The Point Pleasant register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, W. Va.) 1909-1939, 1909-11-24
Slab CREEK
TEE OLD TON HACKNEY AND KATYDDI
SMOKE AND FOG.
The following interesting article

The following interesting article.
is from the pen of Mr.. Frank Che
ney, the ''slab Creek" correspond
emit of the Gallipolis Bulletin. Mr..
Cheney is well known by many of
our older citizens:
I'VE are having continued nice
weather and little smoke will settle
inone corner of neiehborhood and
some old sister will pipe out, This
Is Indian summer The old time
women forget about the scarcity of
timber years ago when the woods
were a6re all around US for two weeks
at time. wecould not distinguish
a house across the street, but then
We had real smoke. Our meat tasted
of hickory smoke-now they FIX it
up With what they call extract of
smoke and paint the meat yellow so
it looks ike bacon, but that old hick-
DRY taste is not there. Years ago
the hands out of wagon shop, or
rather carriage and buggy shop,
would go to the woods and select
nice clean STRAIGHT hickory +rees crt
them down and split out the timber
for spokes and then they would
steam it till it looked like whaIe,bone
and you could pull off a big silver
and tie knot in it same as a shoe
string. 1fyour wheel struck stump
It would spring and fly back to its
place and no harm done. Now we
see them haul in little snarly and
crooked grained hickory. They have
to saw them out for spOkes and turn
them, and wheel will hit rock
and a piece of spoke will fly out slick
and clean. saw awhile back where
the users of hickory wood were going
to have meeting to talk over what
they would do to take the place of
hickory in wagons and machinery.
We often see where they have meet
ings in lodges and pass resolutions
that we resolve so-and-so, but reso-
buttons won't make hickory.
l was working in Point Pleasant in
rs and IA and during that time we
had the smokiest time l ever recol-
lect Of. Steamboats, could not run
during that time. The old steamboat
Tom Hackney was laying in the
mouth of Kanawha river and they
wanted to make a trip to Parkers-
burg. They raised steam and went
up to the wharfboat and laid there
some time, finally they concluded to
try to make a start. They showed
out and would work along slow a lit
tie while and then stop and listen
till they thought they were near Ad-
Olson. Finally the smoke blew away
and they saw something and they
let her come in to see where they
were at, and they were at the barrel
factory on Kanawha river. They had
turned around and gone up Kanawha
without knowing it.
/ went on the Katydid one morn
ing about that time to go up to the
Point. The wind blew the smoke
away little bit and they started,
but the smoke got thicker again and
they would run little and stop and
listen. We monkeyed around some
time and saw something and they let
her come in easy, and we were right
back at the wharfboat where we
started from.
The man isn't made who can see
to run in thick smoke or fog and
there have been many serious acci-
dents by men getting inpatient and
trying to get along in the fog. l
remember of being on a big boat
once on my way to Cincinnati. When
l awoke in the morning we were lay
ing at farm; had gone in there in
the night. 1t was about daylight
and | got up. 1t was not long till
they concluded to try to go on. They
had two good pilots-one was in the
pilot house and the other on the