The Kimball graphic. (Kimball, Brule County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1905, 1885-09-04
In The Virginia Mountains.

In The Virginia Mountains.
Washington Republic.
Grundy is u mere hamlet on the
bank Of Big Sandy river, ten miles
from Kentucky state line. the homeo Of
the "mo%onshiner," walledinb by noun
tains on all sides. The area of the
whole village is not more than oneand
one-half acres, and a wilder, more des-
olate lookingplace you cannot mag
inc. l could find but two men in
Abingdon who had ever been to Grun-
dy or could give me any idea OF the
road leading there. One OF them vas
a revenue officer who once made q
raid over there on horseback; the 9th
er was a member of congress for that
district, who had been there once dur
ing the political campaign oflastfall.
They had made the distance by
horseback, sixty miles from Abingdon
and by wagon road ninety-six miles.
They said it would be impossible to
find the horseback road without a
guide. as the road was a mere path
over rocky mountains, often almost
in~discernable. Icouldnot hire aguide
or a saddle horse without a sore
back 1.-THE horses back not the
guide's), so / hired a covered wagon
and q pair of horses and went it alone,
taking a supply OF raw dried beef,
canned meat and crackers. OF all the
trips ever took, that was the worst.
1T was up and down mountains all
the way. was six days and nights
on the road. One horse played out
almost entirely before | got back.
My right arm is stiff and sore yetf from
using the brake on the wagon to keep
it from running over and killing the
horses coming down the mountains.
! had great difficulty in finding the
way. Us nobody on the road seemed
to have ever been five miles from
home.
On top OF Big Sandy mountain l
came across q woman standing in her
hut door with u child in her arms,
looking very miserable. She said,
"Meester, did you meet an old woman
on n mewl?"
''Yes, about tho miles back"
LIN llC IiltNi IliiS llCl.
"No, not i'll my presence, why?"
"ANell dat ole woman is my NANNY
and critters up in does mountains
haint usen to kivered concerns, and 1
was skcert the mewl mout ha flung
her"
wondered if the horses and mules
were really afraid OF wheeled vehicles.
About a mile further on, Ispied about
200 yards ahead OF me aparty of four
persons mounted on mules. AS soon
us / drovein sight, they rode up in
the bushes and dismounted, and as l
had been cautioned that it was not
perfectly safe to go overthemountain
alone if there was anything about me
like a revenue officer, and as it was
then getting dusk, | was alittledoubt-
full what that maneuver meant. But
l drove bravely upandtomy surprise
each man was holding his ''critter'
close by the bit and the CRITTERS
gave them a lively time to hold them
until my wagon passed. then re-
membered having read a year OF two
ago a speech or lecture made by Rev.
erdy johnson, in Baltimore, in which
he said there was Il county in the
mountain section of Virginia, in which
there vas not a single wheeled vehicle
known, and only one wagon road
through the country. / Immediately
concluded that / had found the coun-
ty and road.
From the eastern edge OF Buchanan
county, where | entered it, to Grundy
is thirty-one miles. | did not see in
that whole thirty-one miles q single
brick or frame house OF any descrip-
ton. Nothing but the lowest order
OF log huts; stack chimneys three or
four feet lower than the house. The
puncheons formed the roof, held down
by rocks piled on them. was in the
rain all one day, and forced at night
to seek shelter in one of these houses,
where | could have a fire, as it was
very cold up in the fountains. The
whole family occupied the with
me. The horses We're turned out to
Craze. 1t was court week at Grundy.
Court was held in q small school
house. The hotel is n frame building
OF only two rooms with q stack CHM
ney between. -Four beds were in each
room, and one OF these rooms was al
50 used for dining purposes, if people
could be said to dine who eat twice a
day. 800 days in the year, nothing
but hot, half-done soda biscuit and
fried meat. | killed eleven snakes on
the road and drank a quart ofrot-gut
mountain whiskey to hold the hot
biscuit down. There is not a frame
house, | was told. in Buchanan coun-
ty, outside of Grudy, and there are
only five there since the fire.