In the early decades of the twentieth century, Fred B. Lambert, a local historian and educator in southwestern West Virginia, interviewed Lucian Mitchell of Henlawson, Logan County, regarding his memories of the rafting industry in the Guyandotte Valley.

     “I was born July 20, 1885,” Mitchell began. “I ran many rafts. I worked for the Hewett Lumber Company about 1922 for 5 years and then for Jeff Gill, who bought and sold lumber. I often went on rafts and put up at Guyandotte with the Stephenson Hotel.”

     In those days, thousands of Guyan Valley logs were tied into rafts and piloted down the river by pilots to the now defunct town of Guyandotte.

     “It took two days to get out from Logan,” Mitchell said. “The man on the bow of the raft didn’t have to know much. The man at the stern knew where to go, where the shoals were and how to work up to the point on a hard bend and knew the Jordan sands at the mouth of Bear Creek.

     “Sometimes a raft would cork the river by bowing and swinging around in such a position as to get both ends foul. If another raft came down it was rulable to hit this raft in the middle and cut it in two pieces. Most raftsmen could swim so not many got drowned.”

     Among the many turn-of-the-century pilots, Elijah Mobley of Big Creek was memorable.

     “Elijah Mobley of Big Creek below Chapmansville was an eccentric river man — a pilot,” Mitchell said. “He went barefooted and bareheaded in summer and even went that way into Huntington — with his pants rolled up. He was killed by a C&O detective. He had been to Catlettsburg in the West Virginia prohibition days — three or four hoboes were with him — and he tried to bluff the detective by putting his hand in or near his pocket.”

     At some point, the loggers traveling downriver stopped their rafts and boarded overnight with local residents.

     “We took our lunches along and tied up at night,” Mitchell said. “I have stayed at Hubball with James Bench, with W.J. Hatfield at Ranger, with Norma Spurlock at Nine Mile and Burton Hensley at Dusenberry Dam. I stayed with a doctor who lived on the riverbank above Martha who kept about 600 to 700 game chickens. He lived some distance above the Turn Hole.”

     As these trips were often made in the winter months, raftsmen had to survive the freezing cold of river travel.

     “I have had fires on rafts in winter by closing small cracks between logs, but never knew of any cooking to be done,” Mitchell said.

     Upon arriving in Guyandotte, timbermen were paid for their logs and usually used their money to buy liquor and raise all kinds of hell.

     “I’ve seen some fancy fights in Huntington among the raftsmen,” Mitchell said. “Policemen usually didn’t interfere. Dolph Spratt of Mingo County or Paris Brumfield hit ‘Doc’ Suiter. He toned down after this.”

     At the end of his interview, Mitchell recalled the time the Cole and Crane log boom broke at the mouth of the Guyandotte River.

     “The Cole and Crane boom at Guyandotte broke once and came down and struck the piers of the suspension bridge and took it into the Ohio River,” he said.