Conditions In Early Upshur County
The early settlers who came to Upshur County, paid very little for the land they acquired. When a person wanted to build, he found a place near a good spring of water. The houses were built of logs, of which there were plenty. There were millions of feet of pine as well as an abundance of hardwood in the county. The logs were squared up with the broad ax and foot adz and notched together. The cracks were covered with boards or chinked with mud and straw.
There were no cook stoves, so everything was cooked over the open fireplace, or outdoors in pots or skillets. Wild game, such as deer, turkey, squirrels, and wild razor-back hogs were plentiful.
Cornbread was universally used, unless the farmer grew his own wheat. This was done quite often, and there was a flour mill known as the Hoover Mill located on Big Sandy creek on the Gilmer-Big Sandy road at the Seago crossing, and operated by water power.
There were few mules and horses in the country and the settlers used oxen almost exclusively. There was no hurry in those days, such as is seen up and down the highways today. Everyone took his time, not expecting to get rich. The roads were only blazed trails or narrow roads used for horseback or ox carts in making trips to town. There was no such thing as a road building machine. The roads were so narrow that when two wagons met, one had to drive out into the weeds while the other passed. There were no bridges across the streams. They were forded or crossed by ferries.
For entertainment, the settlers had house-raisings, log-rollings, square dances, speech-making, patriotic meetings celebrating some holiday, or gathering in some home and listening to some versatile fiddler. No picture shows, no automobile rides, no ball games. But they knew what the word “hospitality” meant. Every home was open to strangers, as they brought news from the outside world. There were no charges for spending the night. Once a year, the head of the house loaded his ox cart with produce and headed for Jefferson to market his goods. Jefferson was at that time one of the largest towns in the state.