20 Years Ago
Week of October 3, 1996
Legion Post Installs Armed Forces Plaque In Courthouse
Hanging in silent reverence in the entrance hall of the Pendleton County Courthouse is a Memorial Plaque of members of the Armed Forces which lists the names of World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf, who paid the supreme price in service to their country.
As we view this Memorial, name by name, it will perhaps, have a different meaning to each of us. To me the writer, it is memories of growing up with a number of people whose names appear thereon: It is living memories of playing sports, going to school, double dating, participating in 4-H and enjoying our youth together. Recently, I visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington and observed a reporter from the Washington Post doing a story on “Why People Visit This Memorial.” The reasons given perhaps would also apply to our plaque here in Pendleton County. Here are a few: “One was a widow with a now grown daughter, who never knew her dad; another was a prospective bride, engaged, who was denied the happiness of marriage; then the father and mother who grieved the loss of an only son, and a grandmother, who now alone remembers a grandson now a name on a wall; and finally a veteran of the Vietnam War whose three buddies were killed on patrol; he was still asking, why not me?
Whatever your reason might be, we invite you to visit this Memorial Plaque of our Pendleton County Veterans who gave their lives for their country.
The placement of this Memorial Plaque did not just happen. The American Legion Post 30, under the direction and planning of Commander Olin Hoover and with the financial support provided by Keith Kimble, made this possible. Submitted by Herbert E. Eye
DAHMER
Captain Bill, Probably a Leader During Muster Days
A number of people have asked how William Propst receive the name Captain Bill. There were several William Propsts, and it was a way to make a distinction in one respect. He was an above average Propst in book knowledge at this period of time and could write a nice hand. He probably attended the Roman School for he grew up on the South Fork, married Eliza Swadley on February 9, 1837. They had one son, Hurvey. They migrated to Joplin, Missouri, where Eliza probably died. Anyway, he returned and later married Melinda Rexrode on the South Branch. They bought the property now the late Russell and Verna Propst farm purchased of Guy Martin. A very early owner was Michael Harold, and a nice ridge till bears the name Harold Ridge. Michael Harold is buried in the Dahmer, McQuain Cemetery. Captain Bill, probably a leader during muster days because his near neighbor, Levi Propst, could play the fife and his son, Amos, was a drummer boy. Amos was shot through the bowels at Mine Run during the Civil War. Gilbert Pitsenbarger is said to have sold Levi’s fife to John Bowers of Sugar Grove. People came to Captain Bill for advice and to write legal documents. One day Caroline Propst came to Captain Bill for advice. Caroline claimed that she had two suitors, William McCoy and George Wimer, asking her hand in marriage. Captain Bill after pausing a bit, answered in simple words, “marry the one you can get.” Caroline married George Wimer.
20 Years Ago
Week of October 2, 1986
Moorefield Bank Begins Work on Branch Bank in Franklin
Ground was broken last Wednesday for a new bank in Franklin. The South Branch Valley National Bank of Moorefield is in the process of building a new office here. It will mark the first time since the Great Depression that there will be more than one bank in Franklin and Pendleton County.
Robert Williams Of Franklin Is Lottery Finalist
Robert A. Williams of Franklin is one of eight finalists who will spin the lottery wheel today on the Grand Prize Show in Charleston for the $5 million jackpot. A winner would receive $250,000 a year for the next 20 years. Williams purchased his ticket from Franklin IGA.
Pendleton County Cave Yields Bones of Large Pleistocene Cats
By Boris Weintraub
National Geographic News Service
The big cats came to the same area of the complex underground cave known as Hamilton Cave, a few miles south of Franklin. Some of them died there, too.
Their remains lay undisturbed for about 600,000 years, until 1980, when Fred Grady, a Smithsonian lab worker and ardent caver, led an exploration party into the cave. They found beautifully preserved toe bones and the lower jaw and teeth of a jaguar lying on the ground in the damp, dark, J-shaped chamber.
Grady’s discovery prompted an investigation. The investigation focused on what has become one of the major collections of large Pleistocene animals, especially big cats, in eastern North America.
Among the 58 species whose remains were found in the cave, are a large cheetah-like cat, nearly the size of a modern lion; two varieties of sabre tooth cat; a bobcat; coyote; two kinds of bears, including a now-extinct short-faced bear; a free-tailed bat common in the southwest; and pikas, rabbit-like creatures now confined to the dry areas of the higher Rocky Mountains.
Since the remains dated to a relatively brief period of about 600,000 years, how could a jaguar, which usually is found in wooded areas, live alongside a cheetah-like cat, which presumably would live in open grassland. How could a desert cat live near a high-mountain pike?
Are some of the bones, such as those of a peccary, the remains of creatures that were prey for other animals? If so, why were they brought into the cave? Or did they not go inside for warmth on cold days, or to cool off on hot days in the cave’s constant 55-degree temperature?
Why did they go just in this 4-by-8-meter room and a few others nearby, and not into other underground passages? Why did the big cats go into Hamilton Cave and not into two adjacent caves in which only the remains of small animals have been found?
How did the cats die? They left numerous scratch marks on the walls of the cave. Were they merely marking territory, or do the scratches indicate that they tried desperately to get out of the cave, and failed?
And just how did these big cats make their way through the maze of passages, with ceilings so low that humans must sometimes crawl on their bellies, in order to reach the bone room? Was there another entrance, yet undiscovered, that some upheaval has closed?
All these open questions, however, don’t dim the importance of the find.
Inevitably, there were surprises. Jaguars, for example, were unexpected so far north. The cheetah-like cat also was a surprise. Only two species had ever been found in North America. One, about 2.5 million years old, came from Texas; the other, almost 10,000 years old, came from a cave in Wyoming. The Hamilton Cave specimen, about 600,000 years old, helps fill the gap in the evolutionary record.
Recent trips to the cave have concentrated on bringing out much of the dirt from the bone room so that it can be screened in the laboratory. Such screening can disclose many of the small animals that inhabited the cave over the eons, providing clues to the climate and ecology of the area at different times.
On one recent visit, the 13 members of the caving party hauled out more than 30 bags, weighing an average of about 20 pounds each, mostly by passing them hand to hand in a sort of horizontal bucket brigade from rear to front, often with the cavers wedged into passages barely larger than a human body.
Once outside and back into the bright Appalachian sunlight, the bags were carried from the cave entrance, on a high bluff overlooking a green mountain valley, down a narrow twisting trail. The trail was blazed by the National Speleological Society, which has purchased the cave at Grady’s urging.
The cavers had spent nearly five hours in the cave; any animal remains, the reason for all the effort, had been there for as long as 600,000 years.
50 Years Ago
Week of October 7, 1976
DAHMER
Anyone missing a pet bluejay? One came to Mr. and Mrs. Alston Propst’s home and it liked their son, Robert, so well that it would light on his shoulder. When feeding bread crumbs, the bluejay would try to hide the food in Robert’s hair and clothes.
The following story may sound fishy but it comes from a reliable person. In the middle 19th century, some mens breeches had a flap in front that fastened at the hip.
A local minister was preaching in a spirited manner undoubtedly on the subject of sin. On looking over the crowd, he noticed that the women dropped their heads.
The minister said words something like this—I am glad to see you all are taking it to your heart and are sorry for your sins. Somehow, he managed to look down and he noticed his breeches flap was down.
Pendleton’s Mother of the Year Is Tireless Community Worker
Pendleton County’s 1976 Mother of the Year is Mrs. Annie Eye of Franklin. She won the title in a contest conducted recently by the Franklin Ruritan Club.
One of the original promoters of the Treasure Mountain Festival and an energetic worker to raise funds for the Entry Mountain Water Project, Mrs. Eye has a wide interest in community affairs and is a tireless civic worker.
60 Years Ago
Week of October 6, 1966
EDITORIALS
A Brighter Horizon – – –
The decision of The Hanover Shoe, Inc., to build a factory here is perhaps the most important development that has occurred in Pendleton County in recent years. It is important because this firm will provide steady employment for a large number of our local residents.
Twenty years ago Pendleton County had a population of 10,000. Ten years ago our population had dropped to 9,000. Today the head count stands at only 8,093. The reason for this declining population is obvious. We have had a one-industry economy, and that industry, agriculture, has become mechanized. It takes only one man and his machines today to do what it required five men working with their hands to accomplish 20 years ago. As has happened in other agricultural areas, many of our people have had to leave the county to find employment, and as a result, our population has gone into a nose dive.
The results of a declining population are not pleasant. The first group to leave are the young people. Their departure saps the community of much of its vigor and vitality. Public funds become scarce, and cultural and social facilities dry up and wither away. Schools, churches, community organizations all suffer.
The importance of the shoe factory is great because it will provide so much employment. One hundred fifty persons will be employed by the end of next summer, and that number is expected to go up to 350 and higher as workmen become available. Adding to the desirability of this particular type of factory is the fact that it is more or less recession-proof because people will continue to buy shoes when they must give up other things which are less essential.
70 Years Ago
Week of October 11, 1956
Dwight Shrader’s Movie Shown Here
Charles Jones Warner announced yesterday that the movie, “Threshold of Space,” in which T/Sgt. O. Dwight Shrader of Sugar Grove plays a supporting role, will be shown in the Warner Theatre in Franklin on Friday and Saturday night. There will also be a matinee Saturday afternoon, Warner said.
“Threshold of Space,” a science-fiction movie that portrays the progress in medicine in the conquest of space. Shrader plays the role of an aircraft plotter. Behind a vertical plotting board, he tracks the loons which register interplanetary conditions and personal reactions. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Russell Shrader of Sugar Grove.
FHS Seniors to Give ‘You’re Telling Me’
November 16 has been selected as the date when the Senior Class of Franklin High School will present their annual class play.
“You’re Telling Me,” a three act comedy by Don Elser has been selected for this year’s presentation.
A cast of four men and five women, under the management of Jimmie Blizzard and Jackie Mullenax, is busy rehearsing what promises to be one of the most delightful plays ever to be presented in this community.
The curtain goes up at eight o’clock in the evening.
