USA > West Virginia > Webster County > Moccasin tracks and other imprints > Part 4
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It will be seen from the foregoing enumeration of streams that Webster county is one among the best watered counties in West Virginia. All of the rivers are noted for the transparency of their water. They are swift-flowing and furnish excellent water power for turning machinery, but this power has never been utilized, except for saw and grist mill purposes. The Elk is the largest river and enters the county at Whit- taker Falls at an elevation of two thousand five hundred feet and traverses the county for a distance of fifty miles. It has a vertical fall in this distance of fifteen hundred feet, which is an average fall of thirty feet to the mile.
The mountain sides bordering the streams are very precipitous and often high rocks project. making scen- ery of sublime beauty. The Webster county hills are greatly admired by hundreds of visitors who annually visit the county for the purpose of regaining strength and vigor or for pleasure and recreation.
The western portion, locally known as "Glades", is a plateau-like region and is not so mountainous as other parts of the county.
The climate is genial, salubrious, and bracing. On the higher elevations deep snows fall from November to April and a less amount falls on the hills and in the valleys. A record of the snowfall kept by Bowers Rose at his residence near Bolair for the winter of 1910 and 1911 indicated a fall of seven feet. This
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record was kept at an elevation of two thousand six hundred feet. Where the altitude is four thousand feet the amount of snowfall would have been about twelve feet. The winter above mentioned was an aver- age one of snowfall.
The heat of summer is tempered by the cool moun- tain breezes and spring and summer are ideal seasons. The annual rainfall is somewhat above the average for West Virginia, which is forty-four inches. Doliver Hamrick, of Webster Springs, kept a record of the rain- fall at that place for seven years, which showed the following results: 1904, forty-eight and seventy-three hundredths inches : 1905, fifty-one and sixty hundredths inches; 1906, forty-seven and twenty-six hundredths inches : 1907, fifty-nine and twenty hundredths inches : 1908, forty-six and thirty-three hundredths inches ; 1909, forty-five and fifty-seven hundredths inches ; 1910. sixty and seventy hundredths inches. Average for the seven years, fifty-one and thirty-four hundredths inches. It will be seen that the greatest rainfall oc- curred in 1910. with sixty and seventy hundredths inches, and the least in 1908, with forty-five and fifty- seven hundredths inches.
Reckoning by months the following was the result in inches for the year 1909: January. three and forty- six hundredths: February, two and thirty-two hun- dredths: March, four; April, seven and fifty-five hun- dredths: May. three and eighty hundredths; June, nine and fifteen hundredths: July, two and thirty- three hundredths; August, one and seventy-five hun- dredths: September. three and sixty-five hundredths: October, one and seventy-nine hundredths; November,
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two and fifty hundredths; December, three and twenty- seven hundredths.
For the year 1910, January, three and forty-six hundredths; February, two and seventy-two hun- dredths; March, one and eight hundredths; April, five and fifty hundredths; May, five and seventy-three hun- dredths; June, eight and fifty-eight hundredths; July, four and sixty-two hundredths; August, two and eighty-seven hundredths: September, five and sixty- seven hundredths: October, four and ninety-two hun- dredths; November, seven and thirty-five hundredths, December, eight and twenty hundredths.
For these two years the least fall was in November of 1910, with only one and eight hundredths inches, and the greatest in June of 1909, with a precipitation of nine and fifteen hundredths inches.
Protracted droughts are not of frequent occurrence. there being a sufficient rainfall for maturing all kinds of farm crops.
Webster county is situated in the Transition life zone. This zone embraces most of the climatic condi- tions and products of the New England states. It is bounded on the north by the Canadian zone. This county has the characteristic types of animal and vege- table life of both of these zones. Of the Carolina types the sassafras, the poplar, and the pawpaw are typical trees; the opossum, the raccoon, the Virginia red bird, Carolina wren, and the tufted titmouse are animal types. The Canadian zone is represented by the hemlocks and birches, which are found in abund- ance throughout the county. Its animal life is repre- sented by the bay lynx, the red squirrel, and the white
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rabbit. The Transition life zone extends north and east through Upshur, Barbour and Preston counties. The characteristic crops of this zone are apples, plums, cherries, potatoes, barley, oats, and buckwheat. The glade portion of the county is peculiarly adapted to the growing of cranberries. No soil better adapted to truck farming can be found than in the river valleys of Webster county.
Number V.
Webster county is rich in historical materials, yet she has given to the world no son who has had the time or the inclination to weave them into historical narration.
The moccasin tracks of the old pioneers have long since been obliterated by the march of modern civiliza- tion. Pioneer history never repeats itself. In this country it ceased with the subjugation of the hostile Indians, the partial clearing of the forests, and the introduction of modern methods in house construction. It ceased when men and women began to put aside their home-spun clothes and buy their wearing apparel made to order. What real tragedies and comedies could be written from the experiences of the first settlers who moved into the Elk and the Gauley valleys. They left their homes and their friends in the east and followed the course of the setting sun, braving the fury of the Indians and the many privations and hardships incident to pioneer life. They have left us a rich heritage, al- though their life was one of hardship and privation. They obtained their living chiefly from the forest and the stream. Game of all kinds was plentiful and the streams literally swarmed with fish. They obtained sugar and syrup from the sap of the maple. The spinning wheel and the loom occupied a prominent place in every cabin. The women manufactured cloth from wool and flax. This was made into clothing by hand, sewed with flax thread of their own manufac- ture. The girls wore linsey-woolsey or tow linen dresses, colored with bark obtained from the trees of
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the forest. These dresses were not cut according to the latest fashion plates depicted in the Delineator. The moccasin was made from tanned deer skins and was worn by men, women and children. It was an excellent covering for the foot in dry weather. It. being soft and noiseless, was especially adapted to the foot of the hunter. The first white settlers in America learned how to make the moccasin from the Indians. The men wore leather breeches and a woolen hunting shirt. Their caps were made from the skins of the raccoon and the bay lynx, commonly called wild cat. The young men as late as 1840 were married in home- made linen suits and deer skin moccasins.
Colonel Isaac Gregory settled on the Gauley just above the mouth of Beaver run in 1800. On the hill overlook- ing the Gauley, he erected a two-story log house of hewed timber thirty by thirty-six feet, with a cellar underneath, walled with cut stone. A large crowd of people came from Greenbrier, Bath, and Alleghany counties to "the hanging of the crane". The first meeting of Free Masons in Central West Virginia was held in the house at that time. After the meeting the women and children were invited in and all joined in a regular "Old Virginia hoe-down". To the music of two violins playing such lively tunes as "Leather Breeches" and "Flat Foot in the Ashes" they danced until daylight. The Colonel becoming dissatisfied with his location. moved to Elk river, five miles above Web- ster Springs. He raised a company of soldiers and went to Norfolk to fight the British in 1813. He reared
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a large family of children, whose descendants still live in the community where he settled more than a century ago. By numerous intermarriages nearly one-half of the people of the county forty years ago could count blood-relationship with this grand old pioneer.
William Hamrick, a. son-in-law of Colonel Gregory, lived on Elk near the mouth of Mill run. He was a noted hunter and always kept a well-trained pack of bear dogs, and it was very seldom that bruin could elude their pursuit. He often killed one hundred deer and fifty bear in one year. The skins were taken to New Market, beyond the Alleghany mountains, and sold. This was the nearest market until a trading post was later established at Lewisburg.
William Dodrill settled on Birch river, near Boggs, in 1799. He came from Greenbrier county and was a tailor by trade. He made buckskin clothing of a very superior quality. The coats and vests were lined with silk or satin, trimmed with gold lace, and stitched with bright colored silk thread. The breeches had a very fancy silk fringe placed along the outer seam of the legs. These suits were sent east and were worn by military men, gentlemen of leisure, judges, county offi- cers, and sometimes by Virginia state officials.
The last elk seen in Webster county was killed in the Gauley river above the mouth of Straight creek, more than one hundred years ago. A man by the name of Cottle, who lived at Cottle Glade, in Nicholas county, was returning from a trip to Greenbrier county by the way of the Elk river. At the Chestnut Bottom ford,
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some distance above the mouth of Bergoo, he saw a large elk. He immediately returned to the nearest settlement for men. dogs. guns, and pack-horses. The trail was followed across the headwaters of Bergoo and Leatherwood to a place on Sign-Board ridge, near where John R. Baughman now lives. The afternoon being far spent, the leashes were slipped from the dogs, and they started in eager pursuit, bringing their quarry to bay in the Gauley. The hunters followed as fast as the rough nature of the country would permit. When they arrived at the river their flint-lock rifles would not fire. They had been loaded and primed in the morning and had been carried in the rain all day. Cottle, who always carried a hatchet in his belt, waded into the water to his armpits, and seizing the elk by one horn, chopped with such good will that the huge animal was soon despatched and dragged to the bank, where those engaged in the chase held a regular Indian war dance around the fallen monarch of the forest. The next day they had a sylvan barbecue. One of the hunters became deathly sick from eating too much marrow, but his life was saved after an application of the most severe remedies known in backwoods medical practice. In after years, when Cottle spoke of his ex- citing and dangerous adventure, he always remarked, "By the living Lord. I hewed him down".
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Buffaloes were probably the first distinguished vis- itors to the now famous Webster Springs. They came here in vast herds to drink of the saline water of the "Fork Lick." This lick, or spring, is just below the steel bridge that crosses the Elk. At the time in which
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the buffaloes visited the lick, the entire river flowed over by the "Golden Shore" and the lick was in the bottom instead of in the bed of the river, as it is now. The buffaloes sometimes traveled almost a hundred miles to drink the water, making deep roads called "buffalo traces" by the first settlers. The space of more than a century of time has not entirely obliterated these roads in the clay soil and shale on the sides of the Elk moun- tains. When the settlers found out the character of the water of the lick, they boiled it in iron kettles and made a very inferior quality of salt, there being con- siderable quantities of iron and sulphur in the water. These salt-makers found scores of buffaloes quietly ruminating in the shade of the trees surrounding the lick. Their meetings were not always peaceable ones. Battles royal often occurred between the leaders of herds from different localities. They would remain in the vicinity of the lick for two or three days before returning to the rich pasturage from whence they came. The last buffalo seen in Webster was killed by Colonel Isaac Gregory between the Back Fork and the Elk just before the war of 1812. The place where he was killed has since been called Buffalo Bull Knob. in commemoration of the event. Immense numbers of elk and deer also frequented the lick.
The hospitality of the early settlers was unbounded. Strangers were always welcome, as well as friends and relations. They were pressed to remain for days and were feasted on hoecake, venison, bear meat, maple syrup, hominy, and honey. They were naturally of a social disposition. Log rollings and house raisings were social events of no little consequence, and a wedding
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brought together the people for miles around. Every family received an invitation. After each of these functions the young people, and many of the older ones also, danced all night in moccasins on a puncheon floor. In the later years, when they had an opportunity to hear the gospel preached, they became deeply imbued with a religious feeling. and the Methodist circuit rider received a royal welcome in every home.
The days of the old pioneer have passed away. The moccasin tracks are gone. The first settlers who dared the dangers of frontier life in the unbroken wilderness of the Elk, the Gauley, and the Holly have crossed the great divide. Their achievements are only traditional history. No historian was present to record their actions in the subjugation of the wilderness. No Withers. Doddridge, or Kerchival has chronicled their leeds in burning words of perpetuity. Their deeds are living monuments in the memory of the older per- sons of the present generation. The younger members of the present generation know nothing of what the pioneers did or accomplished except what they have been told by the children of the actors in the great drama of the subjugation of the wild.
The buffalo, the deer, and the elk no longer visit the "Fork Lick." The dusky Indian no longer glides noise- lessly through the forest, nor does his blood-curdling war-whoop frighten the women and children. Their de- generate offspring has been removed to the far west. where they have long since discarded the deorskin moccasin. the tomahawk. and the scalping knife. In ยท their new home they are learning the vices as well as the virtues of their pale-faced conquerors.
Number VI.
There has been much discussion as to who first dis- covered the Fork Lick. Many persons have been given this honor, but no positive proof has been adduced to sustain any of these claims. The notes of a surveyor recently discovered in the Virginia Land Office bearing date of August 30, 1785, conclusively proves the name of the man who made the discovery. The survey was for a tract of two hundred and sixteen acres of land situated on the main fork of the Elk river, in Harrison county, granted to Samuel Hanaway and Joseph Friend. and was to include "the Fork Lick discovered by Abram Meirs". The time of the discovery is left to conjecture, but it was not long before the date given above. as an entry would soon follow such a valuable find. even in this country one hundred and thirty years ago.
One of the most noted lines made by a surveyor in West Virginia is what is known as the Greenbrier- Harrison county line surveyed by Thomas Douglas in 1183. It extended from the top of the Alleghany mountain's at the corner of Botetourt county to the Ohio river at the mouth of Pond creek. The general direction of the line is north fifty-five degrees west. The surveyor made a corner at the end of each mile. In after years a large number of surveys began at these corners and no land lawyer is thought to be well equipped unless he is well versed in these surveys. All territory in Western Virginia north of this line not embraced in any organized county was Harrison and
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south was to remain Greenbrier as organized in 177. This line entered Webster near the forks of the Wil- liams, passing through Upper Glade and leaves the county on the divide between Skyles and Laurel creeks.
The many difficulties encountered by the men who established this line cannot easily be imagined. The Indians were hostile; deep, swift rivers had to be crossed; high mountains offered many obstacles: pack horses could not be used to advantage, and the food and camp fixtures had to be carried by the men. Game and fish were plentiful and could be had in any quan- tities, but the luxuries of life were few. Plates were made from large chips and could be duplicated at any camping place. The only knife used was the hunting knife carried by every man who went into the woods.
Many deeds of heroism could be related of the early settlers of this country. While wild animals were neither so large nor ferocious as those of more tropical countries, yet a hand to hand encounter with a wounded bear or a seven-pronged buck was no easy victory for the hunter. Panthers, or mountain lions, as they are called in the West, were quite numerous, but they would not attack a man unless they were mortally wounded or in defense of their young. They fed almost ex- clusively upon venison, and a full grown panther would kill. on an average, fifty deer annually. The largest buck fell an easy prey to this rapacious animal. The panther lay in wait near a lick or deer path and sprang unawares upon his victim, burying his formidable claws deep in the flesh. The jugular vein or the tendons of the neck were severed with the teeth. The only way
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in which the deer could free himself before this could be done, was to run under some projecting tree or log and drag the panther from his back. This but seldom occurred.
William Barnett, a noted hunter, who lived on Birch river, had many encounters with bears. Among the many which I have heard him relate is the following :
In the days before the Civil War many bears could be found on Skyles creek or Poplar run. Mr. Barnett, early one morning in the month of November, started on his usual bear hunt, but he did not tell his wife the direction in which he intended to go. It was a fine day for a hunt and with a light, springy step, he hastened to his favorite hunting grounds on the head of Poplar which was about five miles from his home. His faithful dog, his companion on all his hunts, a small but sagacious animal, followed close at his master's heels. The hunter perhaps thought of the many fine trophies he had secured in those woods, but he little imagined that this was to be the most adven- turous day in his hunting career of more than a quarter of a century. Late in the evening, as the shadows be- gan to creep over the landscape, the dog returned home with a bloody cloth tied around his neck. Mrs. Barnett with quaking heart hastily informed her neighbors, who at once entered the trackless forest in search of the missing hunter.
Mr. Barnett had shot a very large bear and after reloading his gun, went up to where he was lying. Be- fore the hunter realized the danger, bruin seized him in his strong embrace and hunter and bear rolled down
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the hill against a log, where they were soon engaged in a life and death struggle. Unsheathing a large knife the gallant hunter struck again and again at the bear, but on account of his position, he could not reach a vital place. He struck the bear over the head until the brain was penetrated, and the decayed log breaking at this time the bear rolled down the hill, and not having sufficient strength to climb the ascent. soon expired while trying to reach the hunter. In the fight Barnett cut a large gash in his thigh, severing the muscles to the bone. He was completely disabled. With his hands a mass of wounds, he bound up the cut with strips of cloth torn from his shirt. He tied a bloody cloth around the neck of his dog, that had done everything he could to assist his master in the fight, and after re- peated whippings, he started off in the direction of home. The hunter then crawled to the bear and took out the entrails. He built a fire. using flint, steel and tinder for the purpose. He was not found until about three o'clock the next morning. He had called for help until he had become so hoarse that he could call no longer. He attracted the attention of his rescuers by waving a firebrand. He was almost frozen and the great loss of blood had made him almost delirious from thirst. The man who found him carried him water in his boot. He often said that this was the most delicious water he ever drank. He was carried home on a litter, and after lying in bed for many weeks, he recovered, but he was always somewhat lame afterwards. Many a bear in after years fell before his unerring aim, or felt the keen point of his hunting knife.
William Barnett, the hunter, was a man among men.
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The world was made better because of his having lived in it. He was an exemplary citizen and merited the respect of all who knew him. He had a rich fund of anecdotes of the chase which being told in his droll, humorous way, made him a prime favorite with the boys. He was a gunsmith and a Barnett rifle was highly prized by all sportsmen. The name was a guar- antee for honest workmanship. He died full of years, honored and respected by all of his neighbors.
George Mollohan and Joshua Stephenson were dev- otees of the chase when the great portion of Web- ster and Braxton counties were a part of Nicholas. Mast very seldom failed and game of all kinds was plentiful and in prime condition. These two men were brothers-in-law and spent much of their time together in the woods. Mollohan was a man devoid of fear. When he was a young man. he attacked a full-grown bear with a "seng" hoe and would have killed him had he not stepped on a slick pole and his moccasins being wet, he slipped and fell. The bear taking advantage of this mishap, made good his escape. On another occasion he found a yearling bear in a persimmon tree. Climbing the tree, he caught the bear and after choking it into insensibility. he tied its mouth with his suspenders and carried it home in triumph.
Stephenson was not renowned for his bravery, but he was a very good hunter. These two men in the month of November went to the head of Little Birch to hunt. They had not hunted very long until a large he bear was wounded. They thought they would make him furnish his own transportation up a very steep moun-
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tain. By throwing stones and barking like a dog, they drove him before them. When he showed fight, they let him rest for a while. In this way they reached the top of the mountain. Their surprise and chagrin can scarcely be imagined when the bear suddenly vanished from their sight as if by magic. On investigation it was found that the bear had entered a cave, or den. where bears had been in the habit of hibernating dur- ing the winter. Mollohan at once began preparation to follow bruin into the subterranean cavern. He made a pine torch and told Stephenson to shoot the bear when he drove him out. There was a short turn about twenty- five feet from the entrance to the cave and in turning the angle the hunter was greeted with an angry growl. Before he could shoot, the bear was upon him, and the torch was extinguished. There was not sufficient room for the bear to pass. and before Mollohan could reach the outer world. he was almost killed. There was scarcely a square inch of sound skin on his entire body. The flow of blood down his forehead almost blinded him. His clothing was torn to shreds. When Stephenson heard the fight begin, he became so frightened that he ran some distance and climbed a tall tree. It is needless to say that the bear made his escape. Mollohan was carried home by sympathizing neighbors and lay in bed for a year. He went into the cave the following autumn and got his hunting rifle. He afterwards moved to Braxton county and cleared a large farm. becoming one of the best farmers in the community in which he lived.
VII. THE HAMRICK FAMILY.
Patrick Hamrick settled in the Maryland Colony in the days prior to the American Revolution. He was the father of twelve sons, who moved with him and settled in Prince William county, Virginia. Some of these sons removed as far south as Georgia; some went to Kentucky. Benjamin and Joel settled in Greenbrier county, now West Virginia. Benjamin married a Mc- Million and removed to Cherry Tree Bottom, where the town of Richwood is located. From there he went to the Williams river, where he was informed of an intended Indian massacre. Hastily gathering together a few household articles and taking his family, he fled to Donnally's fort, situate in Greenbrier county, ten miles northeast of Lewisburg. One of his children, a boy only a week old, was carried by one of the men in the back of his hunting shirt one entire day without sustenance.
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