Jack and Doris Allender lived at the old Nail Run schoolhouse until winter 2003. Jack is a Pettit native. Doris was born and raised off Pheasant Run.
Jim Bazzle’s (b. 1943) uncle once owned a sizeable farm in Bowden. As camping and fishing grew in popularity, more and more campers appeared on his farmland. Eventually he realized that there was more money in running a campground than in farming, and Revelle’s Family Campground was born. Revelle’s is the largest campsite on the watershed. Jim took over its operation after his father Hansel died in the late 1990’s until he sold it in 2006.
Lorraine Burke (b. 1917) is a Bemis native, and she has since immigrated to Bowden, where she runs Alpine Shores, a lodge, restaurant, and campground. Lorraine has lived on Shavers all of her life, and her hobbies are her grandchildren.
Roy Clarkson is a Cass native, and his interest in biology led him to research Cheat Mountain. He inventoried the plants on Cheat, then published two widely used books about the area’s logging and railroad history: Tumult on the Mountain and On Beyond Leatherbark.
Carl Frischkorn (b. 1952) is an ex-board member of the Cheat Mountain Club. He and his family spend as much time as possible at their house in a small development adjacent to the Club. He is very knowledgeable about the history of the area.
Terry Grimes’ family has logged Cheat Mountain for three generations. Terry now runs Grimes Enterprise, which is largely a trucking and logging company.
Boone Hall has been RV [recreational vehicle] camping on the Shavers Fork since the late 1960s. He now owns a small piece of land, where he runs a small time RV campsite. He is an avid fisherman
Chuck Hayhurst is also a long time Shavers Fork camper. He started out at Alpine Shores and later moved to Revelle’s River Retreat.
Zach Henderson (b. 1972), whose inspiration created the Shavers Fork Coalition, originally fell in love with the river while attending Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, WV. Born in South Carolina, he has lived all over the east coast and now lives in Maine working as an environmental consultant. His hobbies include canoeing, cross country skiing, and raising pigs.
Lillie Mae Isner (b. 1925) is originally from Virginia, but moved here when she married her husband, Howard. She ran the farm while he was gone during World War II and continues to live in their old place on Lower Cheat.
Al and Ann Krueger own a small piece of property on the Lower Shavers, which they purchased as a place to get out of town on the weekends. Married in 1963, Al is a semi-retired construction manager and Shavers Fork Coalition board member. Ann is a poet. Several of her poems appear in the book.
Steve Lambert (b. 1958) was born and spent his boyhood in Parsons. He currently lives in Elkins.
Shawn Mullenex’s father and grandfather both logged on Cheat Mountain. He continues the tradition by running a portable sawmill for small lumber jobs during the summer months. During the winters he works for Snowshoe, a ski resort high in Pocahontas County.
Louis “Henry” Nefflen (b. 1943) is a wealth of interesting stories. A former Shavers Fork Coalition board member, Henry feels a strong bond with the watershed and built his house so he could sit and watch the river. Henry has worked a number of jobs in his day, including social worker, construction worker, railroader, and woodsman.
Hayward Phillips (b. 1928) is a Parson’s native. He has done quite a bit of environmental work in the area and continues to do so. He has two children and enjoys woodworking in his spare time.
Jim Phillips, (b. 1930) Hayward’s brother, has led a rich life in Parsons, doing everything from working on weather testing to serving as Tucker County Sheriff. Jim is now fully retired and spends a good bit of his time working with the Tucker County Historical Society, serving as president for that organization for a while, and now serving as vice president. He has many fond memories of a particular swimming hole located right above Parsons.
James “Jim” Propst is a Parsons native and has kept his parent’s grocery store business going since they left it to him. He is one of a handful of local businessmen who managed to pull through after the 1985 flood.
Frank Proud is active in a small group known as Friends of Spruce, which is working on protecting the historical significance of that townsite. He is a Durbin resident and runs a bed and breakfast there.
Buck Rowan spent much of his life working the railroad, both on the track crew and at the shop in Elkins. Before and after his railroad work, he horse-logged with his brother.
Grace (Shaffer) Gainer (b. 1913) and Hazel (Shaffer) Phillips (b. 1919), sisters, are residents of Parsons. Their family moved to their homestead seven miles above Porterwood in 1918, where they grew up. They both migrated to Parsons, where they worked at the Darman Mills and the shoe plant. They are active in town, currently working on a Veterans memorial, and are members of the famous “cookie ladies.”
Wanda (Powers) Sharp grew up in Spruce and has many fond memories of the area. She still lives near Leo Weese, and they stay in close touch, as many people from Spruce do. Wanda spends much of her time now quilting and reading.
Calvin Shifflet (b. 1933) grew up in Bemis. He is the Glady postmaster and runs the “Bemis Nightclub.”
Mariwyn McClain Smith (b. 1937) moved to Parsons as a young child when her father, R Kenneth McClain, took over as chief editor of the Parsons Advocate. She later assumed that role and her husband George Smith ran McClain Printing. Now her son is the president of McClain Printing Company. The Parsons Advocate was sold after her family worked on it for 61 years. She enjoys sewing, reading, painting, singing and is very active with the Parsons Presbyterian Church.
Wanda Sharp (b. 1939) lived in Spruce from 1942 to 1950 with her parents and eight siblings. She currently lives in Elkins WV.
Jim Snyder is a well known kayaker in the region. His resume even includes a few kayak designs. Jim has taken several amazing adventures on the Shavers Fork
Bill Thorne (b. 1938) is a member of Trout Unlimited, and is deeply concerned about the health of watersheds. Bill works with Friends of the Cheat. While he has never lived on the Shavers Fork, he has fished it for over forty years.
Jerry and Jean Wagener (Jean b. 1939) have been coming to Shavers Fork for a long time to kick back and relax. Doc Auville, the famous herb doctor known for his use of eggshells for calcium pills, was Jerry’s uncle. Raymond (“Doc”) Auville and Mineta Anne Wagener Auville lived below Two Lick on the east side of the river from the late 40’s until the late 50’s.
Kenny Watson (b. 1949) spent much of his adult life working for Western Maryland Railroad on the track repair crew. It’s a job he loved. Kenny now works with Fairmont State University in Fairmont, West Virginia. He owns a deer camp on the Shavers Fork and says that he has spent some of the best times of his life on that river.
Leo Dewayne Weese (b. 1942) is a Spruce native. Leo and Henry Nefflen are long-time friends and have spent a great deal of time together fishing, hunting and hiking the Shavers Fork. Leo is now a supervisor in a coal mine and still spends much of his time in the wilds of the watershed.
Jim White (b. 1922) lives in Cass, and has lived much of his life at the foot of Cheat Mountain. His great-great uncle William White was the first settler on Shavers Mountain. Jim was a paratrooper in World War II and was one of the few who dropped in the right spot on D-Day. Jim enjoys reading and traveling, and spending time with his three children.
Martin and Jean Wilmoth (Martin b. 1924) ran the Wilmoth family farm on Slab Camp Run of Pheasant Run until recently, enjoying the company of wildlife. Martin’s family moved to the Shavers Fork before the 1880s. In 2002 Martin and Jean moved to Parsons, but they still go back to the family farm to hunt and fish whenever possible.
Londa Bennet was interviewed by Hugh Earnhart and Rebecca Rogers in 1989 for a project about the Civilian Conservation Corps in Parsons. Londa, originally from Job, West Virginia, moved to Parsons in 1920, where she lived until the 1985 flood.
Harry Mahoney was also interviewed by Earnhart and Rogers. Now retired, Harry was a long-time Monongahela National Forest employee.
Tom Broughton and his son Ed Broughton, Pat Dugan, Dorie Powers, Bud Sanders, Johnny Sharp, Lucille Ward, and Bert Weese were interviewed by Phil Miller in 1993. Much of the information in Chapter IV: The Ghost Town of Spruce, as well as many of the stories in Chapter V: Road Monkeys to Salamanders: A Railroad History, are a result of Phil’s hard work.
Virgil Broughton was interviewed by Ruth Blackwell Rogers, of Shavers Fork Coalition. Virgil grew up in Spruce and now resides in Elkins, West Virginia.
Alice Doris Cooper (b. 1943) was interviewed by Karen Sutton while Sutton was a VISTA member with Shavers Fork Coalition. Alice now resides in Elkins, but lived in Bemis from 1989-2002. She enjoys reading and cooking and her two sons, Gregory and Shaun.
Harvey Hamrick was interviewed by Terry Ruthrauff in conjunction with an archaeological dig at Spruce in 1988. Harvey grew up in Mace, near Spruce, and later worked there with Western Maryland.
Grace Nelson was also interviewed by Ruthrauff. In 1944, Grace moved to Spruce with her husband. She taught school in 1948–1949 and left in 1949.
Ona Hovatter, Keith Cordial, Jan Brashler, and Juanita Wampler were interviewed by folklorist and oral historian Michael Kline who, as folklorist at the August Heritage Center, a 2-hour recording entitled, “Hey, You Want to Talk About It?: Spoken History of the Flood of 1985 in Tucker County WV,” 1986.
Earl Cane’s memoirs, written in 1976, can be found in the Phillip V. Bagdon collection. (Earl Cane, 08-06-1976 Phillip V. Bagdon Collection, Courtesy West Virginia Libraries).
Cheat Mountain Club: Numerous authors penned the various entries in the club’s logbook over the years. Their stories display a love for the wilds of Cheat Mountain.
Devane Cussins (b.1936) lived in Spruce from 1936 to 1950. He is currently retired, but worked in the U.S. Army from 1954-1977. His memoirs were published in Log Train.
Springy Galford is an old railroad worker on Cheat Mountain. He published his manuscript in the Pocahontas Times.
Henry A. Ridgway, a historian, published a series of articles in the Parsons Advocate in 1943–1944. While he doesn’t cite many dates, his articles provide excellent background information about the creation of Parsons
Agnes Smith Wilmoth was born on the watershed in 1904, and lived there her entire live. Before passing away in 1983, she wrote her memoirs, which her son and his wife, Martin and Jean Wilmoth, donated for the book.
Stanley Wooddell, a local historian, wrote his memoirs for the Pocahontas Times in 1975.