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Over the past frigid
weekend, I, like so many others, decided to spend the weekend indoors. I
tucked myself beneath a blanket on the couch with a pile of books on
West Virginia
that my sister in
Virginia
sent me in a recent care package.
One of the most
interesting was a 1931 textbook on
West Virginia,
titled, “West Virginia Yesterday and Today.”
Tickled by some of the
statistics and facts listed for 1931, I went to the bookshelf to find
“West Virginia Economic Atlas” books from 1950 and 1960 that I found a
few years ago at a yard sale. Comparisons of the three booklets with
statistics of today were rather interesting.
In 1930,
Calhoun
County
had a population of 10,866--nearly 200 more people than
Gilmer’s
1930 population. In 1950, population had decreased to 10,259, but
between 1950 and 1960 there was a 22.5% decrease in population, with
only 7,948 residents in 1960. The 2000 census shows only a slight
decrease from 1960, recording 7,582
Calhoun
County
residents. Per capita income in
Calhoun
in 1962 was $1,334. In 2000, it was $11,491.
Annual
rainfall for
Calhoun
County
in the late 1920’s was 35 to 45 inches. By 1960, it had risen to 40 to
48 inches per year. Incidentally,
Gilmer
County,
whose rainwater “washes through”
Calhoun,
was listed with an average 48 to 56 inches of rain annually in 1960.
The 1931
textbook includes an interesting fact: “If it were possible to build a
wall around West
Virginia and
hold the rain just as it fell, without evaporation, at the end of a year
the whole surface would be covered to a depth of three and one-half
feet.”
Of course, these are all
just numbers and statistics, but each book held its own little treasure,
a story which really reflects something outstanding.
Within the
1931 history book, I found this small tidbit: “In 1864 (one year after
West Virginia
was declared an independent state), it was reported to the legislature
that no taxes had been paid in some counties; that there were no
sheriffs or collectors because of the great danger incident thereto. In
Calhoun
County,
the sheriff, the clerks of the courts and some other local officers
joined the Southern army at the outbreak of the Civil War, and other
officers joined the Union army.
In
Calhoun,
no officers were elected to take their places. Consequently, there was
no official local government until the war closed. No taxes were levied
or collected, no roads were built or repaired, and the public buildings
were not maintained. There was not even a justice of the peace or a
constable. This county, with others in the central region, was governed
by the military officers of the army that happened to control it,
sometimes Union
and sometimes Confederate.”
The
interesting “story” found within the 1950 and 1960 books was a map which
showed the birth of regionalization. The maps within these two books
show the seven “economic units” created by the Planning and Research
Division of the West Virginia Dept. of Commerce.
The
correlating text explains, “These units, based on major drainage basins,
provide a logical framework for planning the effective utilization of
resources . . . Such adjustments are necessary for implementing various
phases of the Master Plan for the physical, social and economic
development of the state.”
Those who
are not frightened by regionalization should be scared at least by the
fact that the Master Plan called for the creation of water reservoirs
around the state. The same plan that brought us Burnsville Dam,
Summersville
Dam
and
Sutton
Dam
also planned for two reservoirs in our area. They planned to dam Steer
Creek and the West Fork of the Little Kanawha.
I must
admit, it is a little disconcerting to see a map which places my home
under water--even if it is 40 years old.
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