10 Years Ago
Week of September 3, 2015
Navy Base Disestablished
A 60-year chapter of Pendleton County history came to a close Tuesday as the Navy Information Operations Command Sugar Grove was officially disestablished. The gates to the base will close permanently Sept. 30. The portion of the facility commonly known as the upper base is operated by the National Security Agency and will remain open.
The Navy’s presence in Pendleton County began in 1955 when the site at Sugar Grove was selected for a Naval Research Laboratory project that would utilize a large 600-foot parabolic antenna for advanced communications research. A 60-foot prototype of the antenna was completed in 1955. This antenna was used for feasibility studies for the ten-fold larger, 600-foot parabolic antenna, aptly called the “Big Ear.”
Advancement in technology and increased automation in Naval communications changed the mission of the bases several times over the years.
40 Years Ago
Week of September 5, 1985
Yesteryear in Pendleton
By Janet H. Conrad
Henry Ford revolutionized transportation in America with the Model-T Ford. Ford made the statement that his car could be serviced and repaired by the owner. This was true.
Four tools were essential: a four-way monkey wrench, a tire pump, plenty of tire patches and cement, plus a syringe to fill the battery with rain water.
My memory of a Model-T covers three items: isinglass curtains that snapped on and off, stopping to refill the radiator and changing a flat tire.
My husband has a much more intimate memory of a Model-T. He knew it inside and out. A trip to Harrisonburg required stamina and adventure. None of the creeks were bridged so all had to be forded. Raleigh Springs Pike was a delight after the crooked mountain road. It was straight and relatively smooth and the expression “bowling along” was used when describing the turnpike.
The first tires on cars were solid rubber, and the invention of the pneumatic was an advancement in comfort. The rough roads and thin tires contributed to many flats. One became an expert in patching a tire in the least possible time.
There were three pedals on the floor connected to three corresponding bands in the planetary transmission. The left pedal was the clutch, the middle was the reverse and on the right was the brake. These bands could be taken out through a small door or lid on top of the transmission just under the floor boards and new lining riveted to renew their life.
Even in the best weather, the passengers in the back seat used a lap robe, a carry over from buggy days. The snap-on curtains helped to curtail the wind but a cold day was still bitter cold, as a heated brick lasted just so long.
During the early 30’s, my husband taught in the Sweedlin Valley School. To save the family car, he bought a Model-T for traveling the nine miles to the school. The road was primitive. Although there was a bridge over the water, seven creeks had to be forded. One winter was extremely cold with snow drifts and ice that made roads impossible to travel.
One week the snow was so deep he boarded with the parents of his students. Friday came and the Ford refused to start. The oil in the crank case was too cold. A friend advised the teacher to jack up a rear wheel and place a burning torch under the crank case until the oil became warm. This worked rather quickly and the teacher started the car and was able to return home.
The amazing thing to me is that the flame did not cause an explosion. However, Henry Ford knew what he was doing when he built that sturdy car, the Model-T Ford.
50 Years Ago
Week of September 4, 1975
849 Spelunkers Attend Annual Reunion At Thorn Spring Park
Caving enthusiasts by the hundreds gathered over the Labor Day weekend at Thorn Spring Park three miles north of Franklin for their 26th annual “Old Timers Reunion.”
“Thorn Spring Park was so full of tents and other camping paraphernalia that a camper could hardly go out of one tent without going into another,” commented a local resident who was amazed at the congestion of tents and flags and campers he saw as he drove by the park.
A total of 849 spelunkers registered for the weekend’s activities, and a hundred or so others attended various portions of the program who did not register.
“It was the largest attendance we have ever had,” said Tom Williams of Alexandria, Va., who was in charge of arrangements for this year’s affair.
“Franklin is the caving capitol of the eastern United States,” observed Williams. “There isn’t another locality anywhere in the eastern part of the country that is as much frequented and loved by cavers as is Franklin and Pendleton County.”
The World’s Best Scarecrow Is a Purple Martin Birdhouse
WASHINGTON — “The world’s best scarecrow,” says a veteran backyard gardener, “is my purple martin birdhouse.”
What’s scary about a birdhouse? The inhabitants: Purple martins not only put a fine-feathered fear into such vegetable garden villains as crows, but they also snap short the lifespan of countless insects—a single martin gobbling perhaps 2,000 a day.
When America was a wilderness, the purple martins nested in woodpecker holes or in natural cavities in trees or cliffs.
However, Indians attracted martins to their villages by hanging up gourds with entrance holes cut into them. The Indians welcomed the martins because they fearlessly chased away crows from crops.
Sparrows and starlings may move into a purple martin birdhouse and drive away the intended occupants when they show up later. So some gardeners keep the birdhouse holes corked up until the martins arrive.
In the United States martins begin arriving in early spring after wintering in South America.
70 Years Ago
Week of September 1, 1955
Wedding Ceremony Held On Seneca Rocks Sunday
A wedding ceremony on Seneca Rocks became a reality last Sunday afternoon for Roland Leavens and the former Miss Doris McCartney, two young mountain climbers from Bay Village, Ohio.
The couple had been planning the event for several weeks but shortly before the appointed date they found that it could not be an official ceremony because they were not residents of West Virginia.
They were determined, however, not to be deprived of their mountain peak ceremony last Saturday in the Bay Village Methodist Church and then motored to Seneca Rocks for a repetition of their vows Sunday afternoon.
In the presence of an estimated 500 persons who had gathered at the foot of the towering rock formation to witness the event, the wedding party began the ascent to the proposed wedding site.
Included in the wedding party along with the bride and groom were the Rev. Rondell Browning, pastor of the Circleville Methodist Church who performed the ceremony, the parents of the bride and groom, and several members of the Pittsburgh Explorers, a mountain climbing group in Pittsburgh.
The party began climbing at 1 p.m. and it was not until 4 p.m. that they had reached the summit of the 1,000-foot south peak and were ready to begin the ceremony.
Shortly before reaching the summit, the bride changed into a white lace wedding gown in a hastily improvised shelter. Leavens changed from his climbing garb into suit pants and sports shirt.
Down below automobiles jammed the roads as the occupants, many with binoculars, watched the performance of the wedding in the clouds. Also recording the distant event with telephoto lens was a camera crew from a Wheeling television station.
When the party reached the foot of the rocks following the ceremony an impromptu reception was staged. Later on, Leavens remarked, “It made us feel good the way people here received us.”
As they were about to leave, Tpr. Bill Cunningham of the Franklin State Police detachment pulled them over to the curb. After observing a few moments of uneasiness while the trooper wrote the ticket, Leavens asked what the charge was. He was then handed the ticket which read, “for failure to present the bride to be kissed.”
Trooper Cunningham also handed the newlyweds a bag of lint arrowheads and other relics which was a gift of the people who live in the vicinity of the Seneca Rocks, once the happy hunting ground of the Seneca Indians.
EDITORIALS
Caving, an Absorbing Hobby – – –
The National Speleological Society is holding its Labor Day Reunion in Franklin this weekend for the second consecutive year. It was largely by chance that leaders of that organization selected Franklin for the site of their reunion last year, and they were so well pleased with the accommodations provided by local restaurants, hotels and motels and the hospitality of Pendletonians that they are back again this year.
We feel that the society’s return this year is a high compliment to Pendleton County. This is especially true when it is remembered that NSS is composed of high class people, most of whom are highly educated scientists, and all of whom are fine people to know.
While there are many who would consider anyone a bit “tetched” in the head who would drive several hundred miles just to crawl down through a hole in the ground, yet a single trip through a cave cannot help but create in the average human being a mysterious fascination. The stalactites that hang like icicles from the ceilings, the towering stalagmites and the manganese dioxide that glistens like black diamonds in the rays of light makes one feel that he is in a different world.
But it is not only a mystical fascination for these subterranean chambers that has induced several thousand persons to join the National Speleological Society. The society has also attracted many scientists because it affords an opportunity to make technical studies of caves in the fields of mapping, mineralogy, archaeology and biology. So rather than seeing caves as mere holes in the ground, we find it quite reasonable to see them as a limitless field for scientific research, a thrilling sport and an absorbing hobby.
In fact, we think it is rather nice that we have so many caves in Pendleton County. Even if we don’t get around to exploring them ourselves, we are sure that those who do visit them will be interesting people to know, and we hope they will come back each Labor Day and several times in-between.
80 Years Ago
Week of August 31, 1945
AGRICULTURE
Reorganize Department
Created in 1933 to help lift farmers out of the depression slough, and revamped in 1936 to give them a greater voice in its formulation of programs, the Agricultural Adjustment agency—the famed triple AAA—passed out of existence in a recent organization of the department of agriculture by Secretary Clinton Anderson.
Organized primarily along commodity lines, the new super-agency, known as the production and marketing administration, will be headed by J. B. Hutson, with directors for the livestock, dairy, poultry, fats and oils, fruits and vegetables, sugar, grains and tobacco industries.
LIONS CLUB NEWS
The Franklin Lions Club, at a recent meeting, voted to pay the Franklin Volunteer Fire Company’s note of $370.00. At the same meeting the club voted to give $630.00 to the Franklin Band organization toward the purchase of uniforms. These two donations alone amount to $1000.00 and the club is very proud that it can do this much for civic betterment.
As everyone knows, all the money taken in by the Lions, at its various projects and activities, is used for civic improvements.
Plans are being formulated now to obtain a suitable site and erect a swimming pool. The success or failure of this enterprise will depend a great deal on how well the public is willing to cooperate in the purchase of land.
At present the Lions are operating a Bingo stand every Saturday night to raise funds. As you have so loyally supported us in the past, we ask you to again patronize us and come out and play Bingo.
This is good clean entertainment for a good cause.
Help the club that helps you.
