10 Years Ago
Week of January 31, 2013
Appalachian Sayings
Are Rich in Culture
SUGAR GROVE
The Appalachian culture is full of rich character in sayings that are used on a regular basis. Listed are the following sayings and their translation:
Like a chicken with its head cut off–lots of confusion
Butter my biscuits–isn’t that something
Snowball’s chance in hell–not likely to happen
Argue with a fence post–stubbornness
Heebie jeebies–feeling similar to the chills
Short end of the stick–treated in an ill mannered way
Half cocked–lacking all of the facts
Ruffled her feathers–upsetting
Chewin’ the fat–talking about nothing in particular
I declare–I did not know that
In a coon’s age–a really long time
Can’t see the forest for the trees–unable to see the big picture
Barking up the wrong tree–going in the wrong direction
Caught with my pants down–caught off guard
Two peas in a pod–identical
Like white on rice–characteristics that cannot be separated.
20 Years Ago
Week of January 23, 2003
Four
Safety Warnings Listed
For Refueling of Vehicles
Hopefully, most everyone has heard that it’s unsafe to smoke or use the cell phone while pumping gas.
Now there’s another safety warning one should know about concerning static electricity. To sum it up, there are four rules for safe refueling: 1) turn off the engine; 2) don’t smoke; 3) don’t use the cell phone–leave it inside the vehicle or turn it off; and 4) don’t re-enter the vehicle during fueling.
40 Years Ago
Week of January 27, 1983
Assets of Pendleton County Bank
Now Exceed $40 Million
Pendleton County Bank assets grew last year to a new high of $40,954,255.83, it was announced Monday at the annual meeting of stockholders at Thompson’s Restaurant.
Monterey Fire Damage Estimated at $72,500
The Franklin Volunteer Fire Department helped fight a fire at Monterey, Virginia, early Thursday morning which resulted in damages estimated at $72,500.
The fire started in the D. King’s, Inc., store owned by Ellis D. King and then spread to the attic of Highland Wool, Inc., owned by Fred Leustig.
Damage was estimated at $40,000 to the King store building and $30,000 to the contents and $2,500 to the Highland Wool, Inc., store.
Monterey firemen said when they arrived at the fire the King store building was engulfed in flames. They called the McDowell and Franklin firemen at 1:10 a.m. The Franklin firemen arrived 25 minutes later. The South Branch Fire Department was called to Franklin to stand by while the Franklin firemen were in Monterey.
Franklin fireman Jim Turner said water froze in the streets and on the firemen in the sub-freezing temperatures.
Firemen fought the blaze for 4-1/2 hours. Participating in the joint effort were Monterey Fire Department with 22 men and four fire trucks, McDowell Fire Department with 12 men and three fire trucks, Franklin Fire Department with 14 men and a pumper, tanker, panel truck and crash truck and two units of Highland County Rescue Squad.
Pendleton Rescue Squadmen Traveled 22,844 Miles in 1982
Charles Waggy, president of Pendleton County Emergency Rescue, Inc., in a report on the activities during the past year said county rescue squadmen traveled 22,844 miles and chalked up 2,594 man-hours answering these calls.
Difference Between Land and Country
Explained
By: Raymond Blum
Recently I was reading a chapter in a book that dealt with the quality of the land and perhaps more importantly, how people see the land, whether it be forests, plains or lakes. The writer made me stop and think of different places I have walked and to identify the qualities of rich country.
There is a lot of confusion between land and country. Land is the place where cattle are raised, corn planted and mortgages grown. Country is the personality and character of the land, that makes each acre special. Country is oblivious to its various owners. It matters little whether the owner be a pauper or a king.
Anyone who has ever traveled through our state knows that poor land may be rich country and vice versa. Rich country may look poverty stricken and its riches might not be apparent at first glance or at all seasons. I can remember walking the sand dunes along Lake Michigan during the winter and thinking how barren the land was, but to walk the same place during other seasons and hearing the honk of a goose or seeing the delicate blue flower of the fringed gentian told you that here was a special place. This same concept holds true for many of the places here in West Virginia that I’ve found, whether it be in the shale barrens, river bottoms or mountainous sections of the state.
Some areas of the land may be barren of vegetation, but full of charm. This charm is probably a collection of many factors: the eerieness of the stunted spruce on Dolly Sods, a sense of history from the logging days, and the many views, all make this area special. For those who think history is taught only in school, have not seen a railroad rail protruding from the bank on Rocky Point Trail or seen the remains of log homes in remote areas. In West Virginia, this history can be experienced first hand and deeply felt.
Other places, while they look inviting on the outside, are noticeably lacking charm on the inside. I have a special fondness for pines, yet, whenever I walk into a large pine plantation I’m always disappointed. There is little underbrush or low vegetation because of the deep layer of pine needles on the ground. The forest looks sterile and there is a lack of wildlife. The edges of such plantations may harbor deer, grouse and turkey, but in the middle of the stand, a red squirrel may be all that is found.
This same idea holds true for other places as well. Native trout can make the difference between a brook or just a stream and a brier patch without rabbits will never be more than a thorny thicket. The idea that wildlife is only to be shot at or trapped is the grossest of fallacies. Wildlife can mean the difference between land and country.
In country, as in people, a plain exterior often conceals hidden riches that may require years of association with which to understand. A plain March field is no longer drab when the first woodcock calls and a marsh takes on a new life when the many frogs come alive in the spring. Likewise, it may take years of working or living with a person before we see the true person or before we see the true warmth of a person’s heart.
As you can see, a close look is required in order to find the country that lies throughout the land.
50 Years Ago
Week of January 25, 1973
Pendleton County Bank Assets Top $11 Million
Assets of the Pendleton County Bank climbed to $11,486,330.29 in 1972, according to a report of the bank’s condition made Monday afternoon at the annual stockholder’s meeting.
Cashier Tom Mitchell told stockholders that assets climbed more than $2 million during 1972 from $9,416,884.14 at the beginning of the year.
Mitchell attributed the increase in deposits to the fact that the bank pays the highest interest rates the law permits on savings accounts and certificates of deposit.
60 Years Ago
Week of February 7, 1963
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.
Grant Starts Digging
To Reach Vicksburg
More than 100,000 men had come South with the army of General Ulysses S. Grant to fight Confederates along the Mississippi River, but many of them found themselves digging in dirt 100 years ago this week.
As February, 1963, got off to a start, Grant’s men were busy blowing up levees, digging out river channels and riding in steamers and gunboats through the bayou country of Louisiana and Mississippi.
Their goal: to get behind or south of Vicksburg and fight the Confederate army dug in around the city.
The Yankees’ problem at Vicksburg could be explained partially by geography. The city lay on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River from the east. Confederate guns on the bluff were too much for an army to assault the city from the waterfront. North of the city, the swollen Mississippi flooded out into a myriad of swamps, bayous, streams and rivers that effectively blocked a land march from that direction. Hence, to fight the army at Vicksburg, Grant either would have to get south of the city and attack north—or get behind the city to the east and attack west.
To do this, Grant had three rather fantastic plans working 100 years ago this week. The first one appeared the most fantastic—to change the course of the Mississippi.
Just north of Vicksburg, the Mississippi veered sharply to the northeast, made a hairpin turn to the south again, forming a peninsula inside the hairpin turn. Vicksburg lay on the opposite bank from this peninsula. The plan was to enlarge an existing mile-long ditch across the base of the peninsula and divert the Mississippi into it. The river, according to the plan, would pour through this ditch, scour out a new channel across the strip of land, and leave Vicksburg high and dry. Grant’s army could then sail down this new channel, land and march north to the city.
While 4,000 men worked on this project, others began work on a second plan. That was to cut through a levee on the Mississippi’s west bank about 50 miles above Vicksburg, allowing water to flow into Lake Providence in Louisiana. With that done, it was hoped, boats could sail into Lake Providence and move south through a series of bayous to the Red River which emptied into the Mississippi south of Vicksburg. Grant, himself, went to Lake Providence February 4 to supervise this job. He observed immediately that there was little hope of its successful completion.
The third plan was somewhat similar to the second. That was to blow up a levee on the Mississippi’s east bank opposite Helena, Ark., nearly 200 miles north of Vicksburg, allowing the river to flow directly into Yazoo Pass, a body of water in northern Mississippi. From Yazoo Pass, according to the plan, boats could travel into the Coldwater River, then into the Tallahatchie River. From there, the vessels could sail down the Yazoo River which flowed in behind Vicksburg.
On February 2, the levee was blown up, and nine feet of water hurtled through it, sweeping all before it into Yazoo Pass. Five days later, the first steamer went swirling through, and the attempt to reach Vicksburg via the bayous had begun.
Grant wrote later that he never had much hope that any of these plans would work.
Next week: “Copperheads.”
Christmas Tree Sales
In West Virginia
Total 1-1/2 Million
Dollars in 1962
Christmas tree sales in West Virginia totaled over an estimated 1-1/2 million dollars on the retail market in 1962, according to a survey made by county foresters of the Department of Natural Resources’ Forestry Division. According to Jack Warder, assistant state forester, some 554 thousand trees were harvested, 9% of which were sold within the state’s borders.
70 Years Ago
January 29, 1953
County Library
Moves To Court House
The Pendleton County Library will be moved in a short time from its present location to a room in the Court House.
The County Court has given the Library Association permission to use permanently the north room on the second floor. The Board of Education in co-operation hires the librarian, Mrs. Katherine Campbell, and the Library Association expresses thanks to all who have helped as this is countywide work.
