Forks_of_Coal_West_Virginia_One_Place_Study.jpg

Forks of Coal, West Virginia One Place Study

Privacy Level: Open (White)

Location: Forks of Coal, Kanawha, Virginia/West Virginia, United Statesmap
Surnames/tags: One_Place_Studies West_Virginia Kanawha_County
Profile managers: Gregory Morris private message [send private message] and One Place Studies Project WikiTree private message [send private message]
This page has been accessed 903 times.
Back to One Place Studies Project

Contents

Forks of Coal One Place Study

This profile is part of the Forks of Coal, West Virginia One Place Study.
{{OnePlaceStudy|place=Forks of Coal, West Virginia|category=Forks of Coal, West Virginia One Place Study}}

Name

Forks of Coal was aptly named and includes the geneal area where the two main branches - the Big and Little Coal Rivers - come together to form the Coal River proper.

Geography

Continent: North America
Country: United States
State/Province: Virginia/West Virginia
County: Kanawha, Logan, Boone, and Lincoln Counties
GPS Coordinates: 38.276667, -81.8
Elevation: 184.0 m or 603.7 feet, more or less

NOTE on Geographical History: The boundry lines for the counties of Virginia were in seemingly constant flux during the 1800s, no more so than in the area surrounding the Forks of Coal. Although initially Kanawha County (formed 1789 ) quite massive at its zenith, some of the area around Forks of Coal became in turn Logan (formed 1824), Boone (formed 1847), and Lincoln (formed 1867). The exact survey lines for these counties isn't easy to pinpoint. Today, Forks of Coal proper sits in Kanawha, but one could walk to both Lincoln and Boone Counties in a short time, and, given the meandering nature of the boundry lines, drive from one county to the other and back to the starting county without turning one's car around. Once Boone County was formed, Logan receded south a good distance.

This makes placing some of the earlier families difficult. We see, for instance, that the three Polly (Pauley) brothers Henry, Joseph, and John started in Kanawha County, moved to Logan County, and finished in Boone or Kanawha County, without ever having actually moved an inch, so far as we know. They're not alone. This is good to keep in mind when exploring these folks and the geography that encompassed them.

History

"To compare the quality and beauty of rivers is not a new matter," writes historian W. S. Laidley in his seminal History of Charleston and Kanawha County, West Virginia,
"And may we not ask now whether Coal river is not the best in the world? Listen."

Virginian John Peter Salley is usually credited with the discovery of coal in this branch of the Kanawha (the Kanawha being formed by the New and Gauley rivers, world-reknown for their white-water rafting and beautiful canyons), but we know the aboriginal tribes, explorers, hunters and adventures were here thousands of years prior to Salley's expedition in 1742. Among the names given to it by latter-day Delaware Indians was Walhondecepe; for a while the Europeans spell it "Cole." Once untouch by man, the Coal has changed its profile many times over the past two centuries, largely due to the building of locks and dams along its length and the same on the Kanawha. Although the Coal River locks have been destroyed, those in the Kanawha remain, and the lower waters of the Coal are still considered navigatable by the U. S. Army Corp of Engineers. The upper sections are slowly returning to their former, more natural states.

And what are those? We return both to Laidley and his neighbor Tom Swinburn, poet.

"God dropped Coal River round the hills about
In West Virginia. Told it to get out
As best it could. And then forthwith began
Its search to find out where its channel ran....
"Like some great vine spread out upon the ground
Coal River reaches all the region round --
Snake-like, it winds, then forks and forks again,
Its thousand branches branch again..."

"Tom Swinburn," writes Laidley, "the Coal river poet-lawyer, brought up on this stream, knew it and its people well, and all its beauty doth he tell, how that it in no way compares with New River or Gauley, nor really with any other streams, -- it's best of all.

The headwaters of the Big Coal can be found to the south-east of its mouth, in Raleigh County, many mountain cuts away from its mouth at St. Albans. Erstwhile Forks of Coal Baptist minister James Ellison (see link below) hailed from "The Marshes of Coal," meaning its headwaters. Here lies timber and coal, and in abundance.

The Little Coal river takes more directly southern route, if anything about the Coal River watershed can be called "direct." At the town of Madison, "Gateway to the Southern Coal Fields", the Little coal branches into Spruce and Pond Forks, its two major tributaries. Both are well-stocked with trout these days. Spruce Fork begins at Blair Mountain, home to the Battle of Blair Mountain, the largest labor uprising in U. S. History.[1] It's sister stream Pond Fork, a bit more easterly, almost reaches the town of Beckly.

Where the Big and Little Coal Rivers join was given the name "Forks of Coal" by the first explorers, and it stuck. Never incorporated, Forks of Coal had just enough families to to form a small and humble community. In 1833 a branch of Upper Falls of Coal River Church expanded to Forks of Coal and in 1834 that branch became a distinct house of worship: The Forks of Coal Missionary Baptist Church[2]. Nearby are the communities of Alum Creek (Formerly Rome, WV) and Priestly both, like Forks of Coal, more village than town. All along the three rivers it was not uncommon to find swinging bridges and, in one case, a make-shift tram, such was the ingenunity required to live in the narrow canyon. [3]

Although somewhat isolated in the distant past, today a four-lane highway cuts through the region and the urban footprint is spreading out into what was once country-side. A popular water-slide and swimming pool called Water Ways lies just south of the forks at Julian on the Little Coal. The Hatfield and McCoys Trail, an RV off-road venue, and a new nature center and preserve promises to bring even more tourists to the area in years to come.

For a fascinating history and overview of the Big Coal River, please see Mary Hufford's Landscape and History at the Headwaters of the Big Coal River Valley, An Overview[4].

The Nine Locks

"The Coal River, which forks into the Big and Little Coal, runs through one of the most abundant coal deposits known in the 19th Century. A natural and essential route to market for the region, the Coal was declared a public highway in 1834.

In 1849, the year of its charter, the Coal RIver Navigation Company under Gen. William S. Rosecrans cleared the river for sluice navigation from Petona on the Big Coal to its mouth on the Kanawha at St. Albans [Coalsmouth - ed], a distance of 35 miles. By 1855, the company had completed a lock-and-dam navigation for steamboats up to Petona, involving 8 locks and dams (made) of timber frames spiked together and fined (sic) with stone, 25 by 125 feet in the chamber. Navigation up the Little Coal was extended for 5 miles by a ninth lock and dam.

Although an unprecedented flood injured every lock and dam a few months after completion, the navigation was completely repaired and strengthened. During the Civil War the works were damaged again, through injury and decay, but were completely repaired by a new company, the Navigation Company of Coal River, chartered in West Virginia.

The lock and dam on the little Coal was abandoned in 1871 when mining ceased there [at Manningtons - ed], but navigation on the Big Coal was kept alive by the Peytona Cannel Coal Company until 1880 when it yielded to competition by bituminous coal and petroleum. The iron work was scraped, the works decayed, and the river was used only for rafting logs to sawmills near St. Albans. "[5] [Note: Trout (original author of this report) remarks in 1973 that although most of the timbers had rotted away, there were still "waterlogged timbers and piles of stone" visable in the river. This is true, as the author of this OPS remembers seeing (and swimming out to) several of these structures in his youth. However, as of 2022 many, of these remains have rotted out entirely, the stones flooded downstream, and may be visable only in when the river is at it lowest point, if at all.]

A Sampling of tolls on Coal River fro 1860:

Apples: One cent per barrel
Bacon: Half cent per hundrend pounds
Beer: Three cents per barrel
Coffee: One cent per hundred pounds
Hoop poles: Two cents per 1,000
Oil: four cents per cask or barel
Plank and scantling: One cent per 1,000 board feet
Salt: two cents a barrel
Tallow: One cent per 100 pounds
Whisky: Ten cents per barrel.

There was a special toll on coal: six cents per 100 bushels per lock at locks Nos. 1-4, two cents per 100 bushels per lock at locks 5-8 and A [Unsure what is meant by 'A.']

Current News and Trends

Claudia L. Workman Wildlife Center
Thanks to the work (and dreams) of Jack and Claudia Workman the Forks of Coal Natural Area is now up and running. Managed by the WV State Deptartment of Natural Resources, the 300 acre preserve has only recently (2022) opened the Claudia L. Workman Wildlife Education Center. A number of hiking trails are also open with more in the works.[6]

The creation of the Forks of Coal Natural Wildlife Area falls on the heals of efforts by the Coal River Group and others to "Bring life back to the Coal Rivers."[7][8] Yak Fest and the Tour de Coal, weekend events which highlight the Coal River are becoming increasingly popular. Thanks to a multitude of volunteers, the Coal River and it's branches have become much cleaner in recent years, fish kills have become a thing of the past, and the water is returning to a more natural state. Several smaller branches of the river are stocked with trout, and kayakers can be seen throughout the summer months.

Population

By 1850, the population of Kanawha County had grown to 15,353 bodies[9] of which 11,382 (more or less) appear in the 1850 U. S. Cenus in A. P. Fry's District 29.[10]

Census

1820 U. S. Census, Virginia, Kanawha. [11] Includes all of Kanawha County, Virginia including slaves and free colored persons.

1830 U. S. Census, Virginia, Kanawha, Charleston Census Area, Schedule of Whole Number of Persons, Francis Summers, Assistant Marshall, Western District of Virgina. [12] This being the Census of Charleston proper, but not the outlying areas. However, given that it was posted at Colesmouth, this could have included everything along the Kanawha from Charleston to present day St. Albans. Total numbers for all persons, including the slave and free persons of color totals can be found in the final pages of this Census for both Charleston and the rest of Kanawha combined.

1830 U. S. Census, Kanawha County, exact area not stated but Charleston itself has been excluded, Schedule of Whole Number of persons, Francis Summers, Assistant Marshall, Western District of Virginia. This Section includes the Forks of Coal along with other rural areas of Kanawha. Enumerated alphabetically. [13]

1840 U. S. Census, Kanawha, Virginia, Census of Whole Persons including slave and free colored populations, Stephen Chilton Assistant Marshall, Appears to be enumerated in the order of the families surveyed.[14](Recapitulation appears in image 127.)

1850 U. S. Census for Kanawha, District 29.[15]

U. S. Civil War

As fortune, or misfortune, would have it, a host of young men in the Forks of Coal environs became eligible for service at the outbreak of the U. S. Civil War in spring of 1861. Most, but not all, joined the Army of the United State (the Union), primarily the U. S. 7th Cavalry West Virginia, various units. Below is a partial listing of those who served in those Companies. They hail from the general Forks of Coal area, including Cobb's Creek.[16] The list may not be complete. Information in quotes comes from David McCormick's terrific book, "The First Two Hundred Years of Cobb's Creek History."

Contributions welcome.


Those who served in other Union forces:

  • Webster Hill of Cobb's Creek, Company A. 91st Ohio Infantry circa 1845

Those who served with the Confederacy:

  • William Watts
  • It has long been given that Jackson Pauley, a sixth son of Ephraim and Anna (Mullins) Pauley also served in the Confederate Army. Proof pending.

Historic Notables

[Note: At the present time the notables below are confined to those families that were present early in the area's settlement, roughly 1800 through the end of the Civil War. If a new section is needed for more recent notables, please add a separate section. Also, not all of the notables were residents of the Forks of Coal/Alum Creek community, but are associated with these hamlets in other ways. - gsm]

The Midkiffs, Old Joseph Midkiff, his wife Rebecca (Turley) Midkiff, Nathan Midkiff, Jesse Midkiff, Calvin Midkiff, Eli Midkiff (abt.1807-abt.1865) and various others.
Redmond Martin
Rev. James E. Ellison
The Pauleys (Pollys), Joseph A. Pauley, Henry Pauley, John Pauley, Mohana Pauley, James Wiley Pauley and family.
The Chandlers, John Chandler, Richard Carter Chandler, John Anthony Wayne Chandler, John W. Chandler, and Abraham Chandler (late of Missouri)
Jenifer Hill and Lewis Hill, Caroline Hill and her family
Levi Clark
The Toney family, including Cary Toney and Robert Toney
Mary Ann (Dunlap) Moore, her parents and family.
John W. West), Thomas Claiborne West, and Mary Susan (West) Turley
Anderson A. Rock, Jesse F. Johnson, John Overshiner, and Jeremiah Seashols, William H. Webb
The Griffiths, Adam Griffith, Norman Griffith, Rev.George Washington Griffith, and many others.
John Lacy
The Handley's including Harrison Handley and William Allison Handley.
Allen M. Smith and his siblings, including Daniel M. Smith , as well as his in-laws Samuel Beach and family.
John Hudson
Ralph (Swinburne) Swinburn (1805-1895), his son Thomas (Swinburne) Swinburn (1840-aft.1925), and their families
The Turley family, including Preston S. Turley

[Notable links in progress... please feel free to add family from this neck of the woods; PROVIDED that the family additions are well-sourced (no pay-wall sourcing, please) and are among the earliest settlers in the family line. - gsm]

Sources

  1. ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
  2. ↑ https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=137393
  3. ↑ https://forksofcoalfoundation.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/forks-of-coal-summer-newsletter-2018.pdf
  4. ↑ Hufford, Mary: Landscape and History at the Headwaters of the Big Coal River Valley, An Overview, Library of Congress, American Memory Section, "Tending the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia, essay 5. https://www.loc.gov/static/collections/folklife-and-landscape-in-southern-west-virginia/images/essay5.pdf
  5. ↑ Trout, W. E. III, for the American Canal Society, Index, 29 July 1973.
  6. ↑ https://forksofcoalfoundation.org/
  7. ↑ https://www.coalrivergroup.com/water-trail.html
  8. ↑ https://www.coalrivergroup.com/
  9. ↑ Twelth Census of the United States, Census Bulletin, No. 53, Washington, DC, 7 Feb 1901, Population of West Virginia by Counties and Minor Civil Definitions, page 2, Table. https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1900/bulletins/demographic/53-population-wv.pdf
  10. ↑ Extrapolated by counting and multiplying persons per page times number of pages appearing on the Census, by G. S. Morris, noting that the Census as given in Family Search begins on leaf 11.
  11. ↑ "United States Census, 1820," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYYK-38BW?cc=1803955&wc=3L7F-QQM%3A1586984702%2C1586987134%2C1586984616 : 14 July 2015), Virginia > Kanawha > Not Stated > image 1 of 35; citing NARA microfilm publication M33, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  12. ↑ "United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YYK-379B?cc=1803958&wc=35YH-4C5%3A1588479103%2C1588479906%2C1588478230 : 5 August 2015), Virginia > Kanawha > Charleston > image 2 of 9; citing NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  13. ↑ "United States Census, 1830," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYYK-39X8?cc=1803958&wc=35YH-4CP%3A1588479103%2C1588479906%2C1588469601 : 5 August 2015), Virginia > Kanawha > Not Stated > image 1 of 85; citing NARA microfilm publication M19, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  14. ↑ "United States Census, 1840," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBS-1QV?cc=1786457&wc=31SK-L2D%3A1588670024%2C1588670921%2C1588665902 : 20 August 2015), Virginia > Kanawha > Not Stated > image 1 of 134; citing NARA microfilm publication M704, (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  15. ↑ "United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DBB7-Q38?cc=1401638&wc=95RQ-6TG%3A1031351901%2C1032510201%2C1032516501 : 9 April 2016), Virginia > Kanawha > Kanawha county, part of > image 1 of 272; citing NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).
  16. ↑ McCormick, David. The First Two Hundred Years of Cobb's Creek History, appears to be self-published (no publication page), copyright 2004. page 44 for Cobb's Creek enlistees and bios.

Acknowledgements

Gregory S. Morris Forks of Coal OPS original author and Free Space Manager.

Jim Ryan, Barber at a Alum Creek, author of Murder at Alum Creek, 2021. David McCormick for his work on Cobb's Creek.





Images: 3
Claudia L. Workman Wildlife Center
Claudia L. Workman Wildlife Center
Coal River Locks and Dams
Coal River Locks and Dams
Forks of Coal OPS Logo
Forks of Coal OPS Logo
Collaboration
  • Login to edit this profile and add images.
  • Private Messages: Contact the Profile Managers privately: Gregory Morris and One Place Studies Project WikiTree. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
  • Public Comments: Login to post. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Limit 20 per day.)


Comments

Leave a message for others who see this profile.
There are no comments yet.
Login to post a comment.

Categories: Community, Place Studies | One Place Studies | West Virginia, Place Studies | Forks of Coal, West Virginia One Place Study | Forks of Coal, West Virginia