on the lower side of Elk river, opposite to that occu- pied by the Coal and Coke R. R., and when it reaches the Blue Creek vicinity, it crosses Elk River and goes up Blue Creek into the coal-oil- gas country, heading its way into the Gauley river country. It finds plenty of coal and tim- ber to haul, and like the C. & C. R. R., can hitch on to the Kanawha and Michigan Rail- road and ship almost anywhere north, or it may utilize the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad or the "Virginian" and ship east or south.

CHARLESTON TRACTION CO.

In 1898 the Charleston Traction Company was bought at sheriff's sale by W. W. Hazard.

At that time the Company had its lines on Vir- ginia Street, Capitol, Washington, and Brad- ford Streets, Tennessee and Bigley Avenues. The cars, six in number, were of the single truck type, with only one man, the motorman, in charge of each car. In 1900 it was bought by T. J. Carmack, and its name changed to the Kanawha Valley Traction Company ; and under this management several new cars were placed in service. He, in turn, sold to the United States Natural Gas Company, in 1904, and the next year the road was bought by W. C. Sproul and associates, among whom was Hon. W. E. Chilton. The road remained in the hands of this company for five years, during which time it developed into a modern and up- to-date traction line. Track was laid on Up- per Virginia and Washington Streets, Dryden and Patrick Streets, and the line was extended to the Kelly Axe Plant in West Charleston and to Edgewood Park. The company bought eighteen new cars and otherwise increased the efficiency of the service.

At the beginning of 1910 the Charleston In- terurban Railroad Company was formed, with Hon. W. E. Chilton as president, Hon. W. A. MacCorkle, vice-president and F. M. Staunton, secretary and treasurer. This company leased the present lines of the Kanawha Valley Trac- tion Company, with the intention of extending the road to St. Albans in one direction and to Montgomery in the other. The line was im- mediately extended as far down the river as South Charleston and will be, as soon as is practicable, further extended. The company employ about 75 men and operate II cars reg- ularly. The large power plant and car barns are located on Virginia Street near Tennessee Avenue.

CHAPTER XIII

DISTRICTS AND TOWNS

Township Act of 1863-Commissioners for Kanawha County-The County Divided into Ten Townships-The Word "Township" Changed to "District"-Sketches of Poca, Union, Jef- ferson, Washington, Loudon, Cabin Creek, Malden, Elk, Big Sandy and Charleston Dis- tricts and of Brownstown (or Marmet), St. Albans, Malden, and Other Towns.

The State of West Virginia was formed by setting apart certain counties in the western part of Virginia to constitute said state. After the state was made, the said Counties remained the same, and then the Constitution of 1863 provided that each county should be divided into townships, not less than three, nor more than ten.

This division was a new thing in name and it was borrowed from the northern states- each Township should elect its own officers- the Supervisors, elected by each Township, should constitute a Board, known as the Super- visors of the county, the governing body of the county.

An Act (ch. 27, 1863) provided for the ap- pointment of commissioners to divide each county into townships-for Kanawha, the Com- missioners were ; George Belcher, John T. Rey- nolds, John Atkinson, Hiram Holston, Andrew Cunningham, David Shirkey and John L. Coke.

The Townships for Kanawha were ten in number, and the names given were; Big Sandy, Elk, Poca, Union, Jefferson, Washington, Lou- don, Cabin Creek, Malden and Charleston; they met and made, laid out and bounded, each township, which is made of record.

The Constitution of 1872, provided that each county should be laid off into Districts, not less than three, nor more than ten, and that the "present subdivision of the counties by town- ships shall constitute such districts," etc. This abolished townships and supervisors and substi-

tuted districts and the County Court, in the place thereof.

BIG SANDY DISTRICT

Big Sandy District. This lies on both sides of Elk River, next to Roane and Clay Counties and includes the territory watered by Big Sandy River, and part by Little Sandy, on the North side of Elk; and on the South side, by Morris Creek, Leather Wood and Falling Rock Creeks. The district is noted for its coal, oil and es- pecially its natural gas. It has many good farms and good substantial people, plenty of timber, bark and whoop-poles, and it has one town Clendenin, on Elk, at the mouth of Big Sandy, which has saw-mills, a national bank, two bridges and stores, shops and things that a town generally has, and a good place to locate factories, where cheap fuel is desired, and good people are appreciated. They have no saloons, but do have churches and schoolhouses.

Big Sandy is the most eastern of all the dis- tricts into which Kanawha is divided. Roane county forms its northern boundary, Clay county lies to the east and Elk district to the west. Elk river flows in a southwestern direc- tion and divides it into two nearly equal parts. Falling Rock creek, Leather Wood creek and Morris creek rise in the southern part, have a northwest course, and empty into Elk river. Big Sandy creek drains the southwestern part of Roane county and finds its way in a south- west direction through this district and dis-

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HISTORY OF KANAWHA COUNTY

charges its waters into Elk, four miles below Queen Shoals.

John Young, the first white settler in the dis- trict, located on what is now known as the old "Norman Young plantation," about the year 1790. William Naylor came in 1795 and set- tled at the mouth of Jordan's creek, seventeen miles above Charleston. When he came he found John Slack living just above the mouth of Mill creek, John Young, as before mentioned nearly opposite Falling Rock creek, Edmund Price nearly opposite the mouth of Blue creek and William Cobb, M. D .- the first physician on Elk river-residing one mile up Big Sandy, not far from the present site of Osborn's Mills. These were the only settlers in this part of the Elk valley in 1795; but soon thereafter John Stricklin, John Hayse, George Osborne, John Snyder, James Hill and Henry Hill found homes on the banks of Elk river.

Frontier life as it really appeared to these early settlers, was well described by Stephen Naylor-a son of William-who when a boy played amid the wild scenery of this then wild country. Mr. Naylor said: "My first school teacher was John Slack; the second was Robert Mitchell. We had two ways of getting bread -the hominy-block and hand-mill; for a sieve we stretched a piece of deer skin over a hoop and then perforated it by burning holes with an ordinary table fork. After several years my father built a mill on Jordan's creek-the first in the Elk river country-after which we fared better. Our clothing was made from flax and cotton which we raised and manufactured with our own hands. The supply of meat came from the forest; we killed bear, deer and turkeys, and got our salt from salt springs on Kanawha."

THE LAST ELK

Mr. Naylor farther said: "I remember the killing of the last elk killed on Elk river. It was on Two-Mile creek. It seemed to be a stray one that the wolves or hunters had sep- arated from the herd, and driven eastward from the wilderness then lying between the Elk and Ohio rivers. Its tracks had been discovered on the headwaters of Pocatalico river and Big Sandy creek, and several hunters were in pur- suit of it. One of the name of Burgess shot

at it while it was swimming Elk river, but missed it. Once south of the river it crossed the Elk road at the east end of the Cabell farm where then stood a large walnut tree. Old "Billy" Young saw it from his house and pur- sued it to Two-Mile creek, where he shot it while standing in a hole of water. He sent my father some of the meat, and kept the horns for many years. They were so large that when standing upon their points a man of ordinary height could walk between them without stoop- ing. This elk was killed in the year 1818, and was the last ever killed in this part of Vir- ginia."

The first minister who visited this section ap- pears to have been the Rev. John Bowers, of the Methodist Church, in the year 1800. The first society organized was that of the M. E. Church at Falling Rock creek in 1837. The meeting was held in a log cabin and the mem- bership at the time of the formation numbered 40; they continued to worship here until 1857, when the place of meeting was removed to Jor- dan's creek.

The Village of Chilton is situated on the north bank of Elk river at the mouth of Big Sandy creek, twenty-one miles from Charles- ton. It was laid out in the year 1877 by William E. Chilton, the former proprietor of the lands on which it stands. Its present population is small.

CLENDENIN

The town of Clendenin was incorporated May 20, 1904. This municipality is located on the east bank of Elk river in Big Sandy district of Kanawha county, at the mouth of Big Sandy river on the Coal & Coke Railroad, twenty miles from Charleston. There are by the census of 1910 a population of 815 persons therein-and this is the first time that it has been numbered.

It is the outgrowth of the Coal & Coke road and the Charleston, Clendenin & Sut- ton Railroad, the C. & C. succeeding the C. C. & S. R. R. Previous to said railroad running there, a town was on the opposite side of Elk, and was sometimes designated as "Mouth of Big Sandy" and sometimes known as "Chil- ton" after Squire Chilton, who for several

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years resided therein, and represented said district on the old county court.

The municipal part of the business is now done on the east side of Elk near the depot, and the station is known as "Clendenin." Be sides the railroad, there are several county roads leading into the town, coming down Elk on both sides and other roads coming from other parts of the county-if we may be par- doned for speaking of the ways as roads, for of all ways that either teams or horses or people ever had to pass over, some of these are the worst, and few, if any, could be worse than the streets. All this is made so by the un- usual amount of hauling with heavily-laden wagons, which is in consequence of the oil and gas pipes taken from Clendenin.

Navigation on Elk and Big Sandy rivers is about the same as it has ever been, but the encroachment on the roads is somewhat im- proved of late and the road packets generally come in on schedule time or next week.

The town is not very old but it is very lively. The depot indicates much business and the bank indicates that it is being transacted. The hotels seem to be pretty well filled and so do the churches. There is no end to the stores and shops and the weekly newspaper gives us the latest local news. The merchants have abundant stock and a large trade with the people and almost everybody has a gas or an oil lease to rely on, and the town is growing.

James Jarrett a few years ago had a fairly good cornfield, which has been spoiled with streets, alleys, lots and horses. There is plenty of good Elk river water to drink, gas to burn, but they have voted out the saloon and have no use for policemen. This locality used to have a few politicians and many Re- publicans but they have become too busy to waste time in a struggle for petty offices and they are now looking for their best men to attend to their business. We used to boast of Squire Swaar, of James Kelly, of Curt Young, Squire Lynch and Squire Young. Now we find Mr. James Jarrett, L. L. Kounts, Mr. Osborne, Mr. Wiley, Henry B. Campbell, Squire Stump and a host of others too numerous to mention.

Among the early families about the mouth

of Sandy were the Cobbs, including Dr. Cobb, who was said to have located there about 1808-1810; the Prices, Jarretts, Youngs, Stricklins, Hays, Mr. Woods, Mr. Davis and others. Arch Price killed the last buffalo on Elk. In the vicinity there are some queer names : "Falling Rock," "Blue Creek," "In- dian Creek," "Pinch" and "Potato" creek. Clendenin was named for the first settler at the mouth of Elk, who was really the founder of Charleston in 1788.

We find, besides, the commercial part of the town, the mills, the gas wells and the fac- tories therefrom and many lumber enterprises. The descendants of Lieutenant John Young and Bob Aaron still reside on Elk. Once there was a log boom on Elk and small packets ran also. There are two bridges at mouth of Sandy-one across Big Sandy and the other across Elk near by. This town only wants a railroad up the Sandy to bring away the coal and timber and take the necessities for oil and gas wells and the pipes therefor, the grain and such like products-this line across to Spencer would be a wonderful advantage.

There are four oil and gas companies ope- rating: United Fuel Gas Company, and Hope Gas Company, branches of the Standard Oil Company, which have been operating here for six or seven years; Koontz Oil and Gas Com- pany, organized in 1907 and the Clendenin Oil & Gas Company, organized in 1910.

The First National Bank of Clendenin was organized in 1902 with a capital stock of $25,000. The deposits amount to $150,000. The officers are L. V. Koontz, president ; J. A. Osborne, vice-president; and . C. F. Os- borne, cashier.

Among the business enterprises of the town we find the following: Robertson & Parris Company, general store; Clendenin Bargain Store, dry goods and notions; C. M. Morri- son, general store; Roush, Robertson Com- pany, general store; P. D. Matheny & Joshua Parsons, grocers; J. B. Cook, grocer; King Hardware Company, J. W. Parris Lum- ber Company; a flouring mill operated by David Pettigrew and F. Crowell. The phy- sicians of the place are: Dr. Grover C. Rob- ertson, Dr. A. L. Morris, Dr. A. C. Van-

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History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia and representative citizens, Part 28

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co Number of Pages: 1066

Author: Laidley, William Sydney, 1839-1917. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Chicago, Ill., Richmond-Arnold publishing co
Number of Pages: 1066