From Home to Arbovale and Cass

.....This is a mid-summer trip, so you can color it the same color as this page. We left home about twenty until seven and, after a brief stop at Hardys, we headed up Rt. 92 from White Sulphur Springs. Part of the way, the view was a little foggy because it was early. After mostly straight roads to Alvon, we came to a series of sharp curves that have caused many to come to grief. So. one has to be careful here.
.....Just past the series of curves we came to the old logging town of Neola and the turn of to Lake Sherwood. Once a boom town, Neola was purchased by the National Forrest and the buildings were torn down. By the way, before I forget it, The Iron Mountain and Greenbrier Railroad once ran from White Sulphur to Neola where it split with one branch going to the left up to the Docks. The other branch went right toward where Sherwood is now. The Saint Lawrence Company had a mill up Meadow Creek, and many a log came down this line
.....From Neola, it is a gentle rise to Pocahontas County. We eneter Pocahontas at the only place you can enter without climbing a mountain. It is not too far before we reach the junction with U.S. Rt. 39 where we make a left. If you turn right, after a short distance you will enter Virginia. Traveling just a short distance, we stop at a picnic area for a bathroom break.

Photo by Okey L. King

.....We all made a pit stop at this nice little picnic ground.

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.....Photo by Okey L. King

.....The sun was just beginning to come through the trees as we took our rest before climbing back in the jeep. Just behind the parking lot, there is a walking trail that goes around the hill, and then up a long valley. After a few miles, the trail cuts back across the mountain and comes back to area of the parking lot.

.....We travel on west on Rt. 39 to the little town of Minnihaha Springs. Here Rt. 92 heads north up the Valley of Knapps Creek. This is a long wide valley. Actually the topography is made up of long valleys and streams that run parallel to the Greenbrier River Valley from both the North and from the South between high mountain ridges. Sence these streams empty their waters lower down on in the River Drainage, it makes no sense to build a dam on the Upper Greenbrier River.
.....After we travel a number of miles, Rt 92 is joined by Rt. 28. and we arrive at the trunoff to Cass. Traveling west, we follow Deer Creek as it flows toward its appointment with Greenbrier River. Deer Creek is another of those long creeks that run parallel to the Greenbrier. After a series of very sharp curves, we cross the Greenbrier on a bridge and enter the town of Cass,

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..........Photo by Jonathan D. King

......Since both Jonathan and I are old car nuts, the first thing that caught our attention was this old chevy truck. It is a 1930 model. We traveled on a Monday because this was Carolyn's day off and because I wanted less traffic on the roads. The down side of Monday is that many things are not open. There is only one train ride on Monday and it is a short one. I hate to be a wet blanket, but, the fares to ride the train have risen too much. It makes it tough on families like ours. I have some old slides I could use, and I might, but I would like to ride again and take some new photos of the black smoke rolling out of the stack.

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................................Photo By Okey L. King

.....This is a Photo of part of the quiet business section of Cass. In one of the shops, I had a nice talk with Mrs. Simmons. It is strange, because, after I we had talked for a while, I relealized that I had also talked with her husband. But, I don't know where. It may have been in a hospital waiting room or at a little league ballfield. Necause I do a good bit of geaneolgy, I always ask folks who they are and where the are from.

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.......................Photo by Jonathan D. King

.....This old car has toted many a log off the mountain and down Leatherbark Creek to the mill at Cass. Leatherbark has the greatest drop of any stream east of the Mississippi. Before the railroad was built, I imagine that splash dams were used to flush the logs down to the river in the Spring. Logs were ridden by brave men down the River to where a boom caught them near Caldwell. ...............
...............Photo by Jonathan D. King

.....This a crude caboose used ton the logging road. A caboose is now a thing of the past since Virginia ruled that the railroads could dispence with them. This happen just a few years ago. Before that, there was caboose on any train that had to pass through Virginia. I miss the old cabooses. I would imagine that this one had a number of wild rides down the mountain. I imagine that the conductor was holding on tight.

Photo by Jonathan D. King

.....Leaving Greenbank and Arvbovale, we pass through Barto where Rt 92 leaves us and heads west to Durbin and then to cross Cheat Mountain at Cheat Bridge. Here we are joind by U.S. Rt 250 and here the Greenbrier splits into the West Fork and the East Fork.

.....Not far up the road, Rt 250, the old Parkersburg Staunton Turnpike, turns left and eventually climbs Allegheny Mountain at an elevation of more than forty-three hundred feet. Near this spot, the Battle of Camp Allegheny was fought. This was the highest battle ever fought in the Civil War. It was the first year of the war and it was one of the coldest years on record. Georgia Troops, dressed in light clothing, suffered and died in droves.
.....We follow the East Fork and eventially climb a mountain and leave Pocahontas County and the Mississippi River Watershed. We drop down into the Potomac River Drainage and our date with Spruce Knob. However, somewhere to our left, The Cheat River runs alond the top of a mountain taking its waters to eventually flow into the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. The Potomac Watershed is small to that of the West Virginia Gulf of Mexico Waters, but there is another watershed in West Virginia that is tiny. Most folks, even those who teach West Virginia Geography, do not know that it exists. A very small section of Monroe County is part of the James River Watershed with Cove Creek and Potts Creek sending their waters to the Atlantic through the James. That is just a little trivia to stick in your head.

Spruce Knob