%tASLcn S, 1904. J 
FOHEST AND STREAM. 
197 
narrow channel, was pleasantly exciting. The immeiise 
fall was in evidence from the start,* but instead of finding 
heavy, rough rapids, as we had anticipated, we found one 
genera] down-hill shoot of water without a foot of slack 
water in it at the present stage — a veritable watery to- 
boggan slide, in fact, and the cruising )vas something to 
remember. It was probably the liveliest going we had 
ever experienced, not excepting, our memorable "flood" 
run of eighty-five miles on the Shenandoah in our '93 
cruise. We kept well off from the railroad embankment 
whenever we found ourselves coasting along at the foot of 
the road, otherwise we went pretty much where we 
pleased over the surface of the river; our hatches in 
place, with the aft section of the 'midship hatch with its 
apron ready to pull up over and around us at a moment's 
notice, for the water was rough. We found the big rapid 
which our pessimistic friend had warned us of, all right 
enough, but went dancing merrily down its tossing 
white-capped slope without any inconvenience or mishap, 
althpugh we had a rather narrovi? squeak of it at the top. 
The OM Bridge at Marlington. 
While bowling swiftly down upon the rapid, with our 
attention concentrated on the whitened slope below, we 
suddenly discovered ourselves right up against a ferry 
wire stretched across the river from side to side, but a 
few inches above the water — so close that it seemed im- 
possible to avoid it. George, being near to one side, let 
his boat drive down on it, as it was high enough above 
the water at that point to let his bow slip under. When 
it reached him he dexterously caught it, and threw it 
over his head; but from my position in midstream it was 
not high enough above the water to allow my canoe to 
slip under, so all there was to do was to turn my boat 
quickly, bow up stream, and paddle desperately 'for a 
point nearer shore, and I finally drifted under the wire 
close enough in for it to go over the canoe, while I lifted 
it over my head. After this little episode, whenever we 
sighted a house near the river, or more particularly a rail- 
road station on the bank, we made it our special business 
to keep an eye open for these ferry wires — a wise pro- 
ceeding, for two or three more of them were picked np 
on the morning's run. The day cleared up as it wore on, 
and the sun came out and gave promise of fair weather 
once more. The scenery was extremely wild and inter- 
esting. For many miles below Cass the valley is so nar- 
Camp Price — Marlington. 
row that it becomes a mere cailon. The mountains rise 
steeply from the water's edge, and tower aloft on either 
side up into the sky, their sides densely clothed with hem- 
lock, spruce, and other timber, mostly of the evergreen 
species. The river turns and twists at the bottom of this 
gorge,_ never straight for more than a few hundred yards 
at_ a time, and we had mountains in front of us, moun-: 
tains behind us, and mountains hemming us in to the 
right and left, until it seemed that we were hopelessly- 
entangled in the mountains with no way out. The rail- 
road skirted close along the .right bank of the river, occa- 
sionally taking advantage of a few rods of bottom land in 
the angle of a bend to cut off a short distance. As usual, 
we kept well off from the railroad embankments at the 
bottom of the concave bends, as we were sure to find the, 
river bed plentifully strewn with enormous fragments 
01 rock hurled into the river by the blasts of the work- 
men in preparing the roadbed, and over which the water 
broke in foaming surges. There was plenty of water for 
us everywhere, so we had no trouble in avoiding these, 
although at a more normal stage of water doubtless; some 
of the steep pitches down along this section^ of the river 
would have proved decidedljr rocky. We swept swiftly 
by Cloverdale about the middle of the forenoon, where 
our xurious looking boats, rapidly gliding by. attracted 
no little attention from the loungers around the railroad 
station ; and a couple of hours later swung in. to the bank 
at the bottom of a huge ox-bow bend to the left, which 
the railroad cut off by diving under the mountain.". A 
clear- littk stream came brawling down the mountainside, 
and tumbkd-into the river in a transparent little cascade, 
of a few feet in height over a flat ledge. The Water 
proved to be quite cold, as we had expected, and we laid 
by here for an hour and a half for a noonday lunch, rest, 
and siesta. Our morning's cruise had not entailed the 
least exertion on us, but we were tired and cramped from 
long sitting in the canoes, and the opportunity to_ get out 
and stretch our limbs was a welcome one. Incidentally 
this was the only day on this entire cruise in which we 
resitmed our cruise after the noonday meal ; all succeed- 
ing days' runs were terminated at lunch time, and camp 
was made and the afternoons devoted to loafing and fish- 
irig. Our afternoon's run was but a repetition of that of 
the forenoon. Swift water and plenty of it; rapids at 
every few hundred yards ; no rocks or shoals to bother 
us; beautiful and striking mountain scenery, with here 
and there a farmhouse of the humble mountaineer type 
peirched on the flank of a mountain spur, or nestling in 
some little nook made by an incoming stream; while the 
passing of an occasional train with a roar and a rattle 
that seemed as disturbing and out of place in the primeval 
solitude as did the gaseous smell of the coal smoke that 
remained to pervade the atmosphere for long after the 
train had passed out of sight and sound, served- to re- 
mind us that we were still in a land inhabited by man and 
his creations. In striking contrast with the high water on 
the Shenandoah, the water was not at all muddy. It was 
somewhat discolored — quite too much so for fly-fishing — 
but I have fished the Shenandoah and other streams 
.. successfully with bait on frequent occasions, ifi water 
no clearer than was this. The Shenandoah, flowing as 
it does through a red clay country, well tilled, be- 
comes of a thick, brick-red color after each heavy rain, 
from the surface wash off the adjacent tilled fields; but 
the Greenbrier, having no tilled land to speak of on 
, this upper section — and no red ciay lands tilled or 
otherwise — has no mud to wash into it after heavy 
rains, and the heaviest floods do little more than dis- 
color the water. There was entirely too much water 
for fishing, however, and George, who cruises princi- 
pally to fish, and who always has his tackle mounted and 
ready to hand in his canoe, did not have it in evidence at 
all to-day. At the foot of the bio- ox-bend the railroad 
shot out from under the mountain and took a flying 
leap across the river on a handsome, well built iron 
bridge, and we had it on our left for the remainder of 
the days' cruise. At just 4 o'clock we rounded in under 
the picturesque old covered bridge at Marlinton, twenty- 
A Landing for Lunch. 
five miles below Cass by the railroad with a- mile or 
two more to the credit of the river, having left that 
port at 9 o'clock. The run occupied seven hours, 
which included the hour and a half lie-by for lunch; 
and George and I at once voted it to have been one of 
the finest day's runs we have ever enjoyed, and of itself 
entirely worth the trip out here. I went up into the 
village for mail and supplies, and on my return found 
young Dr. Norman Price in his canoe, lying alongside 
of George, swapping yarns and experiences. I had had 
some previous correspondence from Cass with Dr. 
Price, relative to his "joining us in his canoe for part 
or all of the remainder of our cruise, but his canoe 
being of light, folding variety, is not adapted to trips 
of this character, and his various cruises are taken at 
a still higher stage of water, so that there can be no 
liability of his mixing up too intimately with the rocks 
and shoals incident to a lower stage, and he was obliged 
to decline the invitation. He conducted us to a'charm- 
ingl5r quiet, retired and shaded little bank for a camp- 
ing place, at the foot of the grounds belonging to his 
father's residence, about a quarter of a mile below the 
bridge, and across the river from the village, and we 
soon had the canoes ashore and camp made up, in- 
cluding the dining fly, for it is our intention to Jay 
over here a day or so, to let some of the superfluous 
water run off ahead of us. We have more than we 
need for cruising, now that we have rea^hpd this sec- 
tion of the river, and quite too much for fishing. 
Tuesday, June 30, 1903. 
We passed a quiet, uneventful day idly in camp. Al- 
though directly across the river from the village, our 
camp was as retired as though it had been miles away, 
and we were entirely free from the drawback incidental 
to camps near a town— the village loafers. The village 
was . entirely convenient and accessible for supplies, 
mail, etc., and several trips were made during the day 
for that purpose. Marlinton is a product of the "boom'-' 
days of the early '90s and is the seat of justice of Poca- 
hontas county, the county seat having , been removed 
here from Huntersville at the time of that remarkable 
speculative fever, which swept clear out into these, 
mountain fastnesses. It is charmingly located on al- 
most the only bit of level land along the river, large 
enough to hoW a town of any size— a fringular plateau 
formed by an apening in the environing, mountains ' at 
the point v^here Knapp's creek, its' largest afHuent. joins 
the river. . Like all towns projected in those, inflated 
days, -it is a , city ..ot.'magnificent distances, and. strag- 
gles oyer, an, area of 'territory large,"enough f or a town 
of many, times its size;, the hrahdsome ' ahd/complefe 
new modern ...court house, and 'county .buildings .being 
a half or.. threerq,uarters . of a mile, .from .tft&,,liu§ine,ss. 
part of the 'town,' which, is clustered ..a.foundVthe rail- 
road station down near- the river. ' From its favorable 
location, and with its newly acquired railroad facilities 
it will doubtless increase materially in size and -imr 
portance at no distant day, , it being the center— both 
natural and artificial — of a large territory rich in native 
products of many kinds. We were kindly received by 
the people we met, and found much to interest us in 
the place. The evening was spent pleasantly and sociai- 
blv at the Price residence. We were asked to go over 
intD. the village to a wedding at the hotel,, but did not 
care to make the trip, and the noise of the accompany- 
iny old-time "chariviri" came- plainly across to us on 
the evening air, as we sat on the porch of the residence. 
The water ran down rapidly all. day, and we turned iil 
with the prospect of resuming the cruise in the morn- 
ing on twelve or fifteen inches less water. 
Wednesday, July i, 1903 
We were out early this morning, and after breakfast we 
struck the camp, packed and launched the canoes and 
resumed the cruise on a foot and a half less water than 
we brought with us. It was but little after 8 when 
I pushed off into the stream, leaving George still on 
Along the River. 
the bank, and as I was caught up in the rapid current 
and swirled swiftly away down over the rift opposite 
our camp, I discovered that all of the Price people, 
young ladies included, had assembled on the bank to 
see us start. George was still ashore and bade them all 
good-by, while I had to content myself with waving 
my helmet. 
We had a most lovely and interesting morning's 
cruise. The river is broader and the country rather 
more open than above. . We passed the mouth of 
Knapp's creek a mile below our camp, and the river 
took on noticeably increased proportions in conse- 
quence. We noted a change of the general character- 
-istics of the stream, as we had fully expected; the leap- 
ing and plunging trout stream seems to be merging into 
the more dignified and sedate bass stream, albeit the 
rapids were as plentiful as ever, mostly of the broad, 
shallow, gravelly bar character, calculated to make life 
a burden to the canoeist attempting the river in low 
water; but although we had some eighteen or tweny 
inches less water than we had on our Monday's cruise, 
we still had an entire sufiiciency for our needs and 
quite too much yet for fishing, although George used 
his tackle all through the morning's cruise with con- 
siderable success, and we went into camp about i 
The Big Dam at Cass. 
o'clock with quite a respectable catch in his fish-bag. 
He fishes continually while cruising, using a short 
Henshall bamboo rod with agate guides, a fine silk 
line wound on a ball-bearing reel, and on the free end 
of the outfit one of those diabolical contrivances known 
as a phantom minnow — although to me it looks like 
a sardine— studded with- gangs of hooks so that a bass, 
on making, a dash for it— and if there is a lively bass 
within a_ hundred yards of the glittering, attractive ob- 
ject, he is pretty apt to make a dash for it — is morally 
certain to find hi mself hopelessly hooked somewhere 
about his anatomy, occasionally in the mouth. While 
I have occasionally used my fly tackle in cruising, as a 
rule I find that it takes about all of my available fund 
of skill and energy to successfully handle my canoe,' 
even when the water is not .difficult, and the addition 
of the fishing tackle is just that much extra work and 
distraction, consequentlv I have pretty- much gotten 
out of the habit of fishing and cruising at the same 
time. George likes it, though,, and invariably cruises 
that - way, so as this was the first day on the cruise 
when the conditions were really at . all favorable, wc. 
dawdle idly along down the exquisitely beautiful river, 
taking it easy in true idyllic cruising fashion at the 
same time making good steady time on the rapid river. 
George- .enjoyed the fishing as -well as . the . cruising, 
while I took in to the utmost the beauties of the river; 
for ^ the Greenbrier is- a -dreani of beauty— a' poem ■ itf 
water and mountains., : We .fourid it not:- nearly : S(>. dif- 
ficult, to riin; as rthe '.Shenando.ah,; althQugb. it has coni-' 
siderably moreiall than, th'e.fatter-strpam; the Shenan^ 
doah fall averaging about six feet -to^ ^{^^^^^^^^ ^he' 
principal difference is that the Shenandoah abounds 
