west virginians? what the heck are you? (Clarksburg: shop, farm)

[snorpus]

The reason there's a town/village every few miles in WV is that years ago, every few miles would be a mine shaft, or a lumber mill, a gas well operation or a logging outfit. Lots of those little towns started as company towns, owned lock, stock, and barrel by the company.

And every little cluster of three or four houses has got to have a name... Galmish, Mony, Barker, Coburn, Eight Mile Run, ... just to name a few that I grew up with.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by NVplumber

My Father in Law lives in Spelter...right next to the old DuPont plant. My wifes stepsister lives in Nutter Fort. She also has a good friend that lives in Hepzibah. I can't remember the name of the place her cousin lives but it's literally "down the holler" from Spelter. My Father in Law is really active in the Shriners and the Elks...he's a genuine good ol' boy. Theres a big power plant down that way to...another little town I can't remember the name of but it butts right up to Shinston. My lil' dude and I had a blast fishin' the river that runs through there. ( I think it's the Monongaheala) Really pretty country. Oh it's a tossup whether we have as many canyons as they do hollers...but the hollers have more people than our canyons fer sure. Most of our canyon country is pretty inhospitable to human life.

There's a huge law suit going on between the people of Spelter (which is another word for zinc, BTW) and DuPont. DuPont, and maybe past owners of the smelter (the smelter at Spelter?), have been poisoning those folks for about 100 years they claim. It's only 7 miles from downtown Clarksburg, and closer than that to North View and Glen Falls. We all went to the same high school which is now closed, but I think they still all go to the new one. Glen Falls is only a mile or two from my neck of the woods. I had a lot of friends there. The river is the West Fork. It joins the Tygart at Fairmont and becomes the Monongahela running south to north. The town (?) next to Spelter is Meadowbrook. We used to get into trouble at a road house there. The town with the power plant is Haywood. If you do a MapQuest of it you can switch to satellite view and look right down the smoke stacks of that plant. You might even see your FIL's house in Spelter that way. The grandparents, and maybe some parents of most of the people in that area came from Spain. They were experts at making zinc, and supposedly the only ones who could handle the heat and hard labor in a zinc smelter.

[Buzz123]

This is just my two cents worth, but I resent the term Appalachian and Appalachian American. I think we can joke about it among ourselves, but keep in mind it gives other people the idea that a place called Appalachia actually exists. I don't believe it does, but if it does then it is an area from Maine to Georgia and includes most of New England, including New Yawk. I wonder how they would react if we said they live in Appalachia? The Appalachian Mountain Range is a series of chains. West Virginia is mostly in the Alleghenies, so if I have to be named after a mountain chain by a dead president, then I'm an Alleghenian; although I prefer being called a West Virginian, or even a West Virginia Mountaineer.

I'm afraid that West Virginians too young to remember when Kennedy ran for president in our state are the victims of his political rhetoric today. He came in and convinced everybody that the state had a new name ─ Appalachia. I didn't know anyone at the time that had ever heard it called that. He told us we were depressed and that his brand of socialism would make us all rich. We bought it ─ he was elected ─ and I for one am still waiting to see when the runaway train of one of the most poorly managed state economies in the country is going to reach the bottom of the now topless mountain and head back up the other side. I only wish the folks in the statehouse were tied to the tracks.

[NVplumber]

Yeah..the West Fork. We were catching Smallmouth under the bridge to Spelter. And yessir they had a HUGEcourt battle going with Dupont. They won actually but the big dough legal eagles are drawing it out on appeal. There are still some old school Spanish in Spelter. Two sisters {both of whom recently passed on) made the BEST sausage. Langunita. Man that stuff is good! They took their recipe to the grave with them but theres another old Spaniard picked up the torch and he's making some good stuff to. My wifes bringing back 25 pounds of it. They actually call the old plant the Spelter Smelter. My FIL worked there for 25 years or better. Got asbestosis for his efforts. And the ground water in the town is about as drinkable as cyanide leach solution. Mercury, lead you name it it's off the charts around there. They put a new water system in some years back and the folks quit using the wells. Eventually DuPont will have to pay up...but they have the bank to keep the jackals feeding for a couple more years. Seems like theres a lot of diabetes in the area to. Disproportionate numbers of people have it. Makes my skin crawl to think about the stuff big money mill tycoons used to do to people. Folks trying to feed their families and getting poisoned for it...and their families to. Pretty sad.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by NVplumber

Yeah..the West Fork. We were catching Smallmouth under the bridge to Spelter. And yessir they had a HUGEcourt battle going with Dupont. They won actually but the big dough legal eagles are drawing it out on appeal. There are still some old school Spanish in Spelter. Two sisters {both of whom recently passed on) made the BEST sausage. Langunita. Man that stuff is good! They took their recipe to the grave with them but theres another old Spaniard picked up the torch and he's making some good stuff to. My wifes bringing back 25 pounds of it. They actually call the old plant the Spelter Smelter. My FIL worked there for 25 years or better. Got asbestosis for his efforts. And the ground water in the town is about as drinkable as cyanide leach solution. Mercury, lead you name it it's off the charts around there. They put a new water system in some years back and the folks quit using the wells. Eventually DuPont will have to pay up...but they have the bank to keep the jackals feeding for a couple more years. Seems like theres a lot of diabetes in the area to. Disproportionate numbers of people have it. Makes my skin crawl to think about the stuff big money mill tycoons used to do to people. Folks trying to feed their families and getting poisoned for it...and their families to. Pretty sad.

DuPont will keep that thing going until all the litigants a long dead and only the lawyers will get anything.

You should ask your wifey to bring home some half-runner green beans too. I cook mine in a slow cooker with at least a half pound of bacon, sometimes for up to 24 hours. And this might not be West Virginian, but I throw in some of those little new potatoes too. Hmmmm.

Here's a link to a book about the Spanish and the smelters in Harrison County. His family didn't know he wrote this book and they only found it after he died. The daughter of a friend of mine from Spelter wrote the introduction. Your wife would probably enjoy it. I thought it was good. Powell's Books - Pinnick Kinnick Hill: An American Story by G W Gonzalez

[David Kennedy]

To comment on Snorpus's post...transportation was a common denominator...everyone walked. Cars did not really become common until after WW-2. You either traveled on horseback or walked...that walking up to 5 miles to work was done with long strides to cover distance...I've seen the old timers walk whtn I was young...not a stroll either...a determined practicle cadence... they covered ground in a hurry and it looked effortlessly...with their hands clasped behind their backs..

[kenstan]

The State Flag says we are Mountioneers

[mkfarnam]

[vec101]

Originally Posted by kenstan

The State Flag says we are Mountioneers

Good job - that settles the debate. We are not Northerners, Southerners, Mid-Atlantic, Applalachian, or anything thing else. We are Mountaineers. I like that.

[millersangel]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

This is just my two cents worth, but I resent the term Appalachian and Appalachian American. I think we can joke about it among ourselves, but keep in mind it gives other people the idea that a place called Appalachia actually exists. I don't believe it does, but if it does then it is an area from Maine to Georgia and includes most of New England, including New Yawk. I wonder how they would react if we said they live in Appalachia? The Appalachian Mountain Range is a series of chains. West Virginia is mostly in the Alleghenies, so if I have to be named after a mountain chain by a dead president, then I'm an Alleghenian; although I prefer being called a West Virginian, or even a West Virginia Mountaineer.

I'm afraid that West Virginians too young to remember when Kennedy ran for president in our state are the victims of his political rhetoric today. He came in and convinced everybody that the state had a new name ─ Appalachia. I didn't know anyone at the time that had ever heard it called that. He told us we were depressed and that his brand of socialism would make us all rich. We bought it ─ he was elected ─ and I for one am still waiting to see when the runaway train of one of the most poorly managed state economies in the country is going to reach the bottom of the now topless mountain and head back up the other side. I only wish the folks in the statehouse were tied to the tracks.

Well, half the local businesses here are named Appalachian this or that. Either that or Southern Highlands this or that.

We have Appalachian Power for our electric.

I don't see it as a foreign or new name for the region.

The link with rural poverty has some validity. But West Virginia isn't the only state with that problem. It's just the most publicized one.

As for the state flag, a bit of trivia. WV is the only state flag with firearms on it. Let's hope the PC people will let us keep it that way. :)