Appalachia’s Coal Miners Killed on the Job By Tabitha Wallen Something near and dear to my heart, a part of my very soul, are coal miners. My dad worked for McCoy Labs in Pikeville, testing water and soil samples on mining sites. His father drove a coal truck for the better part of thirty years….

Legend of Mathias Harman Storyteller is Mathias Harman The province on Mathias Harman is not of the usual story and is based on the 1787 contract with one John Preston, John Smith, Henry Skaggs, and me Mathias Harman to settle in what was then Mason County, originally Bourbon and then Floyd County after 1799. Images…

Big Sandy is know far and wide for her rich and prolific coal beds, or seams, and numerous operations are now in progress mining this product to be shipped to citizens in a less fortunate portion of the country; where coal fields are unknown. Of the many mines that are being work in the valley,…

EASTERN KENTUCKY SALT WORKS Salt was a vital commodity in the Western Virginia Frontier long before Kentucky had became a State. Long Hunters and Early Settlers had the ability to preserve food in an era long before refrigeration ensured its high demand. As important as salt was in the Colonies of North America , it…

Local Native American Habitation The Pike County Historical Society has recently been allowed from a local collector to photograph a local Native American collection. All items came from an area in and/or immediately adjacent to Pike County. The bead necklace has been restrung and the stone axe rehandled. The majority of this collection originated from…

The Building Of Consolidation City Before any Modern City can be built, there is a massive amount of planning and set up in what’s its ulitmate purpose. In this particular story the planning for Consolidation City, it started 144 years ago when a venture seeking engineer by the name of Richard Broas started exploring the…

Appalachian Arts and Crafts/ Cumberland Gap TN.

– The Class of 1928, 1st thru 8th Grade Vonnie Horne Childers – Teacher One Room Schoolhouse, Heated by a pot bellied stove. Drinking water from a well from the home of Albert and Bertha Childers. This picture was given to me (Lawrence E. Cook) by my Mother’s sister, Burtis Moore Mullins, who attended this…

The Hatcher Hotel in Pikeville, built in 1931, contained 106 rooms, all equipped with ice-cold running water. It was erected at a cost of $250,000 and was managed by Hatcher himself. In its spacious lobby was a small museum displaying ox-yokes, ancient hand-made furniture, weapons of bygone days, a huge, old-fashioned fireplace, and utensils used…

Emma Katherine (Gudger) Langley 1888-1948 Katherine Gudger was born near Marshall, North Carolina, on February 14, 1888, to James Madison Gudger and Katherine Hawkins.* Gudger graduated in 1901 from the Woman’s College in Richmond, Virginia, and went on briefly to Emerson College of Oratory in Boston. A short teaching job in speech in Tennessee ended…

Over the past 250 years major animal traces were very noticeable across the Eastern Kentucky landscape. This particular trace is no longer used because of the change in topography on the ridge line between Floyd and Magoffin County. The Ridgeline between these two Counties is the diving boundary that separates the Levisa River and the…

Randolph (Randal) McCoy Randolph McCoy was born was born Oct. 30, 1825, as the son of Daniel McCoy and Margaret Taylor. He passed of burns on October 30, 1914. He married his cousin, Sarah McCoy, the daughter of Samuel and Sarah Davis. Randal and Sarah married in Pike County, Kentucky on December 9, 1849. McCoy…

– A HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO PIKEVILLE, KENTUCKY The Times They Are A- Changin’ Gayle Compton (Note: The original version of the following was published in Coal People Magazine in 2015, seven years before Pikeville, Kentucky, would be celebrating its Bicentennial.  Changes in the names of some landmarks and certain demographics are slight, and no attempt…

Lt. William Anderson “Devil Anse” Hatfield of the 45th under Capt. John Buchanan The 45th Battalion Virginia Infantry was raised by Lieutenant Colonel Henry M. Beckley, mainly with men from the Virginia State Line, under the previous command of General John Buchanan Floyd, in late 1861. Floyd’s early measures at Bowling Green, and marching into Tennessee to…

Camp Brownlow, Piketon, Kentucky 1862 The JSR Letters are from the collection of Josh Branham and transcribed by Josh Branham Letter 1 Camp Brownlow, KetuckySunday afternoon, February 9th [1862] Brother Enoch, Although I have not received any answer to my last letter, yet I attribute it to irregularity of the mail; as I presume there…

General John B. Floyd’s 119 Unionist Prisoners Captured During the Raid of the Virginia State Line Up in the Big Sandy Valley in December of 1862 Sources and Works Consulted: The Richmond Daily Enquirer, Dec. 29, 1862. (Published between 1804 and 1877.) Typescript of a letter dated Aug. 7, 1863, from (Godfrey) Daniel Dotson, Co….

We have started a new social page highlighting different places throughout the region. Pond Creek is the official launch area targeting the 1920s through the 1960s. If you have good high-resolution photos, and have a wonderful story involving an individual, family, community or town and would like to share, please let us know in the…

Canceled

Twenty-two people died in the four-state region, including 10 in Kentucky, due to the flooding which also affected southern West Virginia, southwest Virginia and parts of Tennessee as the heavy rain continued through April 5. According to the National Weather Service office in Jackson, record flooding occurred on the Tug and Levisa Forks of the…

Hendrix Mine In The Making Artist’s Conception of Hendrix Preparation Plant and Facilities. In order to maintain the required production of Cavalier Coal, Consol is planning to open a new mine on Rockhouse Creek near Deane, Kentucky. This mine will be known as Hendrix Mine named in honor of Arthur Ray Hendrix, first Consol (Ky.)…

The Marshall’s Branch Mine Complex was constructed in 1947. Marshall’s Branch was the first mine portal built away from the town of Jenkins, this was due, partly to part of the contract, where people would ride two or three hours a day which made production cost pretty expensive. The reason for this was to shorten…

Charles Franklin Trivette was born near the community of Virgie, Kentucky, May 15, 1903. Charlie Franklin Trivette was born into the household of Joseph M. Trivette and Victoria ( Johnson ) Trivette. Charlie was the grandson of Benjamin F. Johnson and Elizabeth Johnson. B.F. Johnson was the largest general store owner in the head of…

Compiled by Roscoe Neal Reed On February 7, 1922, at about 4:30 P.M. an explosion at the Marietta Mine at Ball Fork, Pinson Fork, Kentucky, took the lives of nine coal miners and seriously injured at least one other. The bodies of the dead men were found all huddled together. Although the bodies showed signs…

Joseph Bouney – S35,782 Service; Virginia Revolutionary Claim Act March 18, 1818 Kentucky Joseph Bouney of Floyd County in the state of Kentucky who was a private in the regiment commanded by Colonel Phebicker [Col. Christian Febiger] of the Virginia Line, for the term of __. Inscribed on the Roll of Kentucky at the rate…

School To Open Here September First with Largest Attendance Ever Enrolled in History of Pike County Faculty Of the Pike County High School  Six Excellent Instructors Already Employed. Four More Will Be Added by The Mid-term.  The Pike County High School is growing rapidly. It is now the largest high school in Eastern Kentucky outside…

Headline from Moody’s “ELK HORN FUEL COMPANY Inc. Feb 3, 1913, in W. Va, to acquire and operate 199,479 acres of coal lands in fee and mineral rights in the Elkhorn field of Kentucky, Of this acreage 184,829 acres are in Letcher, Knott, Floyd, Leslie, Magoffin, Pike and Perry Counties, Ky.: the remaining 14,650 acres…

Abstracted & Written by Dewey Honaker

Camp Brownlow, April 13, 1862 Apr. 30, 1862, The Marysville Tribune (40th Ohio, Piketon, Buchanan)Letter from a Soldier in the 40th Regiment – The following letter from G. P. Robinson to his father, A. R. Robinson of Darby Township, has been handed us for publication. It will be found to contain some items of interest….

Constable W.P. Damron Pike County Constable’s Office, Kentucky. End of Watch: Saturday, June 21, 1930

BUILDERS SUPPLY COMPANY

PIKEVILLE NATIONAL BANK-THE FIRST 79 YEARS October 9, 1930. Pike County News Pikeville National Bank, Main Street Front. From the Wellman Collection

The Day and Night Bank of Pikeville National  It is after dark. You have just gotten off of work and need to make a bank deposit in order to “beat” a check. However, there is one problem. It is past 4 p.m. and the bank is closed. Use: the automatic teller machine? No. The year…

Auger Mining Auger mining is done with a giant machine that operates horizontally as does a brace-and-bit. It bores into the coal seam with bits ranging in size from 2 to 7 feet in diameter, forcing out the coal as a brace-and-bit forces out wood curls when boring into wood.This means of extracting coal is…

Eastern Kentucky For Sale 1795

Church Minutes Ledger April 1879 September 1879 November 1879 December 1879 May 1880 June 1880 July 1880 September 1880

Our story starts with Elizabeth Harvey. Elizabeth Dorcas May was born into the family of Thomas Patton May and Elizabeth (Leslie) May on July 8, 1852. Born on a Lower Johnson Creek farm very near or on the homestead of Robert Leslie 1763-1822, the grandfather of Elizabeth Dorcas May. In the 1880 Census, Pike County…

Dorton Wildcats Seventh & Eight Graders Pike County Champions Virgie Eagles Jr. High Runners Up

A Scout is Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean and Reverent. The One Hundred Club _ _ _ _ Blue Grass Council / Complete History By Tim Brown _ _ _ _ _ TWENTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT OF THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA FOR THE YEAR 1936 OUR AIMS AND IDEALS…

An early traveler required taverns for overnight lodging, whether it was near the forest trail, up or down the Sandy River these taverns located in Pike County, and in the city of Pikeville, were always welcome pleasures. A place of safety and a place out of the cold. This was a continuance of early Virginia…

The plaintiff, John Dils, Jr., states that the defendants Henry May and David May on the ___________________ day of ___________, 1862 in the county of Pike with force and _____________________ entered the plaintiffs tan yard in the town of Pikeville and took therefrom leather of the value of $2,500.00. The plaintiff, John Dils, says that…

During the long nights of the Great Depression, the only entertainment was often a battery-powered Atwater-Kent or similar radio.  When dusk came and such major stations as WHAS Louisville boosted their power, families would often tune in to live studio music.  One of the top attractions was the father-and-son team of Asher Sizemore and Jimmie….

Third Annual Bulletin 1931

Halloween Night 1946 The Silver Barn was very popular musical hangout for the local bands and singers. Built originally by local coal operator Fon Johnson. The Silver Barn was located just West of the Intersection of South Mayo Trail (we know today as U.S. 23) and Kentucky state route 611, just a few hundred feet…

Bessie Arnold Riddle / Pike County Clerk Paschal Fields Service Station Halls Cash Store

INTRODUCTION The Civil War had its roots in animosity, antagonism— call it what you may.  Peace officially came April 1865, but that did not mean that good will and brotherhood were part of the package.  This was especially true along the Big Sandy.  Lawsuits were the order of the day.  Legal complaints were being signed almost as soon as…

Read from the pages of THE PIKEVILLE DAILY NEWS The Regionals Begin Meet the Fab 6 Pikeville panthers of 1952 Woodrow Preston Russell Porter Morris Stratton Lee King Ralph Gilliam Ernest Prater Pikeville Basketball Schedule 1951/1952

During the five months prior to the official establishment of Bourbon County in May 1786, there had been a flurry of activity by fifty or more men in the Fayette land office to make over ninety entries for land in and adjoining the Big Sandy Valley 85 Eleven years later, in May 1797, five entries…

By Robert Baker Strange events sometimes occurred during the Civil War.  One involved a member of a Big Sandy Union regiment, the Thirty-ninth Kentucky.  Alfred Carter Hailey was one of several soldiers chosen to escort two Kentucky ladies to the Confederate capital, Richmond, Virginia.  One of the ladies had a well-known husband in the Rebel…

It was February 10, 1945.  Three friends from Jonancy were traveling north on old US 23 where the highway crosses Long Fork.  Palmer “Pell” Little was driving.  His passengers were Burl Osborne and Norman Linzy Hall.  Pell was the son of Dave and Cordelia Little.  Burl was the son of Joe and Florence Osborne.  Norman…

Jenkins Division Directors Of The Consolidation Coal Company No. 201 Tipple & Underground Mine 201 Mine Excavation stated last of August, 1911. No. 201 Tramway. October 8,1911 Making Progress on No. 201 Mine portal. October 8, 1911 No. 201 Mine Portal. July 26, 1912 No. 201 Tipple in the distance, Sandy Valley and Elkhorn Railroad…

Before the Kentucky constitution of 1891, regulations on corporations were much more strict than today.  Pre-1891 applications to form corporations were submitted to, voted upon, and approved by the legislature.  The 1891 convention decided that process was too burdensome and time consuming for businesses seeking to incorporate and that the number of applications would be…

From the end of October 1861 forward, there was no civil rule in Pike County. The military occupations of Pikeville, first by Colonel John S. Williams’ Confederates, followed by General William “Bull” Nelson’s Union army, compounded by the January 1862 murder of Judge William Cecil, made every man a law unto himself. Many ministers had…

A Special Thanks To John G. Damron The majority of Cordell L. Damron’s life was not without adventure and achievement. Most of what is preserved about Cordell’s life is only a small part of what made him widely known around the Shelby Creek and Pikeville area. What Pike Countians know today about Cordell Damron was…

By Robert Baker After extensive research, the Reverend M. T. Burris is still something of a mystery.  What little that can be learned about him comes directly from his own writings reproduced here and from a few scattered public records.  However, it is clear that he was an early school-teacher in the Big Sandy Valley,…

Roland Landon Walker was born September 9, 1875 into the union of James M. ands Mary Jane Walker. 1890 Teachers Certificate of Roland Landon Walker 1891 Teachers Certificate of Roland Landon Walker 1894 Teachers Certificate of Roland Landon Walker Roland Landon Walker is shown in Pike County’s Annual Teachers Settlement listed in 1892, qualified to…

The people in the photograph were: [Far Left]  BENJAMIN FRANKLIN JOHNSON, better known as B.F., was a storekeeper who lived on Long Fork of Shelby Creek.  He was chosen by the businessmen in the party for his detailed knowledge of the region’s topography and its people. [Second from Left]  Probably GEORGE F. JOHNSON, son of…

The Harman family is widely known in Tazewell County, Virginia, but did you know that old Mathias has a Pike County connection?  Mathias Harman built the first settlement in Pike County in 1789.  He informs us of that settlement in a legal deposition of his own words.  The most current information comes in the form of a court…

Calendar of Virginia a State Papers” Volume 4, Page 460 Death of Cornelius Roberts June 24, 1788 That men who had gone to the Black Mountain to dig ginseng had found a camp where one of the Elam’s and 3 of the Breeding’s, of New Garden, and Neal Roberts had been about the same employment,…

Beginning on the next page is an autobiography of JOHN DILS, JR. which was published in William Ely’s 1883 “The Big Sandy Valley”.  Photos are from my collection, not from Ely’s book. In the autobiography Dils concentrated on his family history, his early days in Pikeville, his marriage, his business associations, and his motivation for becoming…

Dedication This compilation of histories is dedicated to my first cousin Julia Wall, who safeguarded the notebooks and sent them to me along with original photos of Thomas Elliott; my daughter Ashley Korizis for hours of research in the DAR databases, and to family and friends in Pike, Floyd and Johnson counties, Kentucky. As the sixth…

Corrigan / McKinney Steel Company

Special thanks to Sandy Newsom for sharing photos of her family. The original story was written by Alice J. Kinder, Mountain Roots, News-Express, July 6, 1883 In 1967 Pike Countians read this astounding news in the newspapers: One of the largest transactions in the recent years of Pike County’s history took place when 2,600 acres…

January 1957 Flood One of the Worst in History The January 1957 flood dealt Eastern Kentucky a severe blow: it took 12 lives and caused $50 million in damage. The mid-winter flood of 1957 wrought great destruction in the Big Sandy, the Kentucky, and the Cumberland river valleys. At Pikeville on the Big Sandy River…

The History of The 1st National Bank of Pikeville 1st National Bank Lobby 1924 The First National Bank of Pikeville began business as a State Bank under the name of the Bank of Pikeville. At the first meeting of the Board of Directors, of September 20, 1888, A. J. Hatcher was temporarily elected President and…

Store ledger dates from 1900 to 1902

Newspaper Prints Provided by News Express

South Mayo Trail Merchants and Retailers C & W Justice Hardware Bobby Hall Texaco and Wrecker Service Helen’s Floral Shop / The Old Norton Floral Kelly’s Drive-In Huffman Supply Co. your local Southern States dealer owned by Charles Huffman Baby Ritz Drive-In Montgomery Ward At Yorktown Montgomery Ward At Yorktown Before Three-Way Service, Shelby Bridge…

1924

Lookout Post Office

Ben and Georgia Ratliff (above)

Main Street Branch Est. July 15, 1952. John M. Yost, Vice President and Cashier. South Mayo Branch. Elkhorn City Branch.

PUBLIC SCHOOL BASKETBALL IS A MOUNTAIN INSTITUTION. It has often been said that business deals and new acquaintances in eastern Kentucky are often made at one of two functions, a basketball game or a funeral. Anthony Hawkins, a regular contributor of material to the Pike County Historical Society website, came up with this middle school…

            The Old Union Church was established in 1820.  Its founders were members of the Salem Regular Baptist Church of the New Salem Association.  William Tackett, who became moderator of the new church once it was established, and a few others took an arm and started it on Indian Creek near the present junction of Highways 122 and…

Ratliff Tavern was located where the current Pikeville City Park is today.

J. B. ELKHORN COAL COMPANY, Douglas, Hildason, Ky.(Mine No. 2.)Geo. A. Clutts, Superintendent; J. N. Woolum, Mine Foreman. Located on the S. V. & E. Railway. Operating the lower Elkhorn seam, 54 inches. Employing about 65 men. Electric equipment. Visited January 9, 1922. Found in fair condition. This report was taken from a 1922 Kentucky…

USGS TOPO MAP / DORTON 1954 Esco Railroad Siding and Tipple ESCO MINE CAR DISASTER Dec. 5, 1929 2 MEN KILLED, 2 HURT IN MINE INCLINE CRASH _______________ HATTON BURKE, SEEKING JOB, IS VICTIM AS CAR RUNS WILD _______________ TAN BRANHAM DIES AT HOSPITAL HERE _______________ OTHERS JUMP TO SAFETY IN ACCIDENT AT ESCO MINE…

Tickets from a time when one of these would allow you to ride the rails from Jenkins down the length of the Big Sandy valley to Ashland.  (Courtesy of Anthony Hawkins)

 A 1905-memo book from Bud Williamson’s General Merchandise Store at Piso, Kentucky.  The pencil notations tell us that not only was Williamson a dry goods merchant, but he also dabbled in the timber business.  With no calculators or computers, a blank memo book from a vendor, a lead pencil, and a sharp storekeeper’s mind made…

When The World Was Flat More than sixty years have passed, but the memory lingers, indelible as a bottle of blue ink spilled on a 5-cent pack of Lucky Star writing paper.  I remember the blackboard, the pull-down map of the world, a frieze of paper cardinals, listing ships and crooked Crayola houses.  I remember the…

The Fodder Shock Hideaway, Gus’s Last Dream

Big Andy’s Last Harvest.

Shootout at the mouth of Bull Branch.

Located on the Right Fork of Long Fork

Big George Johnson

Pikeville Chero-Cola Bottling Co. Pikeville Chero-Cola Bottling Co

Located on Pool Point Curve, near Elkhorn City KY.

Rader Hale’s Harley Davidson Sales, McAndrews KY. Photos Courtesy of Red Robin Stone Heritage Archives.

VIDEO – Embry-Riddle Celebrates its History – https://youtu.be/Iy8j59l-HjQ Formerly a barnstormer and flying instructor for stunt pilots, John Paul Riddle was a pioneer in aviation history taking the controls only 17 years after the Wright brothers’ first flight. His career in aviation had taken him from the Embry-Riddle Flying School in 1926, winning the first…

     As we enter into another Landmark Centennial Celebration, on December 25, 1924. A 56 bed hospital opened its doors for the first time. The state of the art facility was named The Methodist Hospital of Kentucky. The Methodist Hospital of Kentucky and its predecessor Pikeville Methodist Hospital have served the Community of Pike…

Located in Elkhorn City KY WECL, FM 103.1, signed on the air for the first time on the morning of September 28, 1974.  With studios on Main Street in Elkhorn City, Kentucky, the station operated under Mountain Interstate Broadcasting Co., owned by Allen Epling, a science teacher at Elkhorn City High School, and his father…

Located in McCarr Kentucky June 9, 1950. Three States Bcstg. Co. seeks 1360 kc, 1 kw-D. Estimated construction cost $18,791.02. Principals in Three States include: Fred A. Staples, pastor Striker Bible Church, president and general manager, 25%; Fred L. Morningstar, assistant director Southern Highland Evangel Inc., Biggs, Ky., vice president, 25%; Joseph P. Pickering, owner 25%…

WSLI Radio was part of the Eastern Kentucky Radio Corporation (Group). The original incorporators were: W. J. Ward, Earl M. Tyson, Thomas J. Holland, W. W. Huffman, and E. Bruce Walters. Incorporated April 19, 1946.

Music Kentucky Slim – https://youtu.be/fcfbSAs1piA Kentucky Rockabilly KY SLIM – CADILLAC CAR – D&B Records – https://youtu.be/w3TNG4Oa_6Q

Artist Biography by Paul Roberts Owen ‘Snake’ Chapman was born in 1919 near Canada in north-eastern Kentucky, and the music presented on these two CDs, recorded between 1995 and 1998, reflects a lifetime’s immersion in the rich and creative Southern fiddle tradition.  His personal story is almost an archetype for the experience of the Kentucky…

Hobo Jack Adkins was born on June 10th, 1922, in Regina KY. He died on June 2nd, 1977. Artist Biography by Eugene Chadbourne Hobo Jack Adkins was given his stage name by a radio station manager during an era when radio was closely involved with newly developing strains of old-time, country, and bluegrass music. It places him…

Artist Biography by Eugene Chadbourne The short and quite cute — they didn’t call him Cuddles Newsome for nothing, after all — mandolinist from Kentucky was part of the early history of bluegrass in the ’50s. He was a member of the important 7 Flat Mountain Boys in the mid-’50s, a group under the rare leadership of its bassist…

Bio Molly O’Day was born on July 9, 1923 as Lois Laverne Williamson. She was raised by a coal mining family in rural Pike County Kentucky. As a child, she was influenced by singers Patsy Montana, Lulu Belle Wiseman, Lily May Ledford, and Texas Ruby Owens. O’Day began singing and playing guitar in a band…

The mother involved in this case is Lurena Ray.

The mother involved in this case is Cinthia (Cynthia) Taylor.

The mother involved in this case is Polly Ford.

The mother involved on this case is Matilda Fraley.

The mother involved in this case is Betty Lewis.

The mother involved in this case is Caroline Huffs.

The mother involved in this case is Marry Adams.

The mother involved in this case is Kate Carter.

The mother involved in this case is Susanna Adkins.

Candidate for Pike County Sheriff 1925.

Lancer Lester and his sister Lennie Lester Damron, Photo provided by Mary Lou Kendrick Annual KY Mine Report 1922 (above)

Courtesy of John Doug Hays' Collection Courtesy of John Doug Hays' Collection Courtesy of John Doug Hays' Collection Courtesy of John Doug Hays' Collection Courtesy of John Doug Hays' Collection

Postmarked Hellier, Kentucky July 19th, 1911. Boardinghouse.

Corrigan / McKinney Steel Company McKinney Steel Co Incorporated, Located on Marrowbone Creek. McKinney Steel Co Incorporated, Located on Marrowbone Creek.

Electric Motor bringing out loaded Mine Cars out of The Borderland Coal Company mines Electric Undercutting Machine being transported to another section of mines Borderland No. 1 Tipple and Washer Plant, with Power House. Showing 4-ton Bucket arriving via Ariel Tram from the mines from the Kentucky side. Both No. 1 Tipple and No. 2…

Photo courtesy of Red Robin Stone Heritage Archives. Photo courtesy of Red Robin Stone Heritage Archives. Photo courtesy of Red Robin Stone Heritage Archives. Photo courtesy of Red Robin Stone Heritage Archives.

Lower Elk Creek School House, June 4th, 1915

Majestic Tipple (above) Majestic Tipple Side Track, Looking Down Stream (above) Majestic Tipple Crew (above) Majestic Collieries Co. 1960 Mine Map (above) Majestic Collieries Co. 1952 Mine Map (above)

Store and Office Building, Plant No.1, Freeburn, Portsmouth By-Product Coke Company. (above)

Photos in Memory of Marvin, Bruce, and Paul Hopkins. Here is a link to an article about an employee who worked for Republic Steel for 32 years: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/02/19/miners-we-are-fighting-for-survival/a1c14874-da07-4468-ba40-1ec7c32a507c/ Here is a link to a piece about an employee of Republic Steel: http://www.potterflats.com/coalmine.html Here is a link to a court case, Republic Steel Corporation versus Adkins:…

The healer, most of the time women, sometimes called a granny witch. He or she, doesn’t use magic as in pulling a rabbit out of a hat, waving a wand while repeating the words hocus pocus. And not in the sense of a magic show by Harry Houdini, in some Las Vegas setting in its day. Nor…

Photo courtesy of Red Robin Stone Heritage Archives.

Photo courtesy of Red Robin Stone Heritage Archives.

Throughout the Early Industrial Appalachian History, oil and natural gas has provided a lot of jobs and income over the last 45 years. The below pictures provide an answer to how they moved the spud drilling rigs throughout Eastern Kentucky including Pike County. Moving of these rigs were very labor intensive for both horse and…

        General William T. Sherman had given implied approval for General William Nelson to organize a force to drive Confederates under Colonel John S. Williams from eastern Kentucky.  Nelson’s force had marched south from the fairgrounds south of Maysville and met the State Road east of Mount Sterling.  They had followed that route through Hazel Green, then split…

This is a coal tipple located on Ohio Street in East Elkhorn. (above) Employees of Carson By-Products located on Spruce Pine Island later called Carson Island and Ohio Street in East Elkhorn City. Courtesy of Paul Clynton Mullins. (above) Both above images Are courtesy of Elkhorn City Heritage Council.

The Clinchfield Number One “’Spot” is the oldest regularly scheduled steam engine in the United States. The Number One was originally built by the Logansport, Indiana Shops of the Columbus, Cincinnati and Indiana Central Railroad in April 1882 and was released, with the number #423. It, through various ownerships, became Engine Number One on the…

The following is a transcription of a journal from Lyman C. Draper to the Virginia Historical Register And Literary Companion: Volume V, Number II, in April of 1852. All Spellings and grammar are exactly as originally transcribed and were not altered. The expedition of the Virginians against the Shawanoe Indians, in 1756, is an event…

Alexander Johnson Alexander on the far right (above) Mary Jane Johnson Married to W. B. Johnson.

Frances Sowards (below)

Isom Branch Operation on Long Fork Harvey Little (below)

A very loyal Patriot, John Doug Hays, dressed in the attire of the Continental Army Virginia-Militia at the S.A.R. December 12th 2015 meeting. Gary Howard S. A. R. Group Photo 2015

Jay Johnson was the youngest son of Robert and Easter (Branham) Johnson. Jay Johnson’s Headstone Mary Johnson’s Headstone

The Sorghum Mill was located on the Left Fork of Long Fork. Given the time of year, providing snow is shown in the background, this mill was converted for use in grinding corn.

LOIS SMITH HIERS One woman’s story is the word I write, And no invention, or the page is clear… She rises early, eager as the light To tend her garden, setting rose-roots where The world goes by, then leans upon her hoe In languorous daydream… –Lois Smith Hiers The name Lois Smith Hiers is not…

Mining the Upper Shelby Creek, Elkhorn Creek of the Levisa River, Boone Fork and Rockhouse Fork, North Fork of the Kentucky River tributaries in the early 1970’s. The machine in the picture is a Salem Auger Model-1500. Tackett-Manning Coal Corporation had several mining operations working simultaneously during the coal boom of the 1970’s. The big…

Photo is courtesy of The Elkhorn City Heritage Council.

Thanks to Doug Kretzer with The Mountain Sports Hall of Fame for the photos and content. In Search of John O’Neil In April a friend and one of the great historians in the Big Sandy Valley sent me a message saying he and others were building a Pike County History website and asked if I…

This is part of the Praise Baseball team. Named from left to right: Ben Wright, Frank Wright, Booker Wright, Benton Wright, and Charlie Wright. Photo is courtesy of The Elkhorn City Heritage Council.

It was the mid-to-late 1930s, 1938 or so, and the site was the Ratliff Cemetery at Shelbiana.  If you look at the distant mountaintop, the right-of-way for the coming power lines is cut, but there are no wires or poles.  The crowd is gathered for the burial of a stone mason by the name of…

During the 2nd Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1799, the governor was allowed to appoint Judges, Sheriffs, Coroners, and Justices of the Peace. John Hargis Kinsley B Cecil Martin Mims William Ferguson Elijah Adkins Nathan Hamilton William Pinson John Sword William Owens James Ferguson Martin Thornberry

During the 2nd Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1799, the governor was allowed to appoint Judges, Sheriffs, Coroners, and Justices of the Peace. Richard Damron William Cecil

During the 2nd Kentucky Constitutional Convention of 1799, the governor was allowed to appoint Judges, Sheriffs, Coroners, and Justices of the Peace. Thomas Owens William Campbell John Bevins Allen Lesley Thomas Bevins William Ramey William Tackett John Deskins

Many years ago, as a young child I remember my father going squirrel hunting. Hunting season normally started after the middle of August, but he would always wait a little later in the season to avoid harvesting a squirrel to avoid finding parasites in their necks. Most hunters call them Wolves, though Warbles is the…

The first half of the twentieth century saw the emergence of several notable Appalachian poets and local colorists, including John Fox, Jr., Charles Neville Buck, Jesse Stuart and James Still.  With her poems appearing in an array of newspapers and national journals, Truda McCoy of Pikeville was one of the most promising.  However, her ties…

By 1935 the stock market crash of Black Tuesday had affected every person, family, business, and institution in America.  Lives had been lost, families torn apart, and businesses ruined.  Depression was the operative word, both financially and emotionally.  But if a person had the spare change they could, for a precious few minutes, escape reality. …

The book is called Cat Claws and Tree Bark, and readers are lucky to have it.  The author, Virginia Casey Turner, didn’t want it published.       Born January 14, 1912, Virginia Casey was the daughter of Susie and Walter Casey of Lancaster in Garrard County, Kentucky.  Although a precocious student in all subjects, including art, it…

This Dam is commonly referred to as the John May Grist Mill, which is correct. The picture below appears to show the likeness of James Hatcher sitting on the right side of the Splash Dam. The image below shows the actual map location for the Splash Dam, located East of present-day Branham Heights.

The Pond Creek Railroad Spur

Henry Ford’s Gift to the Miners of Stone Kentucky: Fordson Coal Company.

Credit for these images goes to Civil War Historian, Marlitta Perkins. This first image on the left is a magnified view of the heading displayed in the next image. The beginning reads: “Buried in Public Graveyard in old cultivated field belonging to Mr. Hatcher…”

I was in for a surprise, more ways than one, when I signed up for Dr. Leonard Roberts’ Mythology class my senior year at Pikeville College in 1969.  I realized I’d just wasted five dollars on Edith Hamilton’s fat text when I walked into the classroom and saw all the chairs shoved up against the wall…

Story – The Master Detective Warrant and Court Record Pardon

Noah & John Reynolds

Pike Countians have long been proud to claim Lillie D. Chaffin as one of their own.  Lillie was 37 and working as an elementary  school teacher at Johns Creek when her first children’s book, A Garden is Good, was published in 1963.  Meanwhile, she was gaining a reputation in another genre, with her poetry for adults appearing in hundreds…

Lawsuits are always a good source of information. This timber report was done at the Mouth of Punching Camp, opposite of Shade Dotson’s house. William McClellan Ritter (February 19, 1864-May 21, 1952) organized the W.M. Ritter Lumber Company in 1901. From the original core of operations in West Virginia and Virginia the company expanded operations…

A scene from the days of Ritter Lumber at Lower Elk. In the center foreground is the company store. The lumber yard is in the front, at the right, with garden plots on the hillside, belonging to the different families in the lumber camp. The area at the back, left, was known as Train Row….

Our history of Pike County, Kentucky, writers begins with Effie Waller Smith, and Effie’s story begins in 1860 at a public slave auction held in Pikeville, Kentucky. At a time when Kentucky was torn between loyalty to the national Union and her sister slave-holding states farther south, no county was more evenly divided than Pike….

Southern Bible Institute 1950. The Torch Yearbook Collection. (above) Marrowbone Missionary Baptist Church 1073 (above)

Goody (formerly Leckieville) is located in the bottom-left corner of the photo above. Above is Pond Creek By-Products Colliery, a N&W Railway Company located above Leckieville.

Antebellum coal mining in Pike County was a hit-and-miss proposition, not only for entrepreneurs but for laborers, as well. Sometimes sufficient rainfall allowed the coal to be transported downriver, but dry spells just as often kept the coal boats moored to the riverbank. Even before the formation of Pike County on December 19, 1821, eight-man…

THE STORY OF THE METHODIST HOSPITAL OF KENTUCKY, ITS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM AND HEALING MINISTRY FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS 1922-1972 Dedication Prayer At the Opening of Pikeville Methodist Hospital December 5, 1971 Given by Rev. J. I. Meyer God, our Father: Words fail to express the warmth and play of our emotion and heart felt thanks…

Photos curtesy of Daniel Childers. Above is a train wreck at Hellier KY in 1911. Above is a picture looking up the street of Titanic and Noah Ark Constitution; these buildings were made up of 30 combined homes on the right, and 31 combined homes on the left. This is Edgewater KY, about 1 mile…

Click on image to enlarge. We recommend using “right click” to open in a new tab. Soon after Yellow Poplar Lumber Company’s first big test run of 6,000 logs, as seen in the photo above, a great number of timbers were left in the big boulders of The Breaks. Yellow Poplar discovered that in order…

Above is the Elswick Hotel in Elkhorn City. Special thanks to Roy Owens. Above is a sawmill that sat on the Mill-Race Point in Praise KY. The steam hoist behind pulled logs out of the Russel Fork River. Special thanks to Roy Owens. Above is a town map of Elkhorn City from 1924. Special thanks…

Superintendent’s Residence, Pond Creek Coal Company. 1930?

Click on image to enlarge. We recommend using “right click” to open in a new tab.

Rogers Elkhorn Virgie Photos Virgie Photos Myra just above Virgie

Old Virgie Coal Camp (above)

A. R. Crandall Photo 1883 – Taken while working with the KY Geological Survey. March 5th 1825 James Honaker

The Pike County Historical Society would like to invite everyone to comment on any person displayed below. January 29, 1942 March 5, 1942 April 9, 1942 April 23, 1942 May 14, 1942 May 21, 1942 May 28, 1942 June 4, 1942 June 3, 1943 June 10, 1943 July 10, 1943

A12 foot Chestnut Stump This inner ring of this big colossal giant was measured in March of 2019. The inside measurement, even after years of decay, inside moss ring measured 10 feet and 2 inches. The outer ring of the Chestnut stump, could have easily lost 2 feet of its outer diameter, easily exceeding 12…

The mother involved in this case is Amy Sturgill.

The mother involved in this case is Spicy McCown. Spicy would later marry William Blankenship on October 27th 1836. One female child Anna (Hanna) was born abt 1831. The second female child showing date being born abt 1833. These are references based on the 1850 Pike County Census Reports.

In 1882 & 1883 the current Pike County Courthouse was in need of heavy repair. The act of the Kentucky State Legislature, entitled an act to authorize the Pike County Court to issue Bonds to raise money to build a Courthouse, Jail, Clerk’s Office, and other public buildings in said county. The act was approved…

The mother involved in this case is Cosby (Causby) Walters. There was one child conceived in this case. According to record, the child was conceived on December 2nd, 1863 and was born on Aug 2nd, 1864 during the Civil War.

The mother involved in this case is Viney Fleming.

The mother involved in this case is Margret Fleming.

The mother involved in this case is Orpha Wells.

The mother involved in this case is Elizabeth Gibson.

The mother involved in this case is Alanor (Eleanor) Bevins.

Hopkins is best remembered as the author of three books of local and regional history: Spirits in the Field: An Appalachian Family History, Bright Wings to Fly: An Appalachian Family in the Civil War, and Hearts in Zion: Steel, Coal and an Appalachian Family. He also wrote poetry which appeared in a number of literary journals. His column “Notebook” ran…

Born in 1900 at McAndrews, Kentucky, Sylvia Trent Auxier became one of the finest lyric poets in Kentucky literature. Her traditional rhymed poems focusing on the symbiotic relationship between Man and Nature were popular among critics and readers. She was a prolific writer, and major anthologies such as Lillie Chaffin’s God’s Plenty and William S. Ward’s A Literary…

Noble Osborne, son of Hamilton and Maggie Osborne of Myra, KY. Noble served with the 446th Heavy Bomb Group out of Flixton (Bungay), England. Known as the Bungay Buckaroo, the 446th helped cripple the German war effort by concentrating on ball bearing factories and railroad yards. Descendants of the 446th, their families, and military historians, maintain…

Front of Card Back of Card

In 1966, a group of friends formed a musical band and called themselves The Stepin Stones.  They were all from Pike County, Kentucky.  Original members were Martin “Mark” Slone on Vocals, Lead Guitar, Harmonica and Piano; Tommy Chaffin on Saxophone and Organ; Freddie Gilpin on Drums and Vocals; Don Bevins on Vocals and Organ; and Scott Fleming…

The steam boat landing is located directly behind the Pike County Courthouse.

Second Street, Pikeville Kentucky 1949

Licensed to Elijah Adkins in 1825. This service was located at Peach Orchard Bottom, strait across from the Mouth fo Chloe Creek.

Who would ever know that 95 years later, this would be the future permanent location for most of the 2-lane section of U.S. 23 through Pike County?

Unopened deck of playing cards.

May Court Term 1824 James Honaker preceded a return of the survey of laying off the Public Square according a formal order of the Court made here to fore appointing him to lay off and survey one acre of land Donate to use and benefit the County of Pike by Elijah (Adkins) on the land and…

Indian Mound on Skull Fork. Indian Mound on Skull Fork.

Indian Grave Gap is located on top of Pine Mountain Ridge near Jenkins KY. Located across form Fish Pond Lake, Letcher County KY. Indian Gap Graves Indian Gap Graves Indian Gap Graves

The unique distinction of being the first white man to set foot on a part of America which is now known as Kentucky, had been claimed by many. It is a fact there have been almost as many so-call “discoverers” of Kentucky as there have been almost Kentuckian Historians. One English-Virginia lad should take that…

Thomas Walker Bio Thomas Walker, born January 25, 1715, was the third child and second son of Thomas Walker and Susan Peachy of King and Queen County Virginia. While Thomas Walker Jr. was still a young lad he lost his father and went to live with his sister, Mary Peachy, the second wife of Dr….

Introduction Fred T. May Biography At the request of officers of Pike County Historical Society, LLC, Fred T. May will provide a series of articles from his research on early Pike County records of general interest to the organization.  In 1983, Fred began research on his May ancestors in Eastern Kentucky. His parents and grandparents were…

Throughout Pike Counties history there have been several taverns located in different areas of this large County. The majority if not all lodging was usually located at a residence of a citizen living in his own dwelling. It was law in the State of Kentucky and listed in county records that each place of established…

Bethlehem Plans Big Pike Mine Jenkins, Ky., Oct. 25—The giant Bethlehem Mines Corporation, one of the three largest mining firms in Eastern Kentucky-announced plans here Friday for developing a “multimillion dollar” underground coal mining and preparation plant in southwestern Pike County. The modern plant and mine will be located on a 1,150-acre tract of land…

In 1913 a group of so-called boosters toured eastern Kentucky and stopped in county seats.  These visits just so happened to coincide with the newly booming coal industry in the mountains. Judging from the elevation from which this picture was taken, the photographer was probably standing on the platform or top step of a railroad…

When Snakes Are Blind The history of Dog Days is practical­ly as old as Western civiliza­tion. The ancient Greeks plotted star positions and connected them with lines to form shapes. One of the images that emerged was that of a dog, called Canis Major, which included Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. These ancient…

PIKEVILLE’S MARY ELLIOTT FLANERY In 1924 the Kentucky’s State Historical Society in Frankfort honored Mary Elliott Flanery as “Kentucky’s Most Prominent Female Citizen” in the state’s history to that point in time. As will be seen, she was a forceful and accomplished woman of eventual national import and notoriety as a champion of women’s rights…

William McKinley Justice was born November 27, 1893. The shy Pike County boy who would one day become a school teacher, a high-school principal and the author of five books of poetry, never saw the inside of a school room until he was nearly fourteen years old. With an over worked father and a sickly…

When Professor Wade Hall chose the poem “Blue Fall” for inclusion in The Kentucky Anthology: Two Hundred Years of Writing in the Bluegrass State in 2005, he referred to the “reclusive” Bruce Bennett Brown as “one of the least known of Kentucky’s important literary figures.” In fact, Brown’s obituary in 2016 makes no mention of his writings….

Quentin R. Howard is perhaps best remembered as the founder and editor of Wind, a nationally respected literary journal. To be fair, his reputation should not stop there. The Kentuckian who provided a forum for writers around the globe was himself a gifted story teller and poet.  Howard was born September 10, 1918 on a farm…

It was January in the El Nino winter of 1977 and Pike County lay prostrate under twelve inches of snow. The creeks were frozen, roads were closed, and all right-thinking humanity had retreated indoors. Nothing seemed to be stirring in this arctic landscape-except me. I was a mail carrier on Route 6, and I had…

March Court Term 1822 Be it remember that at the house of Spencer Adkins on Monday the forth day of March in the years of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and twenty two( It being the first Monday in said month of March ). * The very first records of the newly formed Pike…

Gayle Compton may be the only politically correct writer working in Appalachia. He is not impressed by the rich and famous. He writes about the most interesting and most misunderstood people in America, the common people of Eastern Kentucky–his people, from the hard-working to the bare-assed and proud. Son of a coal miner, Gayle was…

This Birch Knob Trail runs from Elkhorn City to Pound Gap in Pike and Letcher County. Raven’s Nest Staircase Caves Tucker Gap Osborne Gap Part of the old County Road that crossed into Virginia. (above) Oxen shoes Grassy Gap Blowing Rock Gap The Ridgeline just above Poll Point, looking toward Elkhorn City. (Below)

Effie Waller Smith 1895-1896 1896-1897 Teacher’s Pay 1897-1898 Anual Settlements Shows Alfred Waller (brother of Effie Waller Smith) teaching school.

19012021

How the County Got Its Name On December 19th, 2021, the great citizens of Pike County will be celebrating our county’s 200th Birthday. Long before Pike County was formed from a part of Floyd County, there was a great need for the settlers of Upper Levisa and Tug Fork to have their very own county…

A special thanks to the Pike County Library for scanning and preserving these photos. And a special thanks to the Army Corps of Engineers for documenting the construction phases of the Fish Trap Dam.

Above is the B.F. Johnson Gasoline Steamboat.

Photo: Rev. Marion Tevis Burris Map 1851

Below is a headline and article by the late Henry Scalf from the February 14, 1952 Floyd County Times.  The Jackson- Blackburn Feud was largely forgotten during the years following the Civil War. PEACE OVERTURE SPURNED, OLD ENMITY BURST INTO FEUD ENDING IN CLAN LEADER’S DEATH “Dr. Robert Jackson, scion of an old pioneer Johns…

TALES OF LOST TREASURE have charmed people through the ages, from Oak Island to the Superstition Mountains.  The valleys of the upper Big Sandy and North Fork of the Kentucky River are no exception.  There is one story of hidden Appalachian riches that has survived for over 250 years.  The legend revolves around the Russell…

The topog­raphy of the Big Sandy country of eastern Ken­tucky and west/southwest Virginia has long been recognized as one of the most uncon­ventional regions east of the Mississippi River.  In reaching that state of geographic development, the watershed of the Big Sandy River has been undergoing geologic change for hundreds of millions of years.  The…

As signs of division turned into warnings and obstinate attitudes increasingly found confrontation during the year before the Civil War, Kentuckians assumed the role of mediator with increasing frequency. Some have interpreted this as a continuation of the legacy of Henry Clay, the Great Compromiser, but, to an equal or greater extent, it stemmed from…

Below is the introductory paragraph by the person who originally submitted this item for publication in the February 1996 issue of the Pike County Historical Review, page 22.  The original article follows. I found this petition in a library at Huntsville, Alabama in 1980.  The title of the book was “Petitions from the State of…

On March 24, 1911, The Big Sandy News published an article on page 1, announcing Langhorne and Langhorne of Richmond, Virginia, was awarded a contract for the construction of the Consolidated Coal Co.’s line of railroad from a connection with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway at the mouth of Shelby Creek, in Kentucky, to the…

MOSSY BOTTOM, KENTUCKY

SHELBYARD, PIKE COUNTY KENTUCKY

KEWANEE, KENTUCKY Kewanee Coal Co. would later be known as Kewanee Coal Mining Company, headquartered in Pikeville, Kentucky. The little mining community of Kewanee had its very Post Office and Railroad Station. Its President and General Manager was listed as O.P. Chatfield according to the Department of Inspection Mine Report of 1912.  Mont Williamson was…

BIG SHOAL, KENTUCKY James Hatcher Birthday Party The entire population of Big Shoal, Kentucky, turned out for “Uncle Jim” Hatcher’s birthday party on September 22nd, 1919, in front of the company store. The party was attended by many of Hatcher’s Floyd County friends and relatives. Hatcher can be seen in the center of the group…

TALES OF LOST TREASURE have fascinated people through the ages, from Oak Island to the Superstition Mountains.  The valleys of the upper Big Sandy and North Fork of the Kentucky River are no exception.  There is one story of hidden Appalachian riches that has survived for over 250 years.  The legend revolves around the Russell…