Mike's Epic Road Trips ~ April: 2010 ~ Dunkard Creek Float Trip

With the water still up and the weather warm our thoughts turned to Dunkard Creek and a trip was planned.

We decided to meet at Mason Dixon Historical Park at 1:00, organize the shuttle and then drive the 6 miles down to Blacksville where we unloaded all the boats on the east side of the bridge. At around 1:30 or so we were all ready and eager to get on the water.

Past trips had shown a water level of 3.50 was still boatable so the trip was on!
Click on the above to go the Shannopin Gauge for Dunkard Creek.

Google terrain map of Dunkard Creek Float trip

Source: © Google Maps

Betty Wiley forwarded this info to me about the damn at Pentress. The damn is about 2' high. Below Betty's information is a link to some pictures of us boating over the dam.

A local sources think the damn was built in the 20s or 30s. At one time someone tried to destroy it by blasting, allegedly so they could "pick up the big fish" that lived behind the dam. But it was ineffective. When the railroad tracks were salvaged, removal of the trestle damaged the dam. He doesn't know why it was built but thinks it may have been a WPA or CCC project to create a recreational (fishing) area. He remembers the steam train and that there was a little passenger train station in the vicinity of the dam and a little building that housed the track car they used to inspect the tracks. Water supply for the station may have come from the dam. He thought there might have been a water tank for steam trains at that location, but not sure. I have a railroad book and it does not show any structures at that area.

The train's purpose was to haul coal. But the train always included a passenger car, giving people a way to get around (my dad rode from near the Buckeye intersection to Fairmont to attend college, and before that in the early 30s rode to the University's experimental high school). The train developers had not been able to acquire rights-of-way on the entire route. To circumvent this barrier to their coal-hauling mission, they added the passenger car, making themselves a public utility, thus could function without having right of way. Eminent domain of a sort.

Apparently my theory about it being a mill dam is incorrect (but I'm going to try and pin it down). There were a lot of mills in the 1800s and there were mills nearly both upstream and downstream from the Pentress dam. Pentress was originally called Brownsville. Andrew Brown built the downstream mill and the town had his name for a while. The post office later was called Andy for a while. We have a book "The Chronicles of Core" that is packed with local history about towns and people.

Source: Betty Wiley

See Rob Stengers photos of the Pentress dam crossing here!

Click on the snap shots below for a larger image.

13 boats and 13 boaters - our lucky number!

We set off down the Creek for our 12 mile, 4 hour piddle paddle.

Although still leafless for the most part the banks were lush with blooming Buttercups and emerging Blue Bells.

An accidental shot...

There were lots of smiles on the trip.

Almost all of the trees along the creek had lots of interesting roots exposed.

All the necessary equipment.

A welcome break from the rigors of Med School!

Even with the crowd of 13 boats we all got our chance to experience the solitude of the Creek.

A grim reminder of the legacy of coal.

Gnarly!

We were all delighted to see the Great Blue Heron rookery still active. We counted 6 nests, fewer than on previous trips.

The Lone Sentinel.

Note the Sycamore seed balls. There were sections of the Creek where the seeds were drifting down to the water like snow.

Along with the Herons, we also so Sliders, muskrat, Geese, Coots and Mallards as well as hearing the song of the Spring Peepers and the trill of the toads.

This old stone wall harkens back to a day when we might have heard only the "clip-clop" of horse hooves instead of the rumble and roar of overloaded coal trucks.

State Route 7 has been shored up and rebuilt many times.

This bridge, which crosses Buckeye Road, is just around the bend from our take-out point.

After we all crossed under, it was not long before we were getting the boats out of the water and up the ramp and hauled up to the cars. For some reason the access road to the boat launch was still gated so we all got a good workout dragging and carrying our boats and gear up to the cars.

A very nice day to be on the water.