The Logan Banner, November 3, 1937
First Houses Were Loga Cabins Equipped With Handmade and Rude Furniture; Bushel of Salt Worth Cow and Calf
By Frank Elwood Brazie
It is not definitely known who the first settler into the Guyandotte Valley was, but most information points to Peter Dingess, who built a cabin at the mouth of Dingess Run Creek just above Logan, provisioned it and then went back to bring his family.
The first houses erected in the Valley were log cabins, with covers of split clapboards and were kept in place by weighted poles. The floors were made of split puncheons, hewed smooth on one side. These puncheons were removable, and under them were stored fruits, nuts and vegetables for the winter. It was not an uncommon sight in the wintertime to see the family gathered at night around a. blazing fire, and while some regaled the others with banjo and violin music, one of the floor puncheons was raised and a pail of fine apples brought out from below, and a genuine treat awaited each member of the household.
The furniture was handmade and rude. The table furniture consisted of a few pewter dishes, plates and spoons, but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins. In there were scarce gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up the deficiency. All iron pots, vessels, knives and forks, as well as salt and iron, were carried on pack horses from the eastern side of the mountains.
The food was of the plainest. Hog and hominy was the proverbial dish. Johnny cake and pone were the bread used for most part. Milk and mush was the standard dish for supper. When milk was scarce, as was usually the case, hominy supplied the place of mush. Mush was frequently eaten with sweetened water, bear’s oil, or the gravy of fried meat. Truck and garden patches were much in evidence, and the vegetables were usually cooked with venison or bear meat.
Owing to the insecure coverings for their feet in winter, most of the early settlers slept with their feet to the fire to prevent rheumatism.
Salt was a great object with the first settlers. It was brought in on pack horses. The common price of a bushel of alum salt was a cow and calf.
Coffee was not used until long after the Revolution. When tea was introduced, it was a puzzle to prepare it. One old lady said she drank the broth and her husband ate the greens.