The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1891-08-01
WEBSTER SPRINGS.
Life atThis Health Giving
Resort.
How Some Well Known Morgan
town People Spend the time
There.


You leave Morgantown on the 6 A. NJ.
train and arrive in Sutton at 5.45 p. NJ.
by way of the Monongah route. For
convenience We laid over at Faismont
one night. The road from Fairtnont to
Clarksburg is new and picturesque the
road from Clarksburg to Weston is now
in good order and they have good clean
cars and make good time, but from Wes-
ton is new and rough and full OF short
curves and trestle work. They run very
slow and carefully and we enjoyed il as
il was new and wild. The country is
very billy, but the soil is good and well
timbered. We arrived at Sutton on time,
stopped at the Kelly House and were as
well cared for there as one could expect
under the circumstances. Everything in
this country is crowded on account Of the
rush to the springs and the influx of new
corners brought by the new railroad and
the development of this part Of the
State.
Sutton is situated on Elk river and is
the end of the railroad for the present.
Elk is very pretty stream about as
large as Cheat at Rowlesburg and is
navigable to this place for push boats
from Charleston distance Of about 100
miles. The town of Sutton is built or
jammed in under Hill apparently in
the worst place they could find along
the river any place to build town. 1t
has population of about 400 or 500, and
is growing. 1t will continue to grow as
it is in good lumber country and is a
central supply point for good scope Of
country We met here great many
friends and acquaintance from Marion
and Monongalia counties.
Now for Webster Springs; and right
here you may expect TO get skinned by
the livery men and what they don't take
off you will rub off on the road over
here. The livery here is poor but their
prices are first class. 1t costs about IS
person to get from there here, dis
lance of about 81 miles, and il you can
stand the racket from here without dy-
ing there is not much danger of you
passing away while at the Springs.
At Sutton our party was joined by
Hon. John O. Pendleton, mother, sister
and niece. They were very pleasant and
agreeable and helped to make our trip
over the mountains more pleasant.
We get in shape, and start up Elk
river, follow it for two or three miles
drops as you think from the face of the
earth, but by the assistance of an extra
man we take along to hang on the high
wheel; this finally levels it up and then
he flies around to get to the other wheel
in like manner. The extra man we call
chang on" so we leave Elk river and
tackle Wolf creek and its branches, and
in distance OF six or seven miles we
he IL
creek the soil is good and timber SPLEEN
did, but the hills are out OF sight, and
the sun has to do some fine maneuver-
ing to get peep at the creek. Now we
raise one of the highest mountains you
ever saw on this side of the rockies, so
we wind, curve and twist for four or five
miles till we reach the top. We stop
here and take a long breath and then
we have four miles OF reasonably good
road along the top OF the mountain and
finally you drop down the side OF q
mountain. II one OF the wheels should
happen to jump the little ridge the low
err wheel has thrown up, away you
would go down the side of the mountain
1900 or 1000 feet. Here our extra man
chang on" comes into play again, and
acts as lever power on the high side OF
the wagon. This is not very enviable
position to occupy, but one feels safer
when he looks out and sees that the ex-
ira man has not been thrown over the
top of the wagon. There was train OF
four wagons in line and the bargain was
made when we started to all keep to-
gether so if anything should happen
with one, the others should stop and
help out of the dilemma, so every now
and then one would throw up his hand
and say halt, and we would all cry out
"What is the matter" and run to their
assistance to find out that it was only
a spring broken, trace, or a spoke, or
shoe off. The drivers are used to these
mishaps and appear very calm and con-
tented. They are prepared with ropes,
wires, nails, hatchets, ETC., to repair any
thing that breaks, and they say the
horses wanted rest anyway. We all got
together while they were repairing the
vehicles and amused ourselves viewing
the mountain scenery, the ferns, rhode.
den drons, &C., and in a few minutes il
was repaired.
We took our lunch with us and some
OF our party who had arisen little early
that morning and hadn't very raven
Gus appetite for breakfast, wanted to
tackle the lunch by 10 O'Clock. We
opened the commissary and gave each a
small ration to stay the appetite till
noon for we wanted to make the hall
way house by noon. We had another
hill to scale and mountain to curve
around and down the other side before
we were half way. Here we arrived at
1890 al Mr.. Carpenters, a very nice
old gentleman. Here we watered and
fed our teams and spread our repast.
The landlady was kind enough to ask
us to use her table and we accepted oil
course. There wasn't much style, cere-
mony or etiquette about the dinner, al
| though there was a Congressman pres
ent, but this did not interfere with our
digestive organs.
These old folks live here very com
fortably. The old lady said she had
been born and raised and had always
lived within fourth OF mile of this
spot and expected to be laid to rest in a
short time on yonder's knoll. She said
she had been on a trip once to Lewis
burg, and that was all the travelling she
had ever done. But she said she did
want to live to see the railroad done
and the cars run up Laurel creek,
though she never intended to get on the
train. The Camden system of the Will
liams river route runs right in front Of
this old LADY, house.
| They have cut the timber, cleaned out
| the route and are building their camps
now. Here we strike Laurel creek, &c
up it 4 or miles and then climb anoth-
er mountain. Here the hill sides are
rich and are covered with large timber.
One of the ladies OF the party said to the
driver: "This is good soil and looks
like there ought to be ginseng here y
The driver replied that "there was little
ginseng but plenty of ramps She hys-
| terically exclaimed "close down the cur.
tains. l don't want one Of them tc
to jump in here" She thought they
were some kind of wild animal The
road for miles at stretch along the
mountain sides is only wide enough fol
one vehicle, and if we should chance tc
meet another team one OF them would
have to unhitch and take the wagon
apart and hang it on the hill side in
pieces so the other could pass. We were
lucky enough to get in this predicament
but once, and this was with an OK team
They took the oxen out and tied theil
tails together and hung them around 9
sapling, took the wagon to pieces and
laid it against the bank and we passed
by with shouts of victory. We then be-
gan to leave Laurel creek in the dis
tnnco and scale another mountain, Their
for distance OF about ten miles we had
reasonably good road till we got in
sight of Addison in the distance below
from a Hill about mile high. You could
have thrown stone into the town, still
we were two miles off. should have
said up.
And here comes the rub, how to gel
down into the city. The road is ~