Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1903-01-15
In the Center of West Virginia.

Ole "Trip INTO Tue Interior VI Wes1 VII
ginia last week. School business
called us to Glenville, in Gilmer
county. Chenille is a pleasant little
village, but, like Heaven, it is mighty
hard to reach. Our route is to take
the B. & o. Railroad to Clarksburg,
thence over the w. Va. Central and
Pittsburg to Weston or huntsville.
From Weston to Glenville is % miles
of more or less bad road, by courtesy
sometimes called a turnpike, but
which is not entitled to the name.
From huntsville the distance to Glen
Vile is Is miles, and the sort of road
that connects the two places shall be
hereinafter shown.
Mr.. Straus and the editor met in
Clarksburg Thursday morning, and in
a driving snowstorm took the train
for huntsville, having decided to take
the shorter of the two overland routes.
Arrived at huntsville, we soon found
Liveryman Gillespie, and asked for a
team to take us to Chenille. He
seemed surprised that We wanted a
vehicle for such trip, and suggested
that the only way to get there was to
90 on horseback. We laughed at this
idea, Of course, for Mr.. Straus hadn't
been on horse since 1882, and the
editor figured out fifteen years since
he had tried such method of travel.
But look at the road and advice from
friendly natives who knew what they
were talking about soon convinced us
that there was only one way to reach
our destination unless We preferred
walking. The mud was from ten to
fifteen inches deep, with three or four
inches of snow on top of it, and this
made combination that caused the
roads to be simply impossible for We
hicles.
In the midst of such storm 1t was
necessary to be well protected from
the cold and snow, and so we invested
in heavy mackintoshes, warm gloves
and caps to cover the head completely,
and then with leggings added we
mounted our steeds and started forth
with the pity of the multitude. We
didn't dash off in the way you read
about in books. On the contrary, it
was just about as much as the horses
could do to lift one foot and then an
other from the terrible mud. A quar-
ter of a mile from town our pilot and
guide, Frank Allen, gave us the choice
of two routes-the regular road wind
ing around the hills along the river,
or the fridge road" seldom used and
therefore with less mud, taking US over
the mountains. Our brief experience
with the mud caused US to decide in
favor of the latter, and so our horses
were turned up a tremendous hill.
The poor beasts could hardly be
forced to brave the fearful blasts that
howled in their faces and whirled the
binding snow all around them. There
was every justification for mastery
retreat, but remembering the criticism
of Napoleon's return from Moscow, we
concluded to press on. Up and up
the steep ascent until the top of the
hill was reached, and then we caught
the full force of the blizzard. The
gale swept across the vast hills with
terrific force, and the changing winds
twisted the snow into fantastic wraiths
that frightened even the horses. Then
down the mountain on the other side,
crossing an icy stream at its foot, up
another by a winding road that hung
along its flank, past enormous rocks
perched like castles on the peaks, down
again into long ravine through which
ran a mountain brook, the bed of
which was for a part of the way the
rosdbed also. And here wa. the only
place where there was no mud.
Night was drawing on and the air
was becoming more bitter as we
emerged from the long hollow and
again struck the main road. And
such a road The mountain trail was
bad enough, dear knows, but this was
worse. The mud was partly frozen
and the snow concealed holes that the
horses could not avoid. We plodded
on and on, never getting out of slow
walk, covered with snow and with
icycles hanging from our mustaches,
and man and beast were pretty well
worn out when the faring natural gas
lights Of Sand Fork came in view.
Eleven miles of the eighteen had been
covered in four hours. Pilot Allen
was for stopping at Sand Fork over
night, and he talked so eloquently of
Rlaine Stnmp's pood hotel and warm