Submitted by Sam Rogers, WVU Extension Service, Logan County
The first two thousand (2,000) years of Logan County, West Virginia's pre-history period saw nomadic hunters come in search of big game animals using a simple flint spear to hunt such creatures as the Mastodon. However, during the next nine thousand (9,000) years, hunting groups would continue to hunt the area but for smaller game, such as elk and deer. Many tools and weapons of these hardy bands of individuals have been found on ridge tops and on the banks of rivers throughout the county.
Then about twenty five hundred years ago (500 B.C.) a new culture of "Mound Builders" moved into the area. They were called Mound Builders because of their custom in burying their dead in earthen or stone mounds. They lived in small villages and may have been the first people to live year round in Logan County. The number of mounds that once existed in Logan county are now gone due to vandalism or to "deliberate progress." Most have been destroyed during the last two hundred years.
After the Mound Builders, there was a period of absence of permanent villages, until the spring of 1794. However, various tribes, especially the Mingo, Shawnee, Cherokee, and Delaware used these mountains and valleys as a place made for temporary villages and sacred hunting. In the mid-1700's, small encroachments were beginning to be made by a few brave Europeans that came in pursuit of economic gain. John Breckenridge, being one of the first of these individuals, engaged one of his soldiers, James Workman, to take charge of a survey he had made earlier.
James Workman, in the spring of 1794, with his son Joseph and brother Nimrod, built a cabin on an island of the Guyandotte River. There they planted a few acres of corn. They would do the same over the next two years. Then in the fall of 1796, James Workman would move his wife and children from their old home in Wythe (now Tazewell County) Virginia and settle near the Island, where they would continue to live until the year 1800 or thereabouts. William Dingess would purchase the 300 acres of land from John Breckenridge that covers the present towns of Logan and Aracoma. In 1799, he moved into a house he built and is credited with starting the first permanent settlement in Logan county. These early pioneers were lovers of freedom. They were farmers, carpenters, and laborers that used axe and rifle to survive and were perfectly at home in the wilderness.
The country was rough and mountainous, only about one-third of it being adapted for cultivation, yet this one-third was extremely fertile and yielded an abundance of crops for the settlers. The climate was genial, especially in the valleys where the mountains shut off the winter winds and in the summer there was a flow of fresh current that followed the clean fast-moving streams. Separated from the outside world, these people learned to be dependent upon their personal energies for the necessities and comforts of life. Substantial log houses were erected and land cleared around them. There, they planted patches of corn, potatoes, cotton, flax, and other necessities that made their life a bountiful one.
Each settler had his trusty rifle and plenty of ammunition since gun powder could be made locally from sulfur, saltpeter, and charcoal. Lead for the bullets was plentiful and found in almost every neighborhood. Thus, armed and equipped, the black bear, deer, and the buffalo, furnished meat for the families, while their skins furnished shoes and a portion of the clothing needed by the settlers. Water power was abundant and small mills were easily erected to ground corn and wheat into meal and flour. Honey, maple syrup, and maple sugar, replaced sugar cane, while the bark of the sassafras root was a splendid substitute for coffee. There were many saltlicks for obtaining salt for preserving meats and for use as a seasoner in cooking. The rivers and creeks were full of fish and in the mountains, there were various types of berries and many other eatable and medicinal plants. Spinning wheels and looms were found in every household, where the women prepared the flax and wool into cloth. Nature furnished the dyestuffs to color the cloth to almost every hue that could be desired. Canoes were usually the largest crafts that floated upon the river and when the work of the season was over, a little fleet of them, loaded with pelts and herbs, such as ginseng could be found floating down the Guyandotte to the settlements on the Ohio, where the cargo would be exchanged for coffee and household goods. Calico cloth and shoes were undoubtedly purchased to take the place of buckskins and moccasins. It is also likely that a few gallons of rum would be a part of the return cargo.
Once the area began to grow and gain inhabitants, Anthony Lawson would establish a store and trading post. In its day, this trading post became the focal point to the outside world. Local (area) residents now had a point to bring their goods, such as ginseng, to sell, and a place to purchase luxuries, such as cotton cloth, sugar, and manufactured goods. Lawson's store was that place. During the time Lawson's store was there, the area around (near) it began to populate. Something more civil had to be found. Thus, "take it to Lawson's" became "take it to Lawsonville."
At the time Logan became a county, many members of the Virginia Assembly had relatives serving with General Lewis at the Battle of Point Pleasant, which took place in 1774. Many of these men who were not familiar with Chief Logan as friend or as foe, would become familiar with him during and after the battle. He may not have always been loved by the frontiersmen, but he was always respected. It was these men having knowledge of Chief John Logan that caused Logan county to exist long before there was a West Virginia. The Act to bring Logan county into existence began in the year 1823, but was not passed until January 12, 1824 when Logan county, Virginia was born by an enactment of the General Assembly of Virginia. At the time, Logan would have been "that part of the counties of Giles, Cabell, Tazewell and Kanawha contained within the following bounds, to wit: beginning at the junction of the White Oak Mountain and New River; proceeding with the meanders thereof until it meets with the line of Kanawha County; thence with the lines thereof, taking the dividing ridge between the Big and Little Cole Rivers, until it comes on a line with the head of Rock Creek, then down the same to its mouth; then crossing Little Cole, proceeding with the dividing ridge, between Turtle and Horse Creeks, to the head of Ugly Creek; thence, down the same to its mouth, crossing the Guyandotte in a straight line to the mouth of N(M)arrowbone Creek; thence up the Tug Fork of Big Sandy River to the mouth of Elkhorn Creek; and then proceeding with the dividing ridge between Elkhorn Creek and the Tug Fork, and so on, a line with the Flat-top Mountain, to the beginning, shall form one district and a new county, and be called and known by the name of Logan County."
As you can see, Logan county, when formed, would have been made up of a large part of what is now West Virginia. It would have included all of what is now Mingo and Wyoming counties, and parts of Lincoln, Boone, Raleigh, Fayette, McDowell, Mercer, Kanawha, and Cabell counties. Lawnsville also grew, and in 1827 a village was laid out by an Act of the Virginia Assembly. It was the groundwork for a courthouse, clerk's office, jail, and many other commercial improvements. If it was commercial business that was to be accomplished, people referred to it as Lawnsville. If it was legal or governmental, they most likely referred to it as Logan Courthouse. In 1852, Thomas Dunn English was elected as mayor even though Lawnsville was not an incorporated village. It was his suggestion that changed the name of this thriving little village to Aracoma. The Civil War brought changes to West Virginia and to Logan county. The story of a new Logan county actually began in February 1861 when the government of Virginia voted 88 to 55 to secede from the Union. Of the 47 that voted from the area that is now West Virginia, only 15 voted to support the secession.
There were many southerners that would break-a-way from unionist Virginia to form Company D, 36th Virginia Infantry, later to be known as the Logan County Wildcats. The eleven white stars of the Logan "Wildcat" flag represented the eleven states that had withdrawn from the union to form a new nation. The twelfth and largest star depicts the state of "West" Virginia and its loyal southern sympathizers. The making of the flag came about at a time when a state of confusion reigned king in "West" Virginia, the nation..., and Logan county. After the Civil War and on March 10, 1884, Thomas Dunn English got his wish. In an election that was held for the specific purpose of incorporation, Aracoma was approved for incorporation by a vote of 27 for and 1 against. John B. Ferguson was elected as Aracoma's first official mayor of an incorporated town. In 1907, the name of the town of Aracoma was changed to Logan by an Act of the West Virginia Legislature in honor of Chief John Logan. The City of Logan, the county seat, is situated on the banks of the Guyandotte River where the official elevation of the city is 682 feet. A mayor-council form of government is employed by all municipalities within Logan county.
The center of West Virginia's population moved westward with the expansion of the United States, then later southward into what would become known as the southern West Virginia coal fields.
The twenty-year period of 1940-1960 was one of rapid change for West Virginia as well as the nation. These two decades span America's entrance into World War II, The Korean War, the post-war prosperity, the space age, and the recession of the mid and late fifties. World War II continued West Virginia's prosperity through a sustained demand for coal, timber, and agriculture products. However, sometime during the 1950's, improved technology in coal mining and greater competitiveness of alternative fuels reduced the need for labor in the mining industry. No great expansion in the use of coal would come to the rescue. Food surpluses and the lack of adaptability to mechanization reduced the number and value of opportunities for West Virginians. A recession was firmly in place.
The late 50's brought an anomaly to reality. There would be fewer people in Logan county and in West Virginia in 1960 than in 1940, a first. This all happened while the United States was continuing to grow in population. During the 1940's, the state had an excess of births over deaths that would offset any migration. Population would go from an all time high of 2,005,552 in 1950 to 1,860,421 in 1960. Sad to say, this was largely due to the mechanization of the coal industry. By 1960, the coal camps that had sprung up to support the coal revolution began to go the way of western ghost towns. Although coal mining continued, life changed, in what was once coal camps.The paternal relationship held between owner and worker was gone forever. Coal camps began to disintegrate, never to be heard from again. This twenty-year period 1940-60 appears to be one in which the influences of geographic and cultural isolation diminish and technologies of modern industrial society advance. A clear picture of West Virginia emerges as childhood's vanish.
The future of Logan is still in our hands.
