USA > West Virginia > Webster County > Moccasin tracks and other imprints > Part 3
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between Cowen and Upper Glade. It crossed the Gauley at the old Indian Ford near the Jones mill. From that point it crossed the mountain through the low gap on the Gallogly place, and continued up the Williams river to its source. A branch of this path led up Elk river by way of the fork lick, but it was not so well marked as the other one. When the first settlers came to the county these two trails could be easily traced, and the one passing through the Glade country can be located at this time, although it has not been traveled for more than one hundred years.
Another route traveled by the Indians visiting Webster county was up the Gauley from the Kanawha. It left the Gauley at the mouth of Little Elk and pro- ceeded up that stream, crossing through a low gap to Peters creek and led on by the way of Beaver and Strouds creeks to the Gauley at Allingdale.
But few Indians visited this section after 1750. Had Webster county not been an interior county the history of Indian depredations would have been very different. Savage fury fell with the greatest violence on the settlers who lived nearest the permanent homes of the Indians.
It is ever with a feeling of sadness that the his- torian writes of a conquered and vanished people. The strife and hatred that existed between the Indians, the unlettered children of the forest, and the white men, who in many ways were their superiors, were of such a character that the great-grandchildren of the con- querors still harbor a feeling of resentment against the subjugated people. This is but natural, when it is re- membered in what a cruel manner the Indians treated
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their captives-many of whom were the immediate an- cestors of the present generation.
The print of the moccasined foot of the Indian is no longer seen along the banks of our rivers. The old pioneer with whom he fought is no longer seen in the door of his rude cabin on the lookout for the approach of his mortal foe. The buffalo, the elk. the deer. the bear, and the wild turkey have been driven from their accustomed haunts. The hunting ground over which the contending parties quarreled and fought has been converted into farms and is now being tilled by the pale faces. Populous cities, busy with the hum of in- dustry. occupy the place where once stood the humble dwelling of the Indian. Where he buried his kindred and covered the grave with stones to prevent the body from being devoured by wild beasts, the white farmer. after removing the stones, cultivates his crop unmindful of any desecration. The whistle of the steamboat is heard on the streams over which the Indian silently but simply paddled his birch-bark canoe. The off- spring of the savages who occupied the territory now embraced in the state of West Virginia is today living on western reservations and dress and live like the white men, who are their neighbors. They have fine churches and commodious school houses. They are al- lowed the right of suffrage after they have broken up their tribal relations, and when they have adopted the white man's mode of dress.
III. EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT OF WEST VIRGINIA.
It was twenty-five years after the tide of migration had reached the base of the Alleghany mountains be- fore any one attempted to cross them. The region beyond was but little known, and no roads led across them. Here and there Indian trails and buffalo traces led across their black summits. Even after explorers and other adventurous men had penetrated the vast region beyond. the home seeker was slow to follow.
The venturesome explorer was very early in the his- tory of Virginia attracted to the Trans-Alleghany region, and many hastened into the land of the setting sun to make discoveries and to explore the country.
As early as 1670 Henry Batts crossed the mountains and reached the New river valley. The party under his leadership was sent out to search for gold and silver. Batts reported the discovery of a new river four hun- dred and fifty yards wide flowing due north, and he expressed the opinion that the white cliffs and towering mountains beyond this river might contain silver and gold. In 1671 the governor of Virginia sent out an- other exploring party to continue the work, and they passed within the territory of West Virginia into what is now Monroe and Mercer counties. The stream these explorers reached was called the New river, because it was not located on any of the maps of Virginia.
In 1669 John Lederer. a German, was commissioned by Governor Berkeley, of Virginia, to make explorations to the westward. On one of his exploring expeditions he crossed the Blue Ridge near Harper's Ferry and
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continued his journey until he probably arrived at the Cheat river. This was sixty-two years after the settle- ment of Jamestown. He was probably the first white man to visit that region, and he made a map of the country visited. This map is still in existence.
Robert de La Salle, the most noted French explorer, heard of a large river to the west. He started from Canada and traveled by way of New York, accompanied by Indian guides.
He reached the Alleghany, which he descended to its junction with the Monongahela. in 1669. He floated down the Ohio to the falls, where Louisville, Kentucky. now stands. Here he was deserted by his Indian guides and was compelled to return. This expedition resulted in the French claim to the Ohio valley.
The most noted of these exploring expeditions was led in person by Alexander Spottswood. governor of Vir- ginia. In 1716. at the head of a party of thirty horsemen, he left Williamsburg. the capital of the Virginia colony, and entered the western wilderness for the purpose of crossing the mountains. The Blue Ridge and the Shenandoah river were crossed, and still the party pressed forward. In the month of October the little party, surrounding their leader. stood on one of the highest peaks of the Appalachian moun- tains, which was most probably in Pendleton county. West Virginia. and drank a health to the English sovereign, Geoge I. On his return to Williamsburg he instituted the Trans-Montane Order. or Knights of the Golden Horseshoe. for the purpose of inducing emigra- tion to the regions beyond the Alleghanies. He pre- sented each one of the party who accompanied him on
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the expedition a miniature horseshoe, bearing a Latin inscription, which meant "thus he swears to cross the mountain". These were given to any one who would accept them, with the understanding that the recipient would comply with the terms implied in the inscrip- tion. This induced many persons to cross the mountains, and when they had beheld the fertile hills and valleys beyond, each greatly desired to make a home there for himself and his family.
John Van Mater, a Dutch trader, who had his head- quarters with the Delaware Indians, in Pennsylvania, traveled towards the south in 1725 to trade with the Indian tribes on the Potomac. When he returned to New York he gave a very glowing account of the land visited and advised emigration to the South Branch.
This led to the Van Mater patent of forty thousand acres of land received from Governor Gooch by his sons, Isaac and John. A portion of this grant was in Jefferson and Berkeley counties.
The first white settler within the present limits of West Virginia was Morgan Morgan, who, in 1727, built a log cabin on Mill creek, in what is now Berkeley county. He was a native of Wales. Later in life he became a minister of the gospel and was appointed the first justice of the peace when civil government was instituted west of the mountains, in 1743.
In 1728 some Germans from Pennsylvania crossed the Potomac at the "Old Pack-horse Ford", and estab- lished the village of New Mecklenberg. The name was afterwards changed to Shepherdstown, in honor of Thomas Shepherd. This is the oldest town in West Virginia.
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The Van Maters, in 1731. sold a part of their land. which had been patented in 1730, to Joist Hite. In 1132 the Joist Hite colony, consisting of sixteen fam- ilies, settled near Winchester, now Frederick county. Virginia. They came from York, Pennsylvania. While this colony was not within the state of West Virginia, it greatly influenced the settlement of the Eastern Panhandle.
This western movement along the borders of Penn- sylvania. Maryland, and Virginia greatly incensed the Indians. who made incessant war upon the settlers. A commission was named by the three colonies to treat with the chiefs of the Six Nations. A treaty was signed in 1344 at Lancaster. Pennsylvania. in which the region lying between the Alleghanies and the Ohio was ceded to the English.
During the next decade many events transpired that had a tendency to attract attention to the regions of the west. George Washington, a lad of sixteen. was employed by Lord Fairfax to survey that portion of his land lying between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany mountains. This work was done in 1747 and 1748.
Heretofore the settlements had been made in the Potomac and Shenandoah valleys east of the great Alle- ghany range, but now this great barrier was to be crossed and settlements made beyond it. Between 1748 and 1751 three important companies, the Ohio Com- pany in 1248, the Loyal Company in 1749, the Green- brier Company in 1751, were formed and each received a large land grant in West Virginia. Many of the most illustrious men in the Virginia colony were mem- bers of these companies. They were formed for the
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purpose of speculation and to induce emigration to the country west of the Alleghanies. The Ohio Com- pany was instrumental in preventing the French from getting possession of the Ohio valley.
The first emigrants followed well defined Indian or buffalo trails across the mountains. These in many places were widened by them and logs and other ob- structions were removed. There were six well marked paths or trails followed by the settlers who crossed the Alleghany mountains.
The most northerly of these was the Nemacolin trail, located by Colonel Thomas Cresap in 150. It extended from Cumberland to Pittsburgh! Colonel Cresap employed an Indian named Nemacolin to mark out the best route from Cumberland to the Ohio, hence the name. Four years after, George Washington widened the path while leading an army which was sent against the French. The next year General Brad- dock improved the road and extended it to Braddock', Field. This road influenced the history of West Vir- ginia only indirectly. The first trail south of Nemac- olin's in West Virginia was Mccullough's. This path was followed by a trader by that name, who traveled it between Shenandoah and the Ohio. It extended from Moorefield on the South Branch across the Alleghanies, by the way of Mount Storm, into Maryland and con- tinued into Preston county. where it was known as the Eastern trail. From there it continued to the Ohio.
General Washington followed that trail in his mem- orable journey to the Ohio, in 1784.
The Horseshoe trail was about twenty miles south- west of the Mccullough trail. It crossed the Cheat
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river at a place called the "Horseshoe". This path branched from the Mccullough trail near where the town of Gorman, in Grant county, is now located. It crossed the dividing ridge not far from the Fairfax stone. It crossed the Cheat river, passed over Laurel hill to the Valley river, two miles below Philippi, and continued to the Ohio.
Thirty miles south of the Fairfax Stone was the Seneca trail, which was also called the Shawnee trail. This is the trail followed by that tribe of Indians after the massacre of the whites at Fort Seybert under Kill- buck. in 1258. It led from the mouth of Seneca creek, in Pendleton county, across the Alleghanies to the Dry Fork of Cheat, and from thence to Tygarts valley. where the town of Elkins now stands. It fol- lowed the Tygarts valley almost to its source, and then crossed over to the Little Kanawha, and on to the Ohio.
The Pocahontas, or Dunmore trail, was thirty miles south of the Seneca. It crossed the Alleghanies to the headwaters of Greenbrier river. One branch led into Randolph county, and another one led to the Kanawha.
The Greenbrier trail was south of the Pocahontas trail. It led from the Greenbrier river across the Alleghanies into Virginia. It was over these trails that the first white men entered the region west of the Alle- ghany mountains.
The first settlers in Preston county entered that region by way of Mccullough's trail; following the Horseshoe trail, they found homes in Tucker, Barbour, Upshur, Lewis. and Harrison counties. Thomas Par- sons brought the first wagon that crossed the Alle-
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ghanies by way of this trail. Randolph county was set- tled by people who came across the mountains by fol- lowing the Seneca trail. Soldiers in Dunmore's War of 1774 followed that trail to their homes in Hamp- shire county and the Valley of Virginia.
The Pocahontas trail was a thoroughfare for settlers entering Pocahontas county or for those who wished to enter the Kanawha valley. Neither of the above men- tioned trails passed directly through Webster county, but the people, or their ancestors, who eventually found homes within its limits, traveled one of these Indian trails.
The French, the great commercial and territorial rival of England, was attracted to the rich lands of the Ohio valley and at once recognized the importance of occupying the country and fortifying their positions before they were assailed by their English rivals. This occupancy of the Upper Ohio valley by the French threatened to dispossess the English of the fairest por- tion of North America. The English prepared for war, and sent an army to America under General Edward Braddock. He, accompanied by Colonel George Wash- ington and the Virginia troops, marched against the French forces stationed at Fort Duquesne by way of the eastern portion of West Virginia. His utter defeat on the Monongahela, ten miles south of the fort, left the frontier unprotected from Indian ravages and violence. Instigated by the French, the savages waged a relent- less war, and hundreds of the settlers were either killed or carried away into captivity. Many forts were built along the frontier and whole settlements sought protec- tion and safety within their friendly walls. The French
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and Indian war closed by treaty in 1763, but the In- dians, under Pontiac, a powerful Ottawa chieftain, continued on the warpath for more than a year.
General Bouquet, in 1764, led a large force of Penn- sylvanians and Virginians against the Indians and de- feated them in a bloody battle at Brushy run, Pennsyl- vania, and with an army of fifteen hundred men marched beyond the Ohio and made a treaty with the Indians.
By this time the tide of emigration had almost reached central West Virginia. The first attempt to settle the upper Monongahela valley was made in 1734. David Tygart, in company with a man named Files, built cabins in the vicinity of Beverly, in Randolph county. They found it very difficult to procure provis- ions for their families and they decided to move east- ward. Before this decision could be carried into effect the Files family was attacked by Indians and all were ยท killed, except one small boy, who was some distance from the house when the attack was made. He hastily warned the Tygart family, all of whom were saved by flight.
The Echarly brothers, in 1756. settled on Cheat river in what is now Preston county. Thomas Echarly was a physician of German ancestry from Pennsyl- vania. These three brothers reared their cabins on Dunkard bottom. not far from Kingwood. After a resi- dence of about two and a half years, the doctor went east for a supply of salt and ammunition, which he obtained in the Shenandoah valley. On his return to Cheat he stopped at Fort Pleasant on the South Branch. When he told about his residence in the far west he was
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not believed. He was thought to be a spy in the service of the French. A guard was sent with him, and when the cabins were reached his two brothers were found murdered and scalped by the Indians.
Thomas Decker and others began a settlement at the mouth of Decker's creek, a tributary of the Mononga- hela, in 1756. One winter was spent there, but, on the coming of spring, the settlement was attacked by the Indians and nearly all the settlers were murdered.
In 1761 William Childers, John Lindsey, John Prin- gle, and Samuel Pringle left Fort Pitt and ascending the Monongahela river passed over to the Youghiogheny. They spent the winter on that river and in the spring the Pringle brothers separated from the others, and journeying eastward reached the Looney creek settle- ment in Grant county. This was then the most west- ern settlement in northwestern Virginia. They spent some time in the glades of Preston county, where they were employed as hunters in 1764 by John Simpson, a trapper from the South Branch of the Potomac. A misunderstanding arose among them and a separation took place on Cheat river.
Simpson, after crossing the mountains to Tygarts Valley river, passed on to another stream which he named Simpson's creek. Further on he found a small tributary of the Monongahela, which he named Elk creek, at the mouth of which he built a house in 1764. This was the first cabin erected on the present site of Clarksburg.
The Pringles reached the Cheat and ascended it to the mouth of the Buckhannon river. They proceeded up that stream to the mouth of Turkey run, three miles
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below the town of Buckhannon, in Upshur county. Here they lived in a large hollow sycamore tree from 1764 to 1767. John then left his brother and went to the South Branch for ammunition. On his return he told his brother that the French and Indian war had closed nearly five years before. Both then returned to the South Branch and brought a number of settlers to the vicinity of Buckhannon.
The settlement of the Greenbrier valley had a greater influence on the pioneer history of Webster county than any other settlement in West Virginia. The Greenbrier river was the gateway to the Kanawha valley. The path followed by the traders on their way to the Ohio passed through that county and for that reason the Greenbrier valley was very well known to the whites at a very early date. The Greenbrier Company employed John Lewis to survey their lands in that region in 1749. The land was very fertile and settlers soon followed the surveying party. During the French and Indian war the Indians attacked the settlement and killed many. Those who escaped crossed the moun- tains. It is thought that no settlers were found in that region in 1758.
The first white settlers to reach the upper part of the valley were Jacob Marlin and Stephen Sewell. who settled at Marlin's Bottom, now the seat of justice of Pocahontas county, in 1749. Sewell, moving farther west, was killed by the Indians.
A settlement made in Greenbrier county in 1761 was utterly destroyed by the Indians in 1763. In 1769 a number of families again settled in Greenbrier county. John Stewart, who became a noted soldier and Indian
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fighter, came with these colonists, being but nineteen years old. From this time settlers moved in very rapidly and Donnally's fort, erected ten miles northwest of Lewisburg, became a refuge for the people during Indian incursions.
Ebenezer Zane, together with his two brothers, Jona- than and Silas, settled on the Ohio, at Wheeling, in 1773. Leonard Morris, in 1749, became the first permanent settler in the Great Kanawha valley. He settled near where Brownstown, (now Marmet), in Kanawha county, is now located.
Virginians who fought in the great French and In- dian war were given lands in the Ohio and Kanawha valleys. Many noted men, including George Washing- ton, located lands in these rich valleys. The land on which the city of Charleston is now located was granted to Col. Thomas Bullitt, in 1773, for services rendered in the above mentioned war. This land was afterward transferred to his brother, Cuthbert, who sold it to George Clendenin in 1787. The next year George Clen- denin moved to the mouth of Elk. He was accom- panied by his father, Charles, his brothers, William, Robert and Alexander. They erected a block house, which afterwards served the purpose of court house and jail. The block house was later called Fort Lee and when, in 1794, the forty acres of land owned by George Clendenin was laid off in city lots, the town was called Charleston. in honor of the father of the founder.
The battle of Point Pleasant, fought in 1774, between the Virginians and various Indian tribes, in which the latter were defeated, further opened up the Trans- Alleghany region for settlement, but immunity from
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savage barbarity was not secured until after Wayne's great victory over the Indians at the battle of Fallen Timbers, in 1795.
The population of the territory now embraced in what is now West Virginia was, at that time, about sixty thousand, which was but little in excess of the number of people living in Kanawha county according to the census of 1910. This was about six times the population of Webster county, as ascertained by the same census. A large majority of these people were native born and thoroughly American in manners and customs.
When the tide of migration had reached the Kanawha and Ohio rivers, an eastern movement began. The trails followed by the pioneers in their westward move- ment led either north or south of Nicholas, Clay and Webster counties. It was on this eastward migration that many settlers found homes in the above named counties.
IV. GEOGRAPHY AND TOPOGRAPHY OF WEBSTER COUNTY.
Webster county lies southeast of the central part of West Virginia, among the spurs of the Alleghany mountains. Webster Springs, the seat of justice, situ- ated near the center of the county, is thirty-eight de- grees and fifteen minutes north latitude and three de- grees and fifteen minutes longitude west from Wash- ington. It is bounded on the north by the counties of Braxton, Lewis and Upshur : on the east by Randolph and Pocahontas; on the south by Greenbrier and Nicholas, and on the west by Nicholas and Braxton. The area of Webster is four hundred and fifty square miles, which is almost the exact average of the fifty- five counties of West Virginia. It is ten square miles less in extent than Monroe; ten more than either Wayne or Wetzel and twenty more than Lincoln.
The surface is broken and uneven: the smoothest parts being found in the Glades surrounding Cowen and in the vicinity of Hacker Valley.
The rivers flow in a westerly direction. Between the streams extend long parallel ridges varying in height from five hundred feet to two thousand feet above the river beds. The elevation above sea level varies from one thousand feet to four thousand three hundred feet. The Yew Pine mountains, among the head waters of the Gauley, the Elk and the Williams rivers, are the highest points in the county. Point mountain, between the Elk and the Back Fork, is the next highest, and attains an elevation of four thousand feet. Other noted mountains of local prominence are Miller moun-
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tain, just north of Webster Springs; Hodam moun- tain. between Holley and Hodam creek, and Cranberry Ridge, between Williams and Cranberry rivers.
The Little Kanawha and the Elk leave the county at an elevation of one thousand feet. The Gauley leaves at an elevation of two thousand feet and the Cranberry crosses the southwestern part of the county two thou- sand two hundred feet above sea level.
Following the boundary obliquely on the west from north to south the following streams would be crossed : Little Kanawha river. Left and Right Forks of Holly river, the Elk river. Laurel creek. heads of Little and Big Birch rivers. Strouds creek. the Gauley river, and the Cranberry river. The principal tributaries of the Little Kanawha in the county are the Right Fork and Buffalo run : those of the Back Fork of Holly are Laurel Fork, Hodam creek and Old Lick Run: those of the Right Fork of Holly, are Grassy creek, Desert Fork, and Laurel Fork.
The chief tributaries of the Elk are Laurel creek. which rises in the vicinity of Cowen: Back Fork. emptying its waters into the main river at Webster Springs, and Leatherwood and Bergoo creeks, flowing from the south.
The Gauley river has its origin in the spruce and hemlock forests of Webster and Pocahontas counties. Its chief tributary is the Williams river. which affords more water where it empties into the Gauley than that stream itself. Its mouth is about six milejs above Camden-on-Gauley. Other smaller streams flowing into the Gauley are Strouds creek and Big Ditch run, com- ing from the north: the clear sparkling waters of
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. Turkey and Straight creeks unite with the Gauley from the south. The Cranberry, which empties into it in Nicholas county, flows through a portion of the south- Western part of Webster.
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