The citizen. [volume] (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 1910-07-28
much better social atmosphere exists
than is usual in a river town.

much better social atmosphere exists
than is usual in river town.
The main object of the trip. how
ever, is to gain some understanding
of the history of that section of coun-
try and its people from which Ken
lucky sprang; to make more real the
movement of population from the
coast westward into the mountain re-
gion of the South and beyond.
The objective point of interest TO
me, therefore, in Charleston is the
State Library, which contains the \
historical collections and relics. IT
is located in the Annex to the capt.
toll Building and occupies an entire
floor. The state has been liberal with
its historical society, realizing the
value of that work, and the money has
been intelligenuy spent. The State
Historian and Archivest, Professor
Virgil A. Lewis, is a mine of inform
alton himself. He is a typical son
of West Virginia, from one of the
noted families, cordial and courteous.
Everything here is placed at my dis
posal with the advice to turn things
upside down" in my search for in
formation. and | am doing my best
in the time at my disposal.
One cannot be long in West Vir-
ginia without realizing that he is IN
a state which is almost all noun
famous. 1t is a great inclined plane
sloping from an altitude of 5000
feet in a north-westerly direction to
the level of the Ohio river. The peo-
pie are a mountain people in the
main, and the characteristic of the
population in their past and present
is we'll signified by the motto on the
seal of the State, "Montani semper
liberi" Mountaineers are always free.
In the room assigned ME to work,
among books and documents and re-
lies of the early days, it is easy TO
gain a more realizing sense of that
movement of population which gave
rise to Kentucky and of the people
who engaged in it. The American His
torian of today is not SO much con-
cerned with kings or leaders as he
is with the SO called common people;
with those who, little by little have
conquered our great country and de-
veloped it.
The river on which Charleston is
located perpetuates the name of a
branch of the Delaware Indian ma
tion that once roamed over these
hills. At its mouth the French ex-
plorer DeCeleron, in 174S, buried one
of those metal plates which were
intended to establish the French claim
to the Valley of the Ohio. In the col
lection here may be seen a photo
graph of the plate itself which was
found by a boy
At the mouth of this river, too,
was fought one of the severest and
most significant battles with the In
dams in border warfare. that of Point
Pleasant, in 1774.
Though trouble with the Indians
continued long after this, it marks
the opening of the west to white
settlement. A picture of the battle
worked out from historical data,
powder horn carried by a soldier In
the battle, the signature of Lord
Dunmore, the English governor of
Virginia at the time, all help to make
this vivid. The early settlement Of
Virginia along the coast is suggest
ed by some brick from the old church
at jamestown and by excellent SER
les of records. more complete in
some points than can be found in
Virginia itself.
But we are more interested in the
movement to the west and the things
that help to make 1t clear. The best
information to be had comes from