60 Years Ago
Week of April 8, 1965
Program to Benefit Pre-School Children
CHARLESTON — Governor Hulett C. Smith’s office had advised the state’s 55 county superintendents that the state will help cover the local matching costs of “Project Headstart.”
The program, a special school readiness project to be operated in each county during the summer for children entering the first grade, is part of the federal anti-poverty program.
WEST VIRGINIA HERB IN GREAT DEMAND IN ASIA
Ginseng — It’s Good for What Ails You
A nice cup of ginseng tea is just what the herb doctor orders as a spring tonic in the Far East.
Ginseng root is the great oriental cure-all. An ancient specialist wrote that the herb “quiets animal spirits, establishes the soul, brightens the eyes, allays fears, expels evil effluvia, benefits the understanding, invigorates the body, and prolongs life.”
It was once believed that ginseng tea, sipped on the death bed, would prolong life for exactly five days—time enough to wind up earthly affairs.
The dried root is in great demand in China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia. Ginseng root is processed into pills, powder, tea, wine, and countless tonics. Bottled with grain spirts, it becomes “Elixir of Life,” promoter of both health and minds.”
Ginseng’s popularity stems from the old Chinese “doctrine of signatures.” This theory hold that a specific plant remedy exists for every ailment. The shape, color, taste, or other characteristics of the plant indicates its specific value. The branched ginseng root often looks like the figure of a man, and thus is good for whatever ails a human.
Roots that closely resemble figures command premium prices today, and once were literally worth their weight in gold. A Chinese emperor paid $10,000 for a single choice root.
The Chinese and Tatars fought for control of the countryside where ginseng grew. One Tatar king reportedly built a wooden palisade around an entire province to protect his supply of the precious herb.
Koreans have cultivated ginseng for more than a thousand years, and South Korea exports a substantial amount of cultivated ginseng. Connoisseurs, however, prefer the denser, more fibrous wild roots.
Wild ginseng grows in northern Asia and North America, and roots pulled from a hardwood forest in West Virginia may end up in a Hong Kong drug store next to the Tiger Balm.
The Asian species (Panax quinquefolium) are very similar. In 1679, a Jesuit missionary who had been in China noted that Canadian Indians gathered a root similar to ginseng. Samples were shipped to China, and the ginseng trade was underway.
The first ship that sailed directly from the United States to China—Empress of China, out of New York in 1784—carried more than 20 tons of ginseng. Within a century, clipper ships were carrying half a million pounds of the herb to China annually.
Ginseng grows sparsely in the rich, moist soil of hardwood forests from Maine to Minnesota, southward to the mountains of Georgia and Arkansas. A perennial, the plant reaches from 8 to 15 inches in height and bears three five-leaved branches.
Though dried ginseng root may bring $21 a pound, gathering it is no way to get rich quick. Experienced “sang” collectors in Maryland, West Virginia, and Ohio, make only a few hundred dollars a year, because the herb is scattered and it takes many roots to make a pound.
Attempts to cultivate ginseng in the United States have been generally unsuccessful. Early in the century, a ginseng boom collapsed when a leaf disease attacked hundreds of ginseng gardens.
100 YEARS AGO
By LON K. SAVAGE
Editor’s Note—The following is one of a series of articles on the Civil War. Each weekly installment covers events which occurred exactly 100 years ago.
Lee Accepts Defeat, Surrenders to Grant
Robert E. Lee led a ragged, defeated and dwindling army westward across Virginia 100 years ago this week to the end of the road for the Confederacy.
He started from the smoking ruins of Richmond, the capitol of the dying Confederacy, and moved to a place called Appomattox. And there, he found he could go no farther. It was as simple as that. And he surrendered.
From beginning to end, the march was a continuous disaster to Lee’s army, a continuous victory for the pursuing army of Ulysses S. Grant.
At first, Lee hoped to join forces with the little Confederate army of Joseph E. Johnston in North Carolina, but that hope was quickly blocked. At Amelia Court House, 35 miles southwest of Richmond, he expected to find a trainload of supplies for his famished men, but when he arrived April 4, no such train was there. Instead, he found that Phil Sheridan, the Federal cavalry general, had pushed across the railroad tracks to the South, cutting him off from Johnston, disaster number one.
Now, he could go only westward, and he gave orders accordingly. For 20 miles, the hungry Southerners struggled on, fighting off Federals from the rear and flanks.
On April 6, the Federals captured one of Lee’s main supply trains at a place called Sailor’s Creek. Trying to save the train, Gen. R. S. Ewell and 8,000 Confederates fell behind the rest of Lee’s army; a large force of Federal cavalry moved into the gap, and Early was cut off. As Lee watched helplessly from a hill, the Federals swarmed in from all four sides and overwhelmed Early, and the whole force surrendered. Disaster number two.
For another dozen miles Lee’s army limped on, men dropping out and heading for their homes, wagons caving in on rotten wheels, horses falling dead from hunger, and exhaustion. At Farmville, the army ate a little—the first rations since the march began—but they had to push on again. They could not wait.
Grant pulled into Farmville only hours after Lee had left and set up headquarters in the local hotel. There, on April 7, he received a crucial message, carrying word of disaster number three for Lee’s army.
Grant’s and Lee’s messages are part of history. Lee, still hopeful, first asked Grant what terms he would offer for peace, and Grant repeated: Surrender. Lee conferred with his generals and on April 9 made one last bolt for freedom. Attacking to the north, he ran up against the familiar pattern of events: he could drive back the Federals for only so long before thousands of Federal re-enforcements poured in on him. His last attack fizzled out, and the white flag went up. The war in Virginia was over.
About 1 p.m. that day, Lee and Grant held their historic meeting in a two-story house owned by Wilmer McLean at Appomattox Court House. There, the stooped, grubby Grant wearing a private’s uniform with general’s stars pinned on, accepted the surrender of the handsome, tall, immaculately dressed Lee.
Grant’s terms were honorable. The Confederates could return to their homes after stacking arms; Confederate officers could keep their swords, the soldiers could keep their horses, the better to resume farming back home. And 25,000 rations were distributed to the hungry Southerners.
And without a victory parade, without a formal surrendering of the Confederate general’s sword, without any fanfare at all, the once mighty Army of Northern Virginia, now reduced to 28,000 ragged men, ceased to exist as a Confederate army. That done, the two generals rode away.
Next week: Assassination.
70 Years Ago
Week of April 7, 1955
Building Industry Booms as Many New Homes and Business Structures Go Up
Franklin and vicinity is taking on the appearance of a real boom town with the construction of business and residential buildings proceeding at the highest level experienced by this town in many years.
Indicating an optimistic outlook on the part of local residents and businessmen and healthy economic conditions, the first clear days of spring saw the beginning of construction projects that have grown to the point where there are not sufficient laborers to supply the demand.
At least four commercial establishments and twelve homes are either in the planning stage or in the early stage of construction.
Among the business houses now going up is a $15,000 John Deere farm equipment and supply store just north of the Franklin high school on U. S. Route 33.
Stanley Hevener is erecting the building and will operate it under the name of Hevener Implement Company. He said yesterday that it will be a fully equipped farm implement business including sales, parts and repairs.
Of cinder block construction, it is 55 by 70 feet in dimensions and is located on a 3/4 acre lot purchased from Dr. O. S. Reynolds. Jim Ralston and Ralph Rogers are laying the block, and Delbert McQuain and Jim Pitsenbarger are also employed on the project.
In addition to the new Franklin establishment, he will continue the mercantile business at Deer Run under the name of O. C. Hevener and Co., of which he is co-owner.
Another building venture which is well underway in Franklin is the office building being erected by Dr. Charles J. Sites in east Franklin. Of brick construction, it is a two story building 24 by 50 feet in size. Dr. Sites plans to have his medical offices on the first floor of the building and the upper floor will be divided into offices and rented. The street upon which the Sites building is being erected is being widened to provide better facilities for the development of that area of the town. He expects to have the offices ready for occupancy early in July.
V. W. Waggy and his son, Reid, are putting the finishing touches on a new building which they plan to open in the near future. A one story brick building, it is located near the intersection of Routes 33 and 220 in north Franklin.
Mr. Waggy, who is in the plumbing and heating business, will have his offices in the new structure, and they will sell various types of home appliances and fixtures.
Willa A. Propst closed a transaction Saturday by which he became the owner of the Mary Hodges Spaulding residential property on the corner of Main and Fourth Streets.
Propst said yesterday that he intends to build a store building on the lot just south of the Lantz barber shop. According to his present plans it will be a two story building about 40 feet by 80 feet. He said he will begin construction immediately and hopes to have it completed by July 1. Upon completion he expects to rent it to Western Auto Supply Company for a store.
Home construction in Franklin is booming, too. The number being built is limited only by the workmen available for employment.
A residential development program was begun when John Hammer and Grant Alt purchased twelve lots in Courtney Terrace about the first of March.
Of the twelve lots purchased, Hammer and Alt sold two lots to Lacy Moyers and two lots to Ed Crigler, and retained four each for themselves. All four plan to build homes when workmen are available.
Work has already begun on two houses in Franklin. Morris Homan has the foundation dug for a house on Route 220 in north Franklin near Dahmer’s Motel, and Stanley Eye has the foundation almost completed for a house in Courtney Terrace.
Luther Mullenax expects to complete a new 7 room house on Route 33 near the high school by July 1. It is a 1-1/2 story house and is built of brick.
Bert Sites laid off the foundation of two homes Tuesday. They are located in north Franklin on Route 220 and he expects to proceed with the construction of them immediately.
Two other residences in the vicinity of Franklin that proceeded past the foundation stages are being built by Virgil Rexrode on Route 33 near the top of South Fork Mountain and Ervin Sponaugle on Smith Creek.
105 Years Ago
Week of April 16, 1920
CRABBOTTOM
We are having quite a stormy Easter but plenty of colored eggs and sugar cakes.
Col. Wimer while driving home Sunday evening, was suddenly brought to a standstill when his horse fell dead in the buggy shaft. It is supposed to have been a case of heart failure.
BOX
Several of our young people attended the close of the Riverton School and reported a good time.
The Dolly School closed Monday with much success.
CREEK
Cold and stormy here this morning.
Tract Mountain School closed Friday and Upper Creek School Saturday with entertainments at night which many of the neighbors attended.
