Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1890-03-12
Letter from sOnte,cherc.
SOMEWHERE"
Logan County, w. Va,
March LIST. 1890.
EDITOR FREE PRESS

EDITOR FREE Press:
Dear Sir
A few lines from a Jefferson County
citizen may be of interest to some of your
many readers, as they will give some idea
of the western wilds of their own native
State. On the 18th of February left my
native town for Roanoke, Virginia, to ac-
cept position on the Ohio Extension of
the Norfolk & Western R. R., running from
Elkhorn in Mcdowell county, w. Va, to
Ironton, Ohio,-a distance of 1875 miles
crossing the Ohio River at Ceredo, Wayne
county, West Virginia In Roanoke / found
everybody crazy over real estate-prices ru-
ling as high as in New York City. Lots 40
by 100 feet q miles from the centre of the
city, selling at $50 per front foot. Every
thing is by the front foot. In my opinion
lucky will be the man who sells in the next
six months, as some one is sure to be hurt
when the crash comes, and it will come and
that ere long. Roanoke is a thriving city
of $4,000 inhabitants-but real estate is 800
per cent. too high. Everybody is buying
and selling and but few building.
On the night of February 18th Frank 7.
Brscoe and myselfleft Roanoke via S. V. r.
R. and C. &. O. for Louisa, Kentucky
town of 500 inhabitants on the south bank
of fork of the Big Sandy River. We ar
rived at our destination on the 18th, and on
the Goth left Louisa via rail to Peach Or
chard, thence by stage 80 miles to Warfield,
Ky, town of 100 inhabitants on the south
fork of the Big Sandy River. We rested a
day in Warfeld. We celebrated the birth
day of the Father of our Country by travel
ing to our destination in the Oriental ;"
style-that is by pack horses, with baggage
tied in coffee sacks and across saddles. In
ferrying the river one mile from Warfield
the horse carrying my valises fell out of the
boat into the river, which of course left my
baggage in a sad plight We had to take
bride paths as there are n roads in this
country. We crossed several mountain
ridges. Our destination was Compton Stat
fords-a u pole Greek somewhere in Logan
county. We arrived at Mr.. Stafford's at .
p. NJ. When l viewed our quarters | felt
very much like the Irishman travelling in
Kansas, who, when he came to log cabin
and saw tackled up on board on the out
side Home, Sweet Home" said Yes,
and be iabers, neither fire nor water and
only three miles to H-ll." Mr.. Stafford
lives in a two-room log cabin without win
dows, with cracks big enough to throw Il
colt through, and might as well be without
doors, as they are never kept shut There
are three beds in one room-one occupied
by Mr.. Stafford and wife, one by newly
married couple, and the other by Briscoe
and myself-our axeman taking the floor
for his couch. Our bill of fare is a: black
soda biscuit, coffee without cream or sugar,
fried bacon and dried apples black as SCOT.
It would take the stomach of goat to d.
gest such food and have my doubts as to
whether it would not disorder his liver
They call thenatives here "Yahoos," which
means wild men, The chief beasts of bur
den are oxen. They are worked by day and
turned out at night on the Range" as they
call it, and they have ranged so much hunt
ing brambles and brars that they are mere
skin aud bones. The maxim Of this coun-
try is: the more cows the less milk. There
are neither postofices nor postroads. We
get our mail once a week by courier from
Louisa, so miles southwest Of here Bris
coe told me the other day that he never be-
fore realized the truth of the saying: "What
| fools we mortals be-" | hear him some
times at night, as we lie in bed, saying to
himself "Oh Carry me back; Oh carry
me back to Old Virgina's Shore" and l
venture to assert that if some tide offortune
were to watt him back to Old Virginia the
confines of Logan county would never again
contain his carcass-dead or alive. And to
be candid with you, Mr. Editor, would be
a little particular about returning myself
l would suggest that as Stanley has return
ed from Africa that James Gordon Bennett
dispatch him at once to Logan county to ex-
plore its wids and hidden places. There
are tribes here | know which would fall
short as regards civilization and enlghten-
ment to those in the interior of Africa.
have not seen a copy of the old FREE Press
since left Jefferson. Please address my
paper, Assistant Engineer n x W. r. r.,
care w. NJ. Hail. Louisa, Lawrence county,
Kentucky.
With a longing desire to be in old Jefler
son, am, Yours, truly,
T. G. BAYLOR.