Tag: Kanawha River

Residents Warned Against Recreation Along Parts Of Kanawha River

Flooding rains Sunday night into early Monday washed out at least 2.5 miles of the Kanawha Falls Public Service District's sewage collection system, which serves the Mount Olive Correctional Center.

Flooding rains Sunday night into early Monday washed out at least 2.5 miles of the Kanawha Falls Public Service District’s (PSD) sewage collection system, which serves the Mount Olive Correctional Center. This disruption has the potential to allow raw sewage to discharge directly into the river.

According to the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the advisory covers 10 miles of the river from the correctional facility to the London Locks and Dam. It will remain in effect until further notice.

People should avoid water contact recreation activities in the affected area, such as swimming, fishing, water skiing and certain types of pleasure boating in smaller craft.

The West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) said this does not affect drinking water and no boil water advisories have been issued at this time.

The Kanawha Falls PSD notified the DEP of the problem with the sewage collection system through the state’s Emergency Spill Line. The PSD’s upset provision allows discharge into waters of the state until the sewer line is repaired. Emergency measures are currently being implemented to restore some level of treatment as quickly as possible and local downstream water intakes have been notified.

The WVDEP, DHHR, the West Virginia Emergency Management Division, and the Kanawha Falls PSD are working together to identify any additional damage to the sewage system and determine a temporary solution. Major repairs to local infrastructure will need to be made before the sewer line is permanently replaced.

Portable toilets have been installed at the prison to minimize additional sewage.

September 29, 1861: Kanawha and Coal River Watersheds Flood

On September 29, 1861, one of the worst floods on record hit the Kanawha River watershed. The river crested nearly 17 feet above flood stage in Charleston and badly damaged the valley’s salt works.

It also affected an innovative system of dams and locks that’d been built in the 1850s to transport cannel coal on the Coal River. The refined oil from cannel coal was highly popular as a source of home-lighting fuel throughout the East.

The eight stone-filled timber-crib dams and locks had been built between 1855 and 1859. The 35 miles of slackwater navigation connected the Boone County community of Peytona with the Kanawha River at St. Albans, just west of Charleston.

During the first year, 400,000 bushels of cannel coal were barged out of the region. That amount doubled in 1860. But the start of the Civil War limited mining, and the September 1861 flood virtually destroyed the lock-and-dam system.

After the war, some repairs were made to it, but, by that time, kerosene had largely replaced cannel coal as a fuel for lighting, and the Coal River navigation system was eventually abandoned.

May 5, 1923: Fire Destroys Luna Park in Charleston

On May 5, 1923, an accidental fire started by welders destroyed most of Luna Park on Charleston’s West Side. The seven-acre amusement park had been built in 1912 on a former three-hole golf course.

For the 11 years it existed, Luna Park was one of the most popular attractions in Charleston. Excursion trains and boats dropped off visitors from as far away as Point Pleasant, and the park’s crowds sometimes swelled to more than 10,000 on special occasions like the 4th of July.

Luna Park featured rocky, tree-filled landscapes, and streams. Visitors walked the grounds using footbridges, which led to the Royal Giant Dips Coaster, a merry-go-round, a Ferris wheel, a midway with games of chance and skill, a zoo, a skating rink, a boxing ring, and a dance pavilion. Special entertainment included free outdoor movies, hot air balloons, and trapeze artists.

After the park burned down, the company that owned the land offered it to the city for use as a park, but city leaders refused, citing maintenance costs. So, the gullies were backfilled, and a residential neighborhood was built on the site.

April 8, 1951: C-47 Transport Plane Crashes Near Kanawha Airport

On April 8, 1951, a C-47 transport plane crashed near Charleston’s Kanawha Airport, which is now Yeager Airport, killing 21 members of the Air National Guard. They were on their way to Charleston for the funeral of fellow Guardsmen Major Woodford Sutherland. Sutherland had been killed in a freak training accident in Florida in which his parked P-51D Mustang was hit by another plane.

At the time of the tragedy, the West Virginia Air National Guard was only four years old. It was organized in the aftermath of World War II by Lieutenant Colonel James K. McLaughlin as the 167th Fighter Squadron, stationed out of Charleston. During the war, McLaughlin had led the largest Allied daytime bombing raid over Germany.

The 167th’s first planes were P-47D Thunderbolt fighters, which were soon replaced with the famous P-51D Mustangs. In 1955, the 167th was relocated to Martinsburg after part of the squadron had been separated out to form the 130th Troop Carrier Squadron, which remained in Charleston.

To this day, West Virginia Air National Guardsmen wear a patch with 21 stars in memory of the 1951 crash victims.

March 16, 1742: John Peter Salling Sets Out on Expedition to Claim Land for England

On March 16, 1742, John Peter Salling and four others started out from Natural Bridge, Virginia, on a trip to explore the Mississippi River. Their goal was to strengthen England’s claims to western lands.

Salling kept a journal of the trip, including his trek through what is now southern West Virginia. When they reached the New River, they built a boat and covered it with buffalo hides.

They followed the New River until it became too treacherous. Then, they cut overland and found another stream. While traveling downriver in present Boone County, Salling documented the region’s massive coal outcroppings in his journal. Many historians give Salling credit for naming this stream Coal River.

Next, the explorers followed the Kanawha and Ohio rivers to the Mississippi, which they reached in June. The next month, they were captured by a band of Indians, blacks, and Frenchmen. The prisoners were transported to New Orleans and held as spies.

Salling escaped from captivity two years later and returned to his home in Augusta County, Virginia. His account of the trip offers the earliest known description of West Virginia’s vast coal reserves.

March 5, 1880: James River and Kanawha Canal Co. Ceases Operation

On March 5, 1880, the James River and Kanawha Canal Company ceased operations. 

The original company had been formed by Virginia in 1785, at the urging of George Washington, who’d traveled through the Ohio and Kanawha valleys the previous year. Washington envisioned a navigable water route, with canals, connecting Richmond and the Ohio River.

Canal work on the lower James River started in 1820. A new road—known as the James River and Kanawha Turnpike—linked the town of Covington with the falls of the Kanawha River near Gauley Bridge and then continued to the confluence of the Ohio and Big Sandy rivers at Kenova. The canal work was completed to Buchanan, Virginia—near present Roanoke—in 1851. Workers cleared channels and dredged the Kanawha, but the Civil War halted the project.

After the war, there were tentative plans to build a grand waterway from Tidewater Virginia, through West Virginia, eventually reaching the Rocky Mountains. However, by that time, roads and railroads had become the primary means of transportation. The James River and Kanawha Company continued to operate the Virginia portion of the canal until 1880.

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