Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1871-11-09
A BENIGHTED REGION.
Men and Manners in the New
River Country. ...5

IL
/ Charles NOr1hof writes from Yves
Virs inid to the New York Tribune.
The New river runs through a deer
/ gorge, or what in California, they call 1
canon, for nearly the whole of its courst
from the mouth of the Green river t
| its junction with the Kanawha. The
population of this canon is not lnumer.
Gus, but it has long heens solitary, and
IS, in some respects, extraordinarily
rude and peculiar The people have
been so long shut out from the rest o.
! the world, and have had SO little COM
munication even with che top of the
mountains above them, that they have
acquired, tosome little. extent, man
ners and customs oftheir own. Their
employnents are hunting and fishin.,
and in a small, desHlt0Fy way farm
ing-which means raising corn and
calves; for though where, the canon
| widens tn " have pasturage for cows,
milk is not part of their diet. The
New riv r country has been, from
time iinmemorial, a. convenient and
safe place of refuge for persons in its
vicinity who had reason. to fear the
law. 1t is said that it was first settled
by such persons, and during the late
war, its people had the. reputation of
preying upon both armies. knowing
that no General could afford to send a
force into their deep ravine to pursue
them The lower part o. the river is
but little inhabited; and as you ascend
there are occasional narrow fats, where
you will linda farmer established in a
small and cherries log cabin, with a
lot of white headed children, among
whom. Ishould say from observation.
girls predominate.C & When the engin-
eer of the railroad first entered this
canon, the children and women used
to hide themselves at their approach.
By-and-by they grew bolder, and one
day a little boy was caught, and duly
asked his name. e,, s,..Y vsZ e- :
"Where is your father?n the engin-
eer next inquired. e.''- -i.---' 80
'sHe's gone to the top, to find al
place to ligesdt,n was the eirepIy.s z. b4I
= ~ "Whyare you gOingto move away ?,
Father don't want to live. yer. no
longer, now the railroads comm along
was the answer, and tits, 1 believe, a
fact thatthe people are gradually de-
serting the canon, noWthat the work
is going on. Near Stretchers Neck, W.
came upon grist mill standing in a
narrow side gorge. This mill 4 was
told, is owned in common by the peo-
Pile, and hither they come from the adj
joining parts ofthe canon to grind their
corn. They usually come in the night,
when the slender mountain stream
which drivesthe min is the strongest;
and an Old bedstead had been set up in
the mill near the hopper, where they
slept while, the corn, was grinding.
There is no miller. Each griIids for
himself. The rnencomplain that the
women have to dress too muehg now
that the railroad men are about zthel
country, ..,.-~,,. 80 .,f;f7tsl
''How are your folks.'' was. VI asked uskE
of Anew river man by one of our COM
pany, and he replied, tsThey,re aIlF
knOcki1 around" Among their social,
are, two which seem to be de- |
rived from Ancient history. Widows |
are cared for, commonly after the Old /
Testament rule, so / was Id; and /
brides after a fashion whichIsI think,
HerOdotus tells of, for it is their; eus-E
tom not to marry a woman until her
first child is born For this theygive,
oddly enough, the reason that the )
people are poor, Doctors nosattainable,l
and the birth Oh the first Child, astheyl
believe, always dangerous to the moth
er's life, wherefore the int nding hus-
band chooses t0Wait and1.t row upon 1
the parents the troubles and expense of
4 possible bay funeral. -, Hell
wants wife to cook, wash, sew, and Ii
<eep house for him: and if she is to die,
ne don't want her at all. Iii