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Gene Wilson's Peach Creek Memories
Gene Wilson's Peach Creek Memories
Recollections
Families in Peach Creek were what I would describe as "institutions". What I'm about to do is a test on my own memory. I think I can list most every family that lived there in the '40s and early '50s. Starting on Front Street right side (pass the apartment building) lived the Jim McDonald family and daughter Anna Hale. Jim worked as carpenter for Chafin-Jones-Heatherman Coal Company; then the John McDonald family. He was the town barber; the Hackworth family; the Cowards. He was a C&O conductor; the Bias family; the Thornberry family; the Childers family; the Broughton/Corn family; the Gould family and later the Jay Rowe family; the Rev. McGuire family; in the same order on left side of Front Street: Mrs. Baldwin (mother of former jailer Ed Baldwin) and the Newman family were two families I recall living in the apartments over the theater and the C&O Commissary. The Herb Ferrell family lived in the first house; the Moorland family (He was a C&O engineer), the Windy Newman family and later the Belcher family; the Watts Bias family (He was a C&O conductor), the George Hall family, parents of Bubbles and Patty; then there was the White Boarding House; the Eberly family, the Glazier family, parents of Jack, Margaret, and Donald; then in the big house on the corner lived the Clark sisters. The house on the next corner was home to Jim Keefer and later Bob Butcher; then there was the Arringtons, mother of Margaret who married famous Marshall College coach Herb Royer. (Margaret Arrington Royer was my teacher in 7th grade). The Hangers lived in the next house with their grand children Bobby and Joy. Bobby went on to become a prominent TV anchor in Cleveland, I believe. Then there was the Gooch residence. Mr. Gooch was a C&O conductor. I can still see how Mrs. Gooch drove the very old car (even at that time it was old) stiff armed to the steering wheel. The Jackson's (he was a C&O engineer) lived in the next to last house (before Peach Creek Hollow begun) and Nig Pierces lived in the very last house with their daughter Francis.
The Back Street was home to the Gayheart family, including "Gut" a popular football player at Logan High, and across from them, living in the rear of the apartment building was the Rutherford family and next to them was the Ezra King home. Just above the Gayhearts was the home of Elvin Legg and family. This house was later the home of a writer/owner of another popular web site that many of you who read this would know. There were several houses sort of "stacked" on the hill here, but I can't remember names of those living there. Next house on Back Street was home of the Joe Suarez family; then the W.O. Wilson family (no relation); then there was the Martin Gleason family; the McNeely family; the Davis family, including Ronnie, Connie, and Mary Elizabeth (who I believe still lives there). Next dwelling was that of the Reynolds family; then the Charlie Amos family; the Gurley White family; the Thornton family; the Charlton family, the Hall family, and finally the Comptons. Also across the street from the Gurley White family lived the Kuhn family.
I cannot be sure of all names being spelled correctly; and perhaps I transposed or don't remember some families, but all the names mentioned did live on Front and Back Streets of Peach Creek at one time or the other during the l940s and 1950.
Gene Wilson
There are facilities in and around Peach Creek that I would call "landmarks" and common only to this area, meaning they could not be found anywhere else in Logan County.
The YMCA building was the first major structure one saw after crossing the bridge from West Logan into Peach Creek. It stood proudly for many years, often being flooded on the lower level and the parking lot when the Guyandotte overfilled it's banks, which was often, before the Justice Dam was built near Gilbert. I think it was five floors containing rooms almost always filled with C&O employees. The main level consist of a barber shop with Mr. Charlie Dacus as barber, a big recreation room where one could always find off duty railroaders playing dominos or checkers or just relaxing and reading the morning paper I'd sold them. (This was before television). Additionally, there was a cafeteria style restaurant where delicious food was always available 'round the clock'. It wasn't too unusual to see entire families "eating out" there on Sunday afternoon. As a kid delivering the morning newspaper, I always look forward to delivering to my customers in the "Y" because I would get warm on a very cold morning!
The caboose side track was a short spur where the cabooses used by out-of-town crews were parked. The interior of a caboose consist of a few bunks, a coal stove, a ladder that led to the upper level where the crew sat, and other items such as fusses and flags. Sometimes some of the crew members would live on these cabooses, sleeping, eating, and relaxing while waiting for their return trip. Every train entering the yard with empty coal cars had a red caboose on the rear end of the train and they would be parked on the spur track sometimes for several days. Cabooses have been extinct for many years, but they were indeed landmarks in the peak years of railroading.
Did you ever wonder how a huge railroad steam engine was turned around to face another direction. The same principal as your dinning room lazy Susan with railroad tracks running across it would best describe the "turn-table" used to move the engines into the round house for maintenance or repairs, or to simply turn them around. The engines would be moved onto the table, a powerful motor would turn the table toward a bay of the round house, the engine would be moved into the round house, or sometimes, they would simply be turned so they would be facing forward instead of backwards for their next destination. The round-house was a huge building shaped like a half circle (thus the name "round-house"), where perhaps a dozen engines of various lengths could be parked at the same time for repairs or maintenance. Now the steam engines are gone and so is the "round-house". Now the YMCA is gone, the caboose spur track is gone because the cabooses are gone too. No need to have the round-house or turn-table either, because the steam engine is no more.
Gene Wilson
There are communities within the community of Peach Creek. Going north between Peach Creek and Crooked Creek is an area about 1/2 mile long called Griffithsville. The road ran along the C&O tracks and homes were located on the hill above the road and both sides of the road about 1/4 mile from the Peach Creek post office. I think every family living in those houses had at least one member that worked for the railroad. One house, however, was the home of one of the bootleggers mentioned in a previous article. Folks living along that stretch of road got used to sleeping with all the noise associated with the railroad yards. Peach Creek "town" consist of Back Street and Front Street. Back Street started at the post office or the home of Logan High School football player of the late '40s and '50, Chester "Gut" Gayheart and extended to the Compton residence. Front Street begin between the stores of O. J. Adkins and Watson Staton (and Charlie Staton earlier) and extended to just beyond the Methodist church at the bridge that crossed the creek. I think the Pierces live, (or was it the Jacksons?) R in the very last house on Front Street. From that point it was Peach Creek "holler". (It should be stated here that it was a misconception that Peach Creek people were better then Peach Creek holler people!) For many years the wood four room-two story school building was a landmark of Peach Creek. It was the very first structure one would see after crossing the old wood bridge one crossed to enter Peach Creek Hollow. Hundreds of kids completed the 6th grade in the old building and then were promoted to the 7th grade and walked to West Logan grade school for the 7th and 8th grades before riding a bus to Logan Jr. High for the 9th grade. Actually, most of the population that made up Peach Creek probably lived in the coal camp that made up most of the community. Chafin-Jones-Heatherman Coal Company was without question the largest employer in the Peach Creek area in the peak days of coal mining. The company later became Jewell Ridge Coal Company. For many years William H. Cooke was the general manager and Troy Wilson was the superintendent of the coal company. (They were both killed in accidents within 6 months of each other. Wilson was killed in a slate fall and Cooke crashed his airplane into a hillside opposite the Taplin airport). I recall that on several occasions, loaded coal cars broke loose at the coal tipple and run out of control down the tracks until derailing just above the "Cut", spilling tons of coal in the yards and porches of coal camp houses along the tracks. There was a time when the coal company community was thought of as being a "model coal camp". Mr. Cooke was proud of the coal camp and made sure the houses were well maintained, painted regularly, and fenced. But time marches on. The landmark school has been gone for years (even the West Logan grade school has been closed for many years), the model coal camp has deteriorated to the point that those of us who lived and grew up there wouldn't recognize it today. The railroad that went up the hollow to the coal tipple has long been gone. R.J. Blankenship's company store and the mine office above it are long gone. The old boarding house where the Robinson's live has been gone for years. The coal seams have been depleted and almost all signs of a first class mining operation are gone. The generation that do live in the area now probably know nothing of "the way it was" in those days. Those who live in Peach Creek area today know only of Peach Creek the way it is today. They will never know of the great neighborhood that it was once. And that is so sad. Is it really progress??
Gene Wilson
Life in Peach Creek
As mentioned before, many high school age boys worked 'round the clock' at the C&O Yard office simply because crews were coming and going 'round the clock'. Personnel working out of the yard office were in a support role of the operation crews. There were scores of trains every 24 hours bringing empty coal cars into the yard and scores of crews taking the empty cars from the "empty yard" to the scores of active mines served by the railroad. After delivering the empty cars to the mines, these same crews would usually return to the yard with loaded cars where yard crews shifted the loaded coal cars onto various outbound tracks making up "trains" of perhaps 100 to 150 cars going to the same destination in this country, or to a seaport on the east coast. Since there was 'round the clock' activity, those "business places" that made up the front were usually open many hours every day. I recall when Fred Jeffrey, who, I believe was a "call boy" this particular night, was crossing the tracks to get a snack at one of the restaurants. He was struck by a "cut" of cars being shifted and suffered severe injuries that required a very long stay in the C&O Hospital in Huntington and crippled him for the rest of his life. Many careers started and ended by working at the Yard Office. The Clark family, Bill, Calvin, and Guy, Tim Totten, late Joe Suarez, Ralph Winters, Mike Kraus, Jack, John, and Jim Fortune, Tom Brady, and so many others served the C&O faithfully during those years. Many of the other employees found employment elsewhere. It's hard to believe that all the functions performed by these guys is now done in Jacksonville, Florida, if indeed they are still being performed. The facilities have deteriorated - just like the "front"- and many have fallen to the ground. The "Y" is gone. The 'round the clock' activity at the Yard Office and the "front" is no more. But, as has been said, "you can't stop progress".
Gene Wilson
As mentioned in our last article, many of the guys in our age group worked for the C&O. Some of the job titles were dispatcher, yard clerk, yard master, car distributor, and others. The first job that new hires were given included calling the operation employees (engineer, fireman, brakemen, conductor) to work by phone, or, if they did not have a phone - and many did not - it was necessary to ride a bike, or walk, up to two miles to wake them and tell them of the time to report for work. The guys filling this position were called CALL BOYS. (Not to be confused with call girls). Girls were not hired to fill any of these slots in those days. In later years in conversation with acquaintances I've told them I was once a call boy and one can't believe the response, especially if it was someone in church or someone at the place I worked. Some of these operation employees lived "up the tracks" in houses owned by the company, located between the tracks and the river going toward Slab Town. One family had these big German Shepherd dogs and I've had some close calls with them as I rode the bike "up the track" to call someone for work. I'll never forget names of most of the families living there: the Esteps, Elkins, Sheltons, Doty, Kincaids, Blankenships, and the Grahams, among others. Many locals as well as most all of the long distance employees made their homes in the YMCA located between the old West Logan bridge and the viaduct under the tracks. So it was always easier to call them for work when chances are many could be called on the one trip to the"Y". After getting some seniority, I bid for an opening at the Man Train Station, working with Sysco Adkins. I would ride a bus to Man about 6 AM and then catch one of the many railroad steam engines bringing the loaded coal cars to the yard in the evening. When they stopped to await their turn into the yard, I'd get off the engine and get on the caboose of the train ahead of us. It was always a fun thing to ride the steam engines and cabooses into the yard every day...even if I was a "big boy". I would check in at the Yard Office each evening and usually chatted with my friends working there, including Jack Glazier. Jack and I grew up in Peach Creek and he was a couple years older then me. Jack was about to be drafted (the Korean thing, you know) and he kept wanting me to join the Navy with him. Finally, I said I'd join the Air Force with him (thinking I would fail the physical because of a bad ear) and he took me up on it. We were sent to Texas for basic training along with about 35 other guys from Logan area (including the now Rev. Doug Young pastor of a Baptist church in Logan area). We had talked about staying together while in the Air Force; but we were separated at the base in Texas. Jack went to Korea and I ended up in Newfoundland and Labrador and I have not seen or heard from Jack to this day. I've heard he did return safely and enrolled in Rochester University in New York and later taught there, My time is up, I thank you for yours.
Gene Wilson
Hello.....again! Someone said "front" as mentioned in my story last week should be further explained. Anyone having lived in Crooked Creek, Peach Creek, or West Logan in that era would understand the "front" consist of several side-by-side buildings facing the C&O yard and housing restaurants, beer joints, pool hall, and sometimes a grocery store. It also served as a train station in that the passenger train (two per day) received and discharged passengers there. The bootleggers occupied basements on the opposite side of these buildings on the road that lead into Peach Creek and Crooked Creek. Staton's Market and O. J. Adkins' stores were on each corner of the main street through Peach Creek. The theatre, which was run by the Whitt family, and the C&O Commissary were on the ground floor of an apartment/rooming house occupied mostly by railroaders who live there on week days, but rode the passenger train to their homes in Lincoln or Cabell counties on week ends. The "front" seemed to be the hub of activity, probably because of the passenger trains stopping, people waiting to board, or people waiting for someone, and the post office was just across the street. Needless to say, the buildings described above housed activities that attracted many people. Many of the guys I grew up with (including me) worked for the C&O during high school, most often at night, weekends, or summers. Most often we worked in or out-of the Yard Office. Duties varied, but one, that of a Yard Clerk, necessitated walking down through the yard between the many tracks (toward Henlawson) and recording the numbers of all the loaded coal cars intended for a certain destination. There was always lumps of coal that had spilled from the cars as they were shifted about for different destinations. It was very easy to turn an ankle while walking between the cars at 2 o'clock in the morning. (It seemed I always got scheduled for the hoot-owl shift). It was to put it mildly rather creepy between all those loaded coal cars. It wasn't unusual for empty box cars with open doors to be included in the trains. The box cars often were the way out of town for railroad bums. Some of the most frightening times of my life were when one of them would hear me going by and stick their head out the opened door and say, "...got a light?..". I'll try to have more about life in Peach Creek at a later time.
Thanks, Martha, for allowing me to replay my youthful days!
Gene Wilson
Hello! Having been born and living our early life in Logan County, we're always interested in the "going ons" in and around Logan even though we've been gone almost 34 years. We lived at Peach Creek and Crooked Creek as we grew up and remember so well the "front" at Peach Creek when the State Police would "raid" two or three times on a Saturday night to pickup the drunks, gamblers, or bootleggers. They were often led by a trooper that lived in Peach Creek, just a couple of houses below the church, who often parked his cruiser during the week on a side street to make his own visit to the bootlegger! Oh, those arrested on a Saturday night were almost always released so they could work on Monday since they really harmed no one except them selves. There were a steady stream of "Mike" steam engines bringing empty railroad cars into Peach Creek around the clock so the local C&O crews could ultimately take them to the scores of coal mines in the county (yes, scores of mines, all working in those days) to be filled with coal and brought back to the yard for delivery to destinations within the U.S. and to shipping docks in Virginia for overseas destinations. Now there is no "action" at the "front" on Saturday nights. The buildings are gone, the theater is gone, Staton's store and O.J.'s store is gone, the bootlegger has long been dead and it's so depressing these days. The C&O yard is quite and the Mike steam engines are no more; and even the diesel engines are about gone. I guess it's called progress. Oh, I almost forgot. My childhood sweet heart, Barbara Conley, has been my wife xx years and we're living now in retirement in Ocala, Florida.
Gene Wilson
I found myself rambling and probably didn't use proper English (as taught by Carrie Spry Browning at West Logan School) but for a few minutes I saw myself in the evening, meeting the passenger train at the "front" and selling the Herald Dispatch or Charleston Gazette to a lot of the people boarding the train!
Now Gene, you will never lose your Memories again..................Betty