Sunday, December 8, 1907, Afternoon, 12:00 pm – 5:00 pm

“75 men digging graves on the hillside, a depot platform piled high with pine boxes, a row of coffins in the main street stacked 3 high and nearly a block in length, a corps of undertakers as large as a regiment’s hospital corps, women whose eyes could weep no more, with orphaned children clinging to their skirts—these were some of the evidences that there would be no Christmas in Monongah for another year.” (Forbes)

~ Noon

In Monongah:

“Many newspaper men, including photographers, from all over the country are at Monongah. All of the nearby cities have special reporters on the scene and there are newspaper men from Pittsburg, Wheeling, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Washington and other cities.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)

“Probably never before on any occasion have the interurban cars carried as many people as they have in the last few days since the mine disaster. All along the line hundreds of anxious people are found at every station eagerly trying to get on a car to go to the scene of the disaster. Many of them are foreigners who had relatives working in the two mines. Sunday the interurban station in this city was crowded all day and many people visited the scene of the disaster. The street cars were run double all day and every one was crowded to its utmost. Many people took advantage of it being Sunday, to go to Monongah.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)

Inside the mines:

“The farther into the mines the workers proceed the greater the destruction is found to be. Many side entries and rooms are completely blocked by falls of slate. One room where it was known two of the miners were working was entered but instead of finding the blackened bodies of the two miners tons and tons of slate were found burying them so that it will be several days before their bodies can be recovered. The same condition of affairs is reported at many other points in the mine.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)

Outside the mines:

“Finally, a horse came out of the hill and behind it a train of empty mine cars but the last car was loaded and covered with stained canvas and blankets. The coverings were thrown off and one by one the blackened and mutilated bodies of what had once been men were carried to the waiting wagons to be hauled over the bridge into the town and delivered to the undertakers.” (Forbes)

“They all looked as if they had been par-boiled, they were so red. Many of them were mutilated and in several cases the eyeballs had been split by the force of the explosion. The bodies were beginning to decompose.” (CET 12.10.07 pg. 6)

~2:00 pm

Col. J. H. McDermott arrives in Fairmont as representative of Gov. Dawson, who was unable to come to the scene of the Monongah disaster. Judge J.W. Mason and Clerk W.T. Black met him at the train station. (FWV 12.9.07 – pg. 1 – extra) (FWV 12.9.07 pg. 1)

“I am here to look over the situation,” said Col. McDermott, “and will advise Gov. Dawson from time to time what I learn. I am not here to interfere with any department of the mines, as each representative of every department will adhere strictly to his own work.” (WH 12.9.07 pg. 1)

“At the last meeting of the State legislature Col. McDermott, in his capacity as President of the Senate, appointed a committee to investigate the mines of West Virginia and the mine disasters. This committee had visited both the mines at which the explosion took place, about two months ago, and pronounced them as being as finely equipped and managed as any they had ever seen. It is quite probable that this same committee will arrive here shortly for another examination of the Monongah mines.” (WH 12.9.07 pg. 1)

At some point during the afternoon

In Fairmont:

“This town has some plucky girls, and it is a question as to whether their equal can be found. …Sunday there were 4 of them walked to Monongah, across the hill, taking all the near cuts and making the distance as short as possible. That’s game, that is.” (FWV 12.16.07 pg. )

“Headed by the churches, relief work was well started yesterday and a general appeal to the public is being made. Many West Virginia towns have already acted and others are ready to do so. The work will be thoroughly organized and systemized.” (ES 12.9.07 pg. 1-2)

“Relief corps were organized by the women of Fairmont today. Already hundreds of dollars are pouring in.” (WH 12.9.07 pg. 1)

In Morgantown:

Collections from all Morgantown churches are handed over to relief funds. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. ?)

At the morgue in Monongah:

“R.L. Cunningham, of Fairmont, who is one of the undertakers who have charge of the band of fifteen caring for the bodies brought out of the mines, preparing them for burial and placing them in coffins, met with an accident that has laid him up. While hurrying from the morgue in the First National Bank building on Main street to one of the branch morgues, he slipped and fell, spraining a weak knee joint so badly that he cannot walk. He is confined to his room in the Curry hotel under care of a physician and his work has devolved upon another undertaker. Messrs. W.G. Osborn and Sleppy & Warne, of this city, are still with the undertakers assisting in the work of taking care of the dead.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)

At the cemeteries:

“About twenty victims were buried today in the three cemeteries near the town.” (AMJ 12.9.07 pg. 1)

“The bodies of fifteen Italians were buried in Holy Cross cemetery Sunday afternoon. The cemetery is located on the hill over the mines. The bodies of two Polanders were also buried the same afternoon in the Polish cemetery which is on the same hill adjoining Holy Cross cemetery. The bodies of two Polanders are lying in the Polish church where services will be held over them.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)

In Monongah:

“Another woman, the mother of five little children, whose husband was killed in mine No. 8, became so distracted at her home that she began throwing household articles about the house and then to tear her clothing from her. She became so violent that friends had to tie her to a chair and stand watch over her until she became quieted.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)

“The body of Fred Rogers was taken to Fairchance Sunday afternoon and buried there.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)

“…3 men who were thought to be victims but escaped are Ross Morka, Marie Bagenealla and Anebra Spaw. The 2 former went to Clarksburg to visit some friends early in the morning of the explosion but did not notify their boarding boss of their intentions. They were given a royal reception when they appeared today. Spaw, one of the men supposed to have been blown into the river at the entrance of No 6 was not at work that fateful morning. When he learned that his friends were mourning him as dead he lost no time in returning from a visit to Grafton.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)

At the mines:

“But 3 bodies have been removed from No 8 mine this afternoon, two being those of a motorman and a brakeman found near their car at the first left entry of the north heading near where the third body was found. All were badly burned about the face and hands but friends were able to recognize them at the morgue.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)

“A thrilling incident occurred on the bridge on which the mine cars were pulled from mine No. 8 in which an aged Polish woman nearly lost her life. Her only son, and the bread winner of the family, was killed in the awful explosion. She wandered out on the bridge and was climbing on some planks used as a temporary walk and was viewing the workers about the wreckage in front of the mine. Suddenly she staggered and fell. Several men ran to her side and caught her just as she was falling into the river. Friends carried her away in hysterics.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)

In McKeesport, PA:

Lester E. Trader and his brother are at their father’s home in McKeesport when General Manager Frank Haas “… called up and said he wants us to get back here. Frank and I couldn’t leave the company that way. I went back and they gave me a job in the auditor’s office in Clairmont.” (McAteer)

Victor told Trader that in return for being given an office and a job in the accounting department, he would be quoted as official spokesperson for company. (McAteer)

In Fairmont:

The Union Relief Association is organized at the Methodist Protestant Temple for the purpose of receiving and distributing aid of all kinds to the stricken families in and about Monongah and is rapidly shaping plans through the various committees, to do the necessary work in a thoroughly business-like way. (FWV 12.9.07 pg. ?)

Collections from the morning’s church services are turned over to Mrs. Thomas W. Fleming, “who will see that it does the most possible good to lessen burdens that the grief-stricken ones are bearing.” (FWV 12.9.07 – pg. 1 – extra)

“Donations of money can be handed to any member of the following committee and receipt for the same will be sent to the donor by Mrs. Thomas W Fleming, chairman.”

~2:30 pm

Chief Mine Inspector J.W. Paul goes into #6 to inspect conditions. (McAteer)

“At both mines members of rescuing parties are being taken from the mines weakened and unconscious condition but after being out for a few hours they have fully recovered. None of the rescuers who have been overcome is now in serious condition.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)

At the morgue:

“One thing that is considered strange is that few things of value are being found among the effects of the dead. From information received from the company officials Coroner Amos was of opinion that large sums of money would be found in the clothes of the foreign miners and working upon this supposition a careful search was made of every garment removed from the body. It was known to be a custom of the foreigners to carry their money with them, but the most valuable article so far found was a silver watch in the pocket of Peter Alexander, who was removed to the morgue Sunday afternoon.” (CDT 12.9.07 pg. 1)

~3:00 pm

At #8:

“All Sunday until 3 o’clock in the afternoon, when the searching parties were ordered out so that the mine inspectors make a test and experiment with the new fan at No. 8, there were sixty men engaged in the work of recovering bodies and nearly a score were taken out during the day.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)

*For the past 32 hours or so, all of the local mines owned by Fairmont Coal Company have been shut down and those miners have been reporting to Monongah for work. 2 small fans on loan from local smaller mines have been circulating air into #8. With rescue and recovery work now formally systemized under Inspector Paul and the other state inspectors and a plan to regularly change out volunteer crews, Fairmont Coal Company intends to restart regular work in their other local mines tomorrow.

*A replacement fan is currently is on its way from Pittsburg and scheduled to arrive on a special train around 4 pm. One of the fans is to be switched out and sent back to its original mine so that regular work may resume there tomorrow.

*Around 3 pm General Manager Frank Haas, who has been in charge of overseeing work at #8, begins to put their devised plan for switching out the fans into action. A majority but not all miners are ordered out of #8 just before one of the 2 fans is switched off. The outside crews are prepared to begin unmounting the fan from its temporary housing and get it across the trestle to the railroad line.

*Inside #8, small “hot spots” in explored and still unexplored areas of the mine (where coal is smoldering and radiating heat but there is not enough oxygen to ignite flame or smoke) become fully deprived of air. As the coal burns, it continues to release methane gases, but the air circulation is not powerful enough anymore to disperse or dilute these gases. Those who are permitted to remain in the mine during the fan switch are more than likely those who are working near or in the direct path of the 2^nd fan which is not turned off.

*At #6, men are also ordered out at this time as the air current from #8 will likely push dangerous gases into the workings of #6.

“The work at No 6 progressed rapidly owing to the conditions of the powerful fan there, until the rescuers were ordered from the mine because of the temporary cessation at No 8.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)

“After the men were ordered to cease temporarily from the rescue work at No. 6 the opening was closed and late in the day the big new fan was set to work at No. 8. One reason for the ordering of the men out was the discovery of some gas at the connection of the two mines, and another was that it was the purpose to divert the air-course from No. 8 into No. 6, thus making it dangerous for men to work in No. 6. While this was going on a heavy guard was placed on the city side of the bridge running across the river to the tipple and no one was allowed to cross there, lest there might be a deadly current of air out of No. 6 at any moment.” (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 1) (CDT 12.9.07 xtra pg. 10)

~4:00 pm

In Monongah:

The Company hires 3 Fairmont undertakers to manage the bulk of transporting the dead: Musgrove & Sons, R.I. Cunningham, and Jones & Co.; these 3 hire on 20 more undertakers from Fairmont and surrounding towns. (McAteer)

Unfortunately, the undertaker transport drivers are not very familiar with area of Monongah. Much confusion occurs over the next days in the transport of bodies to the correct homes. Priests will end up helping with most. (McAteer)

“The rapidity with which the remains began to be recovered late this afternoon and evening necessitated the coal company pressing into service a number of transfer wagons. These were filled with straw and the gruesome work of carting the charred remains across the river through the dense crowd began. Scenes that were sublimely pathetic transpired. The weeping of the bereaved ones as they madly chased after the vehicles was heartrending. They overwhelmed the morgue in their clamors for a look at the dead and it was necessary to drive them back by force and draw ropes across the main street. Pickets were stationed and the crowd thus held in check. It would only separate when the carriages of death were forced through to take the bodies to the cemeteries.” (US Dept of Labor-mine disasters-Dispatch article)

At #8:

*The anticipated 4 o’clock B&O special train arrives carrying very important materials for the rescue efforts and, more than likely, Paul U. Kellogg and several others who will become key figures over the next few days

“The victims at Monongah were working with open lamps on their caps; it was 2 days after the explosion before a supply of safety lights sufficient even for the exploring parties reached the mine.” (Forbes)

“A big mine fan, with auxiliary machinery arrived here on a special train from Pittsburg this afternoon at 4 o’clock, for use at the opening of Mine No. 8. Machinists and other workmen at once began work on installing it at the mine entrance and as soon as possible the machinery was in operation.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)

*When the train arrives, crews load the uninstalled fan onto an empty car or flat bed. The train pulls up slightly and crews unload the new fan and begin to haul it back across #8 trestle. The train continues on southbound to return the old fan to its proper mine in the Shinnston area.

*It takes approximately 45 minutes for this very experienced and driven crew to complete this task and get the fan running ventilation through #8 again. As far as Haas and the other onlooking reporters who may have known of this plan in advance, everything is going splendidly. Once ventilation has had some time to work its way through the mine, the state inspectors will perform the first formal fire and air check of #8.

“As soon as the fan was in operation the work of rescue was stopped at both Mine No. 6 and at Mine No. 8 for the purpose of testing the fan and ascertaining the result of the air current it would make.” (CDT 12.8.07 pg. 1)

*It does not take long for the new burst of air flowing through #8 to begin feeding these small “hot spots” throughout the mine. Smoke begins to fill the galleries and headings of the mine.

“New difficulties and complications have confronted the rescuers on every hand, but with only brief interruptions the work was continued until 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon. Then the fire drove all from the unexplored regions and the search had to be abandoned for the remainder of the day and for the night.” (TEW 12.9.07 pg. 7)

* = Author’s description of events. There is much conflicting information over the next 24 hours for several reasons and there will be an “Issues” post about this event and this author’s choices in the future. See ‘Dislaimer and Guide’ for more insight on this process.

The Basics: Terminology

There are several reasons why Appalachians have their own special language about their land. The most prominent reason is that ‘proper’ English simply isn’t good enough to help with navigation. Those basic terms work just fine in the foothills and the flatlands, but deep in these ranges and forests we need to get a little more specific so we don’t end up on the wrong side of the mountain. So, we tend to make up our own words or adapt existing words to take on a new or more specific meaning which is why terminology will differ depending on where you go in Appalachia.

Terminology matters just as much today as it did in the times before GPS and vehicles. Mostly because this terminology is included in the names of many places, like Mill Fall Run, and if you lose your satellite reception (which will happen in certain parts) knowing your terminology can help you “get to where you need to get” all on your own just like the early settlers or those on the Underground Railroad.

The layout of Monongah and its surrounding area is a perfect example of the terminology and its relevance. I am a ‘visual’ person so I will use lots of pictures to get you familiar with our terminology as it applies to this little town, its people and the surrounding areas.

GEOGRAPHY

Land

Well, just in case you didn’t already know, we are located in the Appalachian Mountain range which extends from the deep south all the way up into Canada on the east coast. West Virginia is the only state completely engulfed by this range. Even when we were part of Virginia, they still referred to us as “Western Virginia” and, basically treated us with the same indigence. We were those rugged, backwoods “Mountaineers” who lived off the land with only the very basics and enough to ‘care for our own’. The proper English folk of the Colonies had no use for us if they couldn’t profit from us so, the area was mostly neglected and remained severely isolated from ‘society’ until coal was discovered. By that time, we had developed our own complex language and various dialects to accommodate our environment. Despite the best efforts of the “Americanization” process of the early 20th century, that language still thrives today and it helps to know the very basics.

FB_IMG_1537747430334 — This photo is of the Morgan Cabin at Prickett’s Fort State Park only a few days after an arson incident when the old pioneer house was set on fire.

The Valley

Valleys are elongated lowlands between other uplands along major waterways and typically play permanent host to major cities or towns. Therefore, they are more populated and hold most of the resources for the area. Monongah sits in a valley along the West Fork River. At the time all of the ‘official’ mapping and naming was going on, we were included as part of the Monongahela/Tygart Valley Region. This probably explains why most of Monongah’s earliest settlers got their land by tomahawk rights.

frontThumbnail (30) — If you love history and old photos, I highly suggest browsing the extensive online collection of the West Virginia & Regional History Center at WV Dept. of Arts, Culture, and History

When it comes to the time of tales like ‘Coffin Hollow’, this place was still just a collection of isolated farmers in a small hollow known as Briar Town. Once transport to and from the hollow was established via railroad, bringing industry and a population boom to the area, her status was upgraded to valley and the hollow known as Briar Town became the town of Monongah – a suburb of the city of Fairmont.

Screenshot_2018-09-19-19-46-26-1 — These are screenshots of a map of the area from 1886. The East side of Briar Town is in the Grant District. The West side of Briar Town is in the Lincoln District. Link to the website where these maps can be viewed or purchased are in description

The Hollow

Hollows are valleys – an area of land that has been drained or irrigated over time by a water system which may or may not still exist; the second definition of the word valley. The key difference is that a hollow is located on higher ground within the landscape surrounding what is considered to be THE valley. Though the ‘mouth’ of the hollow may be located in the valley, it’s typically not the only way in or out. It’s simply the most direct way into the hollow from the main road or path which almost always follows along the main valley and its waterway, hence the term ‘mouth’.

It’s all about navigation.

The most important thing to know about what constitutes a hollow these days, is its road system. In a city, rather than walking all around the block to get to the next street, you may try to cut through an alley or ‘backstreet’ because the shortest distance between two points is a straight line, right? But, you will use caution because alleys are notorious for their potential dangers and a wrong turn can send you in the worst direction. Hollows are just like alleys.

Hollows can usually be determined by the width and conditions of their roads. An existing and mapped road wide enough for two cars to pass side by side, though it may be a tight squeeze, is your typical hollow road. The ‘mouth’ of the hollow is often paved but it doesn’t always stay that way throughout. Main routes which pass through hollows are paved, painted, and mapped by Google Earth like any typical road these days.

manley chapel country road — Manley Chapel Rd. is a hollow road which also functions as a main route.

However, Country Roads, like the CR56s in and around Monongah, are a hit-or-miss; if they are paved, they probably don’t have lines as they typically get the most minimal of maintenance and the Google Maps car probably can’t get clear pictures on such bumpy roads. A real Country Road is more like a permanent scab of compressed dirt and gravel where the space for 2 cars means someone’s tires are riding the ditch.

If you watch this YouTube video of Hall Family Roadtrips you can see first hand how easy it is to get mixed up on these roads without some kind of navigating system or existing knowledge. I love this video for so many reasons:

Being from this area, the first part of this video pleases me so much as the driver ‘hits every light’ at just the right time along Fairmont Ave. You don’t realize how rare that is until you’ve worked food delivery service in that place.
It is a brilliant live example of what I’m trying to explain. If you look at the far right of the map above, where the yellow line turns over the word “Fairmont”, and start this video at 2:06 you can follow along on the map as they drive. Except…
This poor driver gets sucked into the “Country Club Trap” at 3:28. Now, this is great for you and me because it gives you a glimpse of what I mean by “hollow-holler-hollow” road systems. Notice how the road changes with its surroundings. The deeper you get into the hollow the more it starts to resemble a holler as the road narrows, the lines go away, and forest surrounds you more than residences.
Snapshot from the Hall Family video
Then, at 4:40, we get dropped back out next to the West Fork River on Rt. 19, exactly where we would have ended up minutes earlier if the driver had just stayed straight at the light and not turned right onto a hollow/holler road.
From there, you are on your way into the west side of Monongah. At 5:20, the driver passes the ‘mouth’ of Mill Fall Run on the right. At 5:32 of this video, you pull into Monongah where Rt. 19 is known as Camden Ave (because it predates the existence of Rt. 19) and it really is a blast from the past. Below is a postcard of Camden Ave around the turn of the 20th century on top of a snapshot of Camden Ave today.
Snapshot from Hall Family video
At 5:50, the driver stops to turn on GPS or at least check a map right smack in the middle of Monongah, which isn’t uncommon. Monongah itself is so twisty and turny with so many ins and outs that travelers tend to get wary about making another wrong turn beyond this point. We have a saying that, “all roads lead to Monongah; you just gotta know where to turn”.

Hollow roads are sometimes several miles long and if you can navigate these Country Roads just right they can be a shortcut to the other side of the county, they can connect to other hollows, or they can take you to someplace even more awesome…

hollow on right, holler on left — Along Manley Chapel Rd., another road branches off to the left. This is Manuel Dr. – a holler road.

UPDATE 9/25/2018: For a bit of insight on just how hazardous these roads can be, here is an article from WSAZ reporting on a School bus that overturned when the road collapsed

The Holler

Holler moon — photo taken by Author, 2009

A holler is a very special place. One can only get to a real holler in a vehicle by correctly navigating the hollow. Sometimes you can only find the holler if you have been personally invited by its occupants as only they know the ways in and out. Other times, you may need to hike, bike, and/or boat your way there.

The holler is just an area past the hollow. The holler is a far more isolated place because it sits deeper in the mountains, typically below the hollow but still above the valley and can be impossible to navigate. In the right areas of the state, you can find hollows or hollers with a full rapid river, like Ten Mile in Buckhannon. In the greater Monongah area, our hollers are more likely to have nothing more than a crick which may be elevated to creek status only after heavy rains.

Where valleys typically have rivers or streams, a hollow may have nothing more than a run or brook/creek, and a holler will usually only have a crick– which, in some cases, is only around after heavy rains as it is nothing more than a natural drainage path for runoff rainwater.

Manuel Dr- street view — Manuel Dr. is a beautiful example of a holler road

You may have heard that the holler gets its name from the fact that all one must do to talk to your neighbor on the adjacent hill is simply “holler” at them. Well, that can happen in hollows too. That factor is more of a coincidence which just helped the term stick as a general title. True, in the average holler you can talk to a neighbor over hundred of yards away as if they were on your own porch, but this isn’t true for all hollers or hollows.

In a steep valley holler with a large waterway, like those in the southern part of the state near the New River Gorge, it doesn’t work as well. The white noise of the flowing river paired with the air currents of the valley can ‘take your words with the wind’. However, in small ‘backwoods’ hollers where the natural landscape mimics that of a Greek or Roman amphitheater, voices or other sounds can carry with such ease that hollerin’ is unnecessary overkill.

In the early years of my childhood, before the days of 24 hour news channels and shows like America’s Most Wanted and Unsolved Mysteries, being a kid meant being home by the time the streetlights came on and always staying within “hollerin’ distance”. The landscape of any area will determine what counts as “hollerin’ distance” – the distance a good hearty shout will travel across the landscape to the ears of another person. Basically, if the adults couldn’t hear you and you couldn’t hear them, then you were out of “hollerin’ distance” and you were in real trouble.

The Waterways

We have the same types of terms everyone else has for their natural water systems. But, naturally, we have a hierarchical system in place so we can get quite specific with them too as it is another special part of our navigation system.

Though West Virginia can boast many lakes, both natural and man-made, our most important water sources are our rivers.

The River

Rivers were the main navigation tool in the mountains from the earliest days. The Ohio River makes up our western most border, the Potomac defines our eastern panhandle, but it is the Monongahela River which is believed to have flowed the first of the indigenous groups (Native Americans) into the north central mountain area from the Delaware region centuries, possibly even thousands, of years ago.

Monongahela is a very specific and descriptive word on its own. Surprisingly, Wikipedia has the best and most concise description of this word:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monongahela_River

The Unami word Monongahela means “falling banks”, in reference to the geological instability of the river’s banks. Moravian missionary David Zeisberger (1721–1808) gave this account of the naming: “In the Indian tongue the name of this river was Mechmenawungihilla (alternatively spelled Menawngihella), which signifies a high bank, which is ever washed out and therefore collapses.”^[11]

The Lenape Language Project renders the word as Mënaonkihëla (pronounced [mənaoŋɡihəla]), translated “where banks cave in or erode”,^[12] from the verbs mënaonkihële “the dirt caves off” (such as the bank of a river or creek, or in a landslide)^[13] and mënaonke (pronounced [mənaoŋɡe]), “it has a loose bank” (where one might fall in).^[14]

Monongalia County and the town of Monongah, both in West Virginia, are named for the river, as is the city of Monongahela in Pennsylvania. (The name “Monongalia” is either a Latinized adaptation of “Monongahela” or simply a variant spelling.)

MT36 — A “high” “loose” “falling” bank along a river where the dirt “is ever washed out” and therefore “caves in” and one treading along it “might fall in” to the river below. Yep, sounds like the West Fork in Monongah!

Oddly, Monongah does not sit along the Monongahela River. She is tucked away in a little and hard to access valley along the West Fork River which was only passable by anything more than a small boat during flood seasons until the railroad came along. However, her luck of having such abundant coal reserves and being so close to the Monongahela River, yet still so very isolated from ‘society’ in Fairmont, made her the “gem” of the Fairmont coal field.

Some rivers are calm, others are rapid like parts of the Tygart Valley River which flows through and continues to carve the falls at Valley Falls State Park

The Stream

Streams are just smaller and more narrow rivers. In the mountains, a stream could be a few different things. It could be the classification given to a section of a major river which is just so low at a certain point that the river bed can be seen and the water literally streams at a slower rate, causing the river rocks to create tiny rapids, like in the photo of a section of the Potomac River above. This could be the norm for certain parts of rivers due to their natural elevation or it could just be as a result of drought and, therefore, only temporarily low.

The photos above are an example of a stream being a small runoff branch of a larger and more powerful river nearby. In areas around the Valley Falls portion of the Tygart Valley River, these little streams can be found cutting into the landscape here and there along the banks. They often have a steady supply of water but some will travel up the landscape and then they could turn out to be something else…

The Run

Castleman Run branches off of Buffalo Creek in Bethany, WV. This is where I would come to study while attending Bethany College.

A run is a just a small stream which holds a very special quality: its path stretches up from the main river into the higher landscape surrounding the main valley. A run is sort of half stream-half brook; it has a ‘mouth’ in the valley fed by the flow of the river like a stream but, it’s areas of higher elevation are natural rainwater runoff paths which act more like brooks carrying rain water down to the ‘mouth’ to be dumped back into the river. As a result of this natural drainage system, runs can be notorious for flash floods.

A run can take you deeper into the landscape or lead you out which explains why many hollows follow along runs- it runs water in a more direct path from higher elevations to the valley below. That is also why the word “run” is typically included in the names of places like this but, at one point, runs in these mountains took on a very special alternative meaning to certain people.

Due to their nature, runs were very significant in the times of the Underground Railroad when survival or freedom meant knowing that you need to follow the brook to the run through the hollow then wait at the ‘mouth’ to the river in the valley. Follow the creek or crick by mistake and you could end up going deeper into the landscape and fall into the hands of the wrong neighbor who will have no qualms about letting bounty hunters know about this secret little ‘through-way’ for escaped slaves.

The Brook/Creek

Brook is often interchangeable with creek but, again, in the mountains we have to be a little more specific sometimes. Brooks and creeks are just small streams. They can be their own entity and carry water from a highland directly down to the valley below or they can feed into a run or stream. There is no exact science in determining the difference between a brook and a creek other than observing elevation and even that is hit-or-miss depending on the landscape.

However, if you had to try and take a guess and determine if you are beside a creek or a brook the first thing to do is look and listen to the water. Does it look like it is flowing with gravity? Does it sound like a cup that’s slightly overflowing in your sink, the little trickle of water falling down sort of ‘babbles’ as it runs down and hits the bottom? Then it’s a probably a brook.

Or, is the waterway rather level for the most part? Does it serpentine through the landscape, occasionally rising and falling while it twists and turns? Does it sound a little more like water pouring out of a hose than a container overflowing? Then it’s probably a creek which is typically found on slightly lower elevations and it’s flow has less to do with gravity and more to do with water pressure.

The Crick

Last but not least we have the crick. Now, cricks aren’t always there in the form of water but their path is still a permanent gouge in the landscape. More often than not, cricks only really flow after heavy rains.