Thursday, February 1, 1923
About 25 contractors have been here the past few weeks to look over the Price Hill road of two miles, the construction of which was advertised to let to contract on January 30. It begins at the bridge, takes the house occupied by Mattie Hill and Dr. Norma R. Price’s barn. A 12-foot concrete bridge spans Price Run and there is a seven-foot fill at this point. Up the hill the new road follows the present road but climbs the hill on a gradual ascent. In no place is the grade over eight percent, while the steepest on the old road is 20 percent. There is a heavy cut through the little hill in the Kee lane.
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The Marlinton Electric Company is contemplating building a garage and service station on their lots immediately across the road from the Marlinton Electric Building. The building will be one story, stucco walls, and a floor space of about 3,000 feet. They will sell the Buick automobiles.
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Here is where an effort will be made to kill two birds with one stone. A gentleman out west is getting up a book to account for the names that have been given to places, and Pocahontas county has been assigned to me. So, as to the origin of names: The Sinks, a limestone blue grass section in the upper end of the county of the peculiar formation found in limestone. Wildell, post office named from the Wilson family that had the big mill there. Durbin, town named from Francis Durbin, a retired banker from Grafton, who settled here as local agent for the McGraw interests in 1892. Thornwood, name suggested perhaps from the Thorny Creek Lumber company when it was decided to change the name from Dunlevie to some other name. Dunlevie was the name of the man who owned it prior to that time. Allegheny mountain, Indian name. Back Allegheny mountain, so called because it was farther west or back in the wilderness from the main Allegheny which marked the line between the English settlements and the Indian Reservation. Greenbrier river, named for the hateful greenbrier which grows in the narrow sandy bottoms along its banks. Bartow, after a Civil War fortified camp by that name. Cheat river, named for its clear, amber tinted deceptive water. Nottingham, named for a family of that name. Cass, named for a Pennsylvanian capitalist, who was a member of the West Virginia Pulp & Paper Company. Leatherbark creek, so called for a bush by that name common on its banks. Spruce, highest in the eastern part of the United States. Named from the black spruce only found in profusion at high elevation above the sea. Linwood, named from the lin or basswood common there. This is the tree of the heavy sweet scented bloom from which the bees make the celebrated white honey. Split Rock, former name for Linwood, from a place in the limestone where the Big Spring Branch of Elk river flows through a slit worn by the water. Slaty Fork of Elk, so called for the appearance of slate in its bed. Old Field Fork of Elk, so called because of a cleared Indian field in which are traces of two forts or circular embankments.
Gauley river and mountain, named for France, one of the old French names that has been preserved. Clover Lick, site of a deer lick in which red clover was discovered growing in Indian times. The Indians said that it was a sign of war. Poage’s Lane community, so called for a short lane caused by fences on both sides of the road through the farm of Col. Woods Poage. Edray, town and district, from the Bible, Edrei, meaning a strong fortified place. Onoto, name picked out of a current magazine from Onoto Wantano, a talented Japanese woman writer. Woodrow, named in honor of the inventor of the League of Nations. Marlinton, from Jacob Marlin, the first English settler west of the Allegheny mountain.
Greenbank, town and district, so called from a low long green natural embankment bordering the first terrace of the Deer Creek Bottom. Dunmore, composite name of the Dunn family and Moore family, early settlers. Has nothing to do with Lord Dunmore, colonial governor of Virginia. Frost, fanciful name for a town in a county that somewhere or other has a frost every month in the year. Knapps Creek, from an old settler, formerly called Ewings Creek from the first settler. Minnehaha Springs, laughing water, so called from a very large, clear, beautiful spring. Sunset, so called because just east of the mountain dividing the two places is the post office of Sunrise.
Huntersville, so called because it was the original trading post for the Greenbrier valley. First county seat and the name of the district.
Buckeye, from the tree of that name. Swago creek, from the Oswego Indians. Also name of nearby mountain. Beaver Dam, at the head of Williams river, signs of immense beaver dam.
Cranberry river, so called from the abundance of wild cranberries found at the head of Glady Fork. Cranberry glades or bog, a remarkable formation in the hollow of the hills presenting the appearance of a great cleared farm from the tops of mountains overlooking the curious wilderness sight. This was in comparative recent geological times a fine mountain lake, but the lake having been infected with sphagnum moss was transformed into a bog. This moss grows on top of the water and its leaves break and fall in the still water and fill up the bed until it becomes a quaking bog, and a spongy mass. It is in the process of peat formation, but as long as it is impregnated with water, it is in a half liquid form. The thick moss on top enables a person to walk over the surface, but he sinks to his shoe tops, and the mass is agitated for many feet around…
To be continued…