Thursday, February 26, 1897
HIGH WATER
THE PEOPLE of Marlinton were put to considerable trouble and inconvenience by the rise of the waters occasioned by the sudden thaw and the unusual atmospheric conditions the first part of the week.
The early settlers, who have passed unscathed through several floods, were not much scared; but the late population were more or less alarmed – some moving to high ground Monday night.
The waters continued at flood for an unprecedented length of time, owing to the melting snow. Razed fencing, washed roads, and a few outbuildings carried away, with flooded cellars and mud over everything comprises the extent of the damage here.
These floods appear to materialize at periods of about ten years, and the residents of Marlinton bear the loss of their property with what philosophy they may; and by the pleasure they took in looking at the spectacle of the rushing waters seemed to recompense themselves for the inconvenience and loss of sleep they were put to.
The logs of Smith & Whiting’s drive are pretty widely scattered over fields adjoining Marlinton.
Described by “S. A. P”
Some years ago, when Marlinton was only talked about, before it had become the real thing it is now; somebody, I forgot who, predicted that the town would be washed away, down the river somewhere – color, starch and everything be taken out in one washing.
Remembering the prediction, we begin to get uneasy when it looks like rain. The river looked very ugly Monday evening. Residents of Marlinton thinking, perhaps, they had gotten into a bad bargain – a town that won’t wash – sat up with themselves all night Monday night, thinking fearfully of the water in the river.
The morning disclosed a good deal of water spread over the bottoms, but nobody washed away.
Sticklers for good measure may complain of a little shrinkage in the town; several woodpiles missing, some sheds and fences and pieces of walk gone, while in one place the road seems to be washed around to one side; and as for starch, nobody complains – we are as stiff as ever.
On Tuesday the youth and beauty of Marlinton, quick to take advantage of the rise in the river, enjoyed the rare sport of boating in their neighbors’ cornfields and gardens. Many a boat load of young ladies and gentlemen, embarking at the hotel steps, sailed joyously over the former site of Dr. Cunningham’s woodpile, down through C. A. Yeager’s cornfield and back, their glad voices making gay what would have otherwise been only a desolate scene of copper colored water, drearily swishing about through the fields.
LOCAL EVENTS
MARRIED: AT the residence of the bride’s mother in Hillsboro, by Rev. W. T. Price, Mr. William Mann, of Edray, to Miss Verdie B. Clark.
FOREST BEARD, of Academy, was near being fatally injured last week on the ice, his wagon slipped over a high bank. He jumped in the opposite direction, and escaped injury. The wagon performed two somersaults, but neither horses or wagon were materially damaged.
THERE WAS a terrific thunderstorm about the head of Swago last Sunday afternoon, between 3 and 4 o’clock, moving from south to North. Houses shook and the windows rattled, but the rain was not very heavy. The scene was truly sublime and interesting, viewed as it was from a safe distance.
ANDREW YOUNG ADKISSON, only surviving brother of the late Joseph Adkisson, of Swago, has been just heard from after an interval of nine years. He is in Oklahoma and has been blown out of house and home by a cyclone. He gathered up the fragments and rebuilt, and is getting along nicely. His wife was a daughter of the late John Auldridge, on Laurel Creek.
WE LEARN that Captain Peters has finished sliding logs and is about ready for water. The landing is at the Burr place, in Burr’s Valley, about six miles from the Greenbrier by way of Laurel Creek. The creek is about as crooked as a laurel root, and the driving may be slow and hazardous. It will be something uncommon if the Captain fails to be on time.
CLOVER CREEK
The sick in this vicinity are improving.
Feed is plentiful and stock looking very well.
James Meeks has returned from Driftwood, where he has finished hewing sills for the new church, which is being built slowly.
Dr. Ligon has been kept very busy for the past few weeks, visiting the sick of this neighborhood and doing his own feeding.
Dr. Ligon crossed Elk Mountain in a sleigh last week. He is the first man to cross with a team this winter. He upset and turned over several times, but he came out on top every time.
Died: Gracie Meeks, child of James Meeks, on Friday night, February 5, aged 7 months and 27 days. “The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord.”
WHAT COULD SHE DO? – An exchange tells of an old lady who, being seriously ill, found herself in a trying position.
“You see,” she said to a friend, “my daughter Harriet is married to one o’ these homeypath doctors, and my daughter Kate to an allypath. If I call the homeypath, my allypath son-in-law and his wife get mad, an’ if I call in my allypath son-in-law, my homeypath son-in-law and his wife get mad; an’ if I go ahead an’ get well without either of them, then they’ll both be mad, so I don’t see but I had better just die and be done with it.”
