SETTLEMENTS

PINESWAMP

The name Pine Swamp comes from what we know today as the Beaver Dam which is actually the original Pine Swamp.
At one time there was a road over the mountain, an extension of the present day Pine Swamp Road that went up to the Beaver Dam atop the Allegheny Mountains. This was an old Indian Trail know as Hunters Trace, which came down over the mountain side following today's Pine Swamp Road and continuing through the Gap on the Cut Off Road by Kessel Lumber Co., and further up Hooker Hollow Road over the mountain connecting to the Stone House on Rte. 50. Before Route 50 was macamized this trail was visible.

BUCK HORN SETTLEMENT

Another old community was the Buck Horn settlement on or near the Pine Swamp Road. At the height of the orchard industry in this area in the early 1900's there wsa a large peach orchard there.

INTERESTING COMMUNITY NOTES

J.B. Rees owned the first car in New Creek in 1911.
Electricity was supplied to those living in New Creek @ 1930. It was not until 1940 that the Cut Off Road residents received this power. Many homes had some form of battery powered or Delco sets to provide electricity.
Church records at Sunnyside show the congregation voted to have electricity installed in the building under construction in 1938. Oil lamps had provided illumination, also typical in homes, for the years prior to electricity.
The Flood of 1912 wrecked considerable havoc along New Creek Valley, washing homes and buildings from their foundations. A newspaper clipping recording the tragic deaths in 1912 of Daniel Webster EAGLE, owner of a sawmill near Spencers Ridge along New Creek, and two of his employees, explain the circumstances of their deaths.
Quoting from the clipping: "The sawmill employees were attempting to start an old saw mill setting along New Creek. The mill and engine had been inundated by the big flood, and would no doubt have been carried away had they not been chained fast. The mill had not been in operation since the flood and the supposition is that sand had settled in the engine and clogged up the machinery to such an extent that the steam gage would not register. The engine was thrown a distance of 60 ft. in the explosion which resulted in tech death of Mr. Eagle, and his two mill employees. The sadness of the affair was more intensified when on one of the grave diggers for the explosion victims was struck in the head by a stone thrown from the Eagle grave by a charge of dynamite used to aid in digging through almost solid rock in the Duling cemetery. Fred DAVIS, the victim was the victim. The had fired the blasts, ran from one side of the cemetery to the other, caught hold of a small cedar tree at the head of one of the graves, turned his head to look up for falling stone, but the sun was shining in his face and prevented him from seeing the falling missile.

This information was taken from "Mineral County WV Traits Tracks and Trails". Special thanks to Betty Bane Dzubba, Author and Robert Rummer, Editor for granting us permission to use this on the Mineral County USGenWeb site.