Thursday, November 26, 1925
THANKSGIVING
The harvest is home; the bins are full,
The barns are running o’er.
Both grains and fruits we’ve garnered in
Till we’ve no space for more.
We’ve worked and toiled through
Heat and cold
To plant, to sow, to reap;
And now for all this bounteous store,
Let us Thanksgiving keep.
The nuts have ripened on the trees,
The golden pumpkins round
Have yielded to our industry
Their wealth from out the ground.
The lowing cattle in the fields,
The horses in their stalls,
The sheep and fowls, all gave increase;
The crops burst out the walls.
These all are God’s good gifts to us,
And now the day is here
When we should show the Giver that
We hold His mercies dear.
DURBIN TO THE FRONT
Durbin as a coal shipping terminal is the subject of a long article in the Charleston Gazette.
The Interstate Commerce Commission is being asked to make a good freight rate on West Virginia coal to relieve the fuel famine of the New England States, caused by the strike in the Anthracites coal region. The logical route for the fine coals of southern West Virginia to the new northern markets is up the Greenbrier Valley on the C & O and then to the Western Maryland at Durbin. The Gazette says in part:
Durbin, a little town in the upper corner of Pocahontas County is destined to be one of the biggest gateways into New England for millions of tons of coal from the Kanawha valley if the interstate commerce commission rules in favor of the request of scores of people in Massachusetts and other northeastern states.
HISTORY LESSON
It looks like we have to study another history lesson and how I do dread it.
Some weeks ago, the Hon. John D. Sutton, of Sutton, came to Pocahontas County in a swiftly rolling car and traveled in ease over the roads that he footed so slowly as a soldier in 1863. When he got home, he wrote an article about the battle of Droop Mountain, which appealed powerfully to the people of the State, and which was published generally in the papers of West Virginia. When he came to Marlinton where the state highway crosses the Greenbrier River, he thought it was the place that his command waded the river on Wednesday of the battle.
He was mistaken in this, for most of Averell’s command marched from Huntersville to the Levels by the Beaver Creek Road and waded the river eight miles below Marlinton at the mouth of Beaver Creek…
I have a letter from Mr. Sutton and in the letter, he says he is coming back next spring to examine the battlefield and, in the meantime, he suggests that I drum up the old soldiers and have them mark temporarily at least the position of the different commands…
Averell, at Huntersville got word in the nighttime from his command at Marlinton and from Stephen Hole Run, that Thompson had escaped the trap.
Averell moved his Huntersville army down Beaver Creek Thursday starting at 3 a.m. and reaching Mill Point at 8 a.m. He had ordered the colonel in charge of the Marlinton army to cut out the barricade and join him at Mill Point and both wings of the army arrived at the same time. The effect of this was to put the Confederates in motion and they retired from the plains around Hillsboro to the heights overlooking that town, and erected embankments and fortifications on the brow of the mountain overlooking the Levels where the pike tops the mountain going south. It is exactly at the point that the tourist having traveled north through the three miles of sand on the flat top of Droop Mountain, comes in sight all at once of the garden spot of West Virginia spread out some 1,500 feet below him. It is a breath-taking experience…
Averell made his headquarters camp along the hill on the western edge of the Levels about where Gen. M. J. McNeel, of the Confederate Veterans, resides. Averell himself was the guest of Col. Paul McNeel that night, and the whole community was Confederate but all who met him were charmed by him.
When the Levels was a lake, Droop Mountain was the dam. The Greenbrier forced a passage through, along the extreme eastern side and still plunges through the pass…
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. A. C. Pifer, at Riverside, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Williams, of Marlinton, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Quince Friel at Clawson, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Dock Gibson, of Edray, a son.
DIED
James F. McNulty, of Monterey, aged 60 years. He was born and reared in Highland County and was a prominent citizen and landowner. Funeral conducted from the Monterey Presbyterian church where he was a member and Ruling Elder. He was buried in the family lot in the Monterey cemetery.
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Mrs. Matilda Kiner Anderson, died at her home at Woodrow, aged 76 years. Funeral service from the Nazarene Church; her remains were laid to rest in the White graveyard.
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Mrs. Lucy Beverage, of Marlinton, aged 67 years. Funeral service from the West Union church with burial in the Beverage graveyard on the head of Dry Creek.
