10 Years Ago
Week of June 25, 2015
Electronic Game Check Comes to WV Hunters
Beginning this April, hunters and trappers are now able to check in their game from their phones or computers.
“Those hunters who still like to talk directly to someone about their hunting experiences can stop by one of the approximately 180 official license agents and check in their game,” said Bob Fala, Division of Natural Resources director. “However, they no longer have to bring the animal in with them. What doesn’t change is that hunters and trappers still have to follow the time, field tagging and transportation restrictions as listed in the regulations.”
SUGAR GROVE Smell of Summer Hay Hangs in the Air
Word came down the Fork from Hometown Cycles, that Mike Eye has been serenading his whip-poor-wills with his banjo. There seems to be a delightful “forest concert” going on each evening.
The scent of newly cut hay hangs in the air. It is the smell of summer, which officially arrived on Sunday of the 21st. Each day will get a little shorter as time ebbs toward the season of fall. That smell of summer brings back memories of long hot days in the hayfield when grass was cut the hard way, by a horse and mowing machine. It still involves hard labor today with the hot summer sun involved.
20 Years Ago
Week of June 23, 2005
Adventure Race Puts Spotlight On County
It is interesting, to say the least, when a recreational even involving national participation by serious athletes takes place in this county and almost no one know about it.
It’s even more noteworthy when that event has taken place two years now in a row.
The event is the Potomac Highlands Expedition Adventure Race, an epic, 60-hour outdoor adventure race which, most recently, took place at Seneca Rocks, Spruce Knob, the Nelson Rocks Via Ferrata, Dolly Sods, the Sinks of Gandy, the South Branch River and North Fork Mountain from May 28 through May 30.
Teams of two, three or four outdoor adventure athletes of either gender brought their mountain bikes and NASCAR-like support crews to the Princess Snowbird campground at Yokum’s Vacationland in Seneca Rocks on Friday, May 28, to begin the first leg of what promoter Brad Hunt describes as “a 60-hour race across some of the wildest terrain in the eastern US and includes mountain biking on everything from paved roads to single-track” but also includes hiking, running and self-belayed climbing at Stu Hammett’s now three-year-old Via Ferrata at his Nelson Rocks Preserve in Judy Gap.
“Via Ferrata” is Italian for “iron way.” As described in the September, 2004, issue of “Washingtonian” magazine, “Iron lungs and steel cables are secured to rock faces to allow non-climbers to ascend difficult terrain.”
This is called “self-belayed” climbing. In practical terms, it means that, if a climber makes a misstep, the fall will be caught.
In even more practical terms, unlike the inherent risks of free climbing, Via Ferrata climbers can enjoy the thrill of adventuring on faces of Tuscarora sandstone sheers without worrying about hurtling hundreds of feet through the air to an agonizing death on the ground below.
There are other adventure races in the eastern US, but only the PHEAR race in Pendleton, Grant and Randolph counties (but mostly Pendleton) includes a Via Ferrata as part of the course.
30 Years Ago
Week of June 22, 1995
Old Thorn Creek Bridge Being Replaced
A new two-lane bridge spanning the Thorn between McCoy’s Mill and Grant Propst’s Tavern four miles south of Franklin soon will facilitate traffic in the Thorn and Sandy Ridge areas. The new bridge will be 61 feet, seven inches long and 23 feet, five inches wide. It is being constructed by Bilco Construction Company, Inc., of Charleston at a cost of $598,998. According to Mike Cutlip, superintendent on the job, the new bridge will replace an old single lane bridge that was moved there in 1977 from Route 33 just east of Franklin where it spanned the South Branch of the Potomac. It was constructed there in 1905. The new bridge will be operational about the last of October.
SUGAR GROVE Lime in Whitewash Protects Bark On Tree Trunks
Have you ever wondered why tree trunks are painted white? The white paint is a white wash…the lime ingredient keeps bugs and ants away. It also discourages rabbits, deer and mice from gnawing at the tree bark, or woodpeckers from drilling holes that might kill trees. A lot of tree farmers paint their tree bark to prevent sun scald…particularly on the south side of the tree.
Many times, trees line long, curved lanes and the white on the trees help to guide drivers up to their house, especially at night. “Tree Tag” is the name that children love to play; however, many hard bumps can be a result. Whitewashing trees up to the height of the tallest child will quickly remedy that problem. Fruit tree farmers use whitewash…they contend that bugs don’t like to climb on the paint because of the lime. Whatever the reason, the tree treatment seems to work.
50 Years Ago
Week of June 26, 1975
The Return Of the Bicycle
For the first time since the turn of the century, the bicycle may be on its way to becoming an important mode of transportation for Americans, a trend that the Federal Energy Administration salutes as one of many valid conservation measures in this time of energy shortages.
Unlike hamburgers and baseball, the bicycle wasn’t invented in the United States. That honor goes to Baron Von Crais of Germany. His two-wheeled forerunner of the bicycle was just wonderful going downhill. Unfortunately, the baron had not worked out a propulsion system other than having the rider take leaping strides along the pavement. When a rider came to a steep, uphill grade, he had to push or carry his 50-pound vehicle up the hill—a sight inconvenience.
Then an American, Colonel Albert A. Pope of Boston, decided to build the proverbial “better mousetrap” after viewing a model of Von Drais’ bicycle at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. He commissioned W. S. Atwell to build a bike of new design. It weighed 70 pounds, cost $313.00, and provided pedal propulsion. In 1880, the first year that records are available, 6,000 bicycles were sold; by 1974, there were 75 million bikes in use.
The Federal Energy Administration hopes that more people will consider the merits of using this fuel-saving mode of transportation. Many cities and towns are providing special bike lanes, and some bus companies are providing bike racks at bus stops to make it easier to get to and from public transportation. Federal Energy Administrator Frank Zarb says, “We can conserve our gasoline and money, by making better use of this nonpolluting way to go.”
More people than ever are riding bikes for economy and health.
80 Years Ago
Week of June 22, 1945
WEEKLY NEWS ANALYSIS
MEAT: Peg Supply
In addition to steering more cattle to federally inspected packers to permit greater distribution of meat across state lines and cutting out all lend-lease or relief meat shipments through July-August-September, the government also reduced military allocations to allow a proportionate increase in supplies to civilians.
Even so, the severe meat pinch will endure through the summer months, with prospects for improvement in the fall when increased marketings should not only permit greater supplies for civilians but also resumption of limited shipments overseas.
Though the government chopped military allocations and pegged civilian allotments around present levels, the amount available for home consumption will remain dependent upon supplies in the quarter.
MOUTH OF SENECA “The Weather”
If you think this has been the coldest spring and summer, please read the following from an old clipping which reads as follows:
“The year 1816 was known throughout the United States and Europe as the coldest ever experienced by any person then living. There are persons in Northern New York who have been in the habit of keeping diaries for years, and it is from the pages of an old diary begun in 1810 and kept unbroken until 1840 that the following information regarding this year without a summer has been taken.
“January was so mild that most persons allowed their fires to go out and did not burn wood except for cooking…February was not cold…March came in like a small lion and went out like a very innocent sheep.
“April came in warm, but as the days grew longer, the air became colder, and by the first of May, there was a temperature like that of winter, with plenty of snow and ice. In May the young buds were frozen dead, ice formed half an inch thick on ponds and rivers, corn was killed and cornfields were planted again and again…When the last of May arrived in 1816, everything had been killed by the cold.
“June was the coldest month of roses ever experienced in this latitude. Frost and ice were as common as buttercups usually are. Almost every green thing was killed; all fruit was destroyed. Snow fell 10 inches deep in Vermont. There was a 7-inch fall in the interior of New York state and the same in Massachusetts. There were only a few moderately warm days. Everybody looked, longed and waited for warm weather, but warm weather did not come.
“It was also dry; very little rain fell. All summer long the wind blew steadily from the north in blasts, laden with snow and ice. Mothers knitted socks of double thickness for their children and thick mittens. Planting and shivering were done together, and farmers who worked out their taxes on the country roads wore overcoats and mittens. On June 17 there was a heavy fall of snow…
“July came in with snow and ice. On the 4th of July ice as thick as window glass formed thruout New England, New York and in some parts of Pennsylvania…To the surprise of everyone, August proved worst of all. Almost every green thing in this country and Europe was blasted by frost…Very little corn ripened…There was great privation and thousands of persons would have perished in this country had it not been for the abundance of fish and wild game.”
—Yours, Katinka
105 Years Ago
Week of June 18, 1920
WHAT GOOD ROADS MEAN TO AUTOMOBILE OWNERS
Give him more mileage for touring. Encourage him to buy good automobiles. Good roads mean better machines. Make it possible for him to buy his foodstuffs direct from the famer at lower costs. Encourage touring in vacation time. Reduce wear and tear on cars. Gasoline, tire and repair bills will be reduced.
WHAT GOOD ROADS WILL MEAN TO THE BANKER
Increased business. Increased deposits. Make your patrons thrifty. Increase the number and size of savings accounts. Stabilize credits. Contented people live on hard roads. They also make good citizens. Bankers know what substantial citizens mean for banks.
33 COUNTIES ARE ORGANIZED, IS YOUR COUNTY ON THE LIST
Thirty-three West Virginia counties have organized to “Pull West Virginia Out of the Mud.”
Is your county on the list? It should be if the citizens of your county are in favor of good roads.
CIRCLEVILLE
About all you hear talked about these days is the cold May rains in June.
The farmers all got through their corn the second time before the rain.
Harry Crigler was on this side of the mountain last week selling cars. He sold Mr. Patrick Phares a Maxwell.
S. S. Vandevander bought a fine pair of horses from J. K. Thompson of Hunting Ground.
