The Monroe journal., 1922-12-19

10 MarSnNllle-SOme Edril ffduh>
Of Darlington When He Was the
Youthful Agent.
There is a prevalen; but erroneous
conception among some n1n-residents
that Marshville was once called
"Peteree." Jim Austin, the man who
gets most out of life in day time
feeding, grazing, grooming and
milking Guernsey cows and at night
dreaming about Geurnsey cows, now
owns the place that was called "Pe-
teree," which then consisted of on
ly one small country store located
a mile west of Marshville, where
the old Wadesboro road, leading
through the farms of J. c. Morgan
and Ed NJ. Marsh interseets the VIZ
nlipgton- Charlotte highway. The
writer does not remember the name
Of the country merchant who was
the original proprietor and exclusive
owner of "Peteree," but he does
have vivid memories of being permit
ted to fill his four-year-old stomach
with brown sugar, "free and without
price," by the obliging proprietor of
the "Peteree" store.
After the Carolina Central rail-
way, leading from Wilmington to
Charlotte was completed to this point
in 1876 depot was erected and the
station was called Beaver Dam. 1t
took its name from Beaver Dam
creek, small stream two miles south
of Marshville. There are quite a
number of streams In this state that
carry the pane Beaver DAM" When
early settlers came to this country
the beaver family existed in large
numbers. The beaver has in each
jaw the two powerful incisor teeth,
coated with hard enamel, by means
of which it is enabled to cut across
the trunks of the trees which it re-
quired for its engineering schemes
applied in building dams. The hind
feet are webbed, and one of the FIVE
toes has q double nail The tail is
fattened horizontically, and covered
with scales. The beaver built dams
across streams likely to run OF in
summer. The dams were generally
formed of drift wood, green willows,
birch, poplars, and similar materi-
ais. The interesting method by
which a beaver made tree fall in
a particular direction across stream,
was by nibbling round, not horizon
tically, but so as to slope or dip in
the direction in which it intended the
tree to fall. 1t finished the dam with
mud, using its tail for a trowel. There
was once many beaver dams on
Beaver Dam creek, in south Marsh
vile township. Hence the name of
the original railway station.
The name Beaver Dam" had le-
gitimate and cred.table historical orr
gin. But it didn't sound well when
spoken or when spelled out in full.
As the town began to grow and the
agent at the station found the vol
ume of clerical work enlarging he
began to abbreviate the name in the
date line by writing it "B. Dam, N.
c." This didn't have an agreeable
sound to laymen and it was even
more distasteful to some of the
clergymen. Therefore in 1895 the
late Rev. M. C. Arrowood, Pres
byterisn minister, presented Pc
tition to the postoffce department
which requested change of the
name, Beaver Dam" to Marshville,
in honor of the Marsh family which,
with its descendants, constitute
large portion of the native popula-
tion of the community. The latter
explanation has to be made frequent
ly when our people 90 into distant
sections, as non-residents are inclined
TO Judge the location Of the town
by the literal meaning of its name,
and get first impression that it is
located in a low, marshy country, in
stead of the foothills Of the noun
tains.
The late V. C. Austin conducted
one of the first retail stores at Beav-
er Dam and the business consisted
principally Of barter trade-exchang-
ing goods for chickens, eggs and
country produce. There were sever
al other small places Of business
which dealt exclusively in whiskey
and beer. R, Poney, an Italian, start
ed as liquor dealer in q small shack
made Of rough edge planks, the di-
mensions Of which was about s BY
8 feet, located near the crossroads
west Of Maple spring. He later NOV
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