Dundon, West Virginia

Dundon, West Virginia. Buffalo Creek Recreational Trail.

"Grandpa Zachariah 'Bud' Whaling worked in the Dundon shops. If they didn’t have a part, they made it. You wouldn’t believe the lathes and handmade tools lined up on the shelves! Rows and rows and rows of them." Jerry Stover

, In the place where Big Buffalo Creek empties its mouth into the mighty Elk River, the town of Dundon once dwelled. Known as the gateway town to the BC&G Railroad, it welcomed incoming visitors and empty hopper cars, confident that those same cars would leave with tons of treasure brought out from Widen and Swandale, those who lived here had more freedom, more choices, and a quicker escape from life near the railroad. Although Dundon was the smallest of the larger ELRICO towns, it had its purpose and played a very important role in the intricate system of the railroad. It was the first town built in J.G. Bradley’s empire and actually had its own coal mine at one point, although meager compared to Rich Run., Dundon was a busy little stronghold in its day. The town twisted along the banks that hovered over the tail waters of the creek, finding its boundaries beside the Elk. Headed from the direction of Adair, west, railbus sheds sat on either sides of the tracks. These were constructed to house the passenger cars when not in use. There was also an ice house, a fuel point, the company office, and the shop buildings and rail yard, where train repairs were made. This is also the area where Mr. Bradley chose to build his stately, yet modest house for a man of his stature. Coming out of the hollow, there was the school and the community building that held church services and had a full-service gymnasium, a stage, which provided a place where activities and entertainment graced the residents. Downstairs in the basement of the community building, there was a carpentry shop. Those who worked here were in charge of maintaining bridges and company houses. At the other end of town sat the company store. In it one could find the post office, buy groceries, and a restroom if needed. The upstairs portion of the store was used as living quarters for the store manager, The B&O depot, more sheds, the Bower Coals Sales office, and the Lanham House, which still stands today, were found towards the end of the BC&G tracks. The truss bridge that crossed over the creek is in use today as a foot bridge on the trail and leads to Pisgah., Just like the other towns along Buffalo Creek, all of the company houses were painted a deep red color with white trim. In Dundon, the row of houses were referred to as “Red Row”. Only a few were one-story houses; the rest were multi-storied homes. They lined the southern banks of Buffalo Creek, some are inhabited, presently. Others were sparsely scattered on adjacent hills. An original bridge that crossed over the Creek is also in use today, although sunken and tattered from years of traffic. The people here had all the amenities that were provided by the company. Luckily, the town of Clay, the county seat, was just across the river and provided better options that were not always available to the more remote communities. Plus, the company store was not stocked by what came in on the rails, rather, it was independently stocked with goods coming in by motor vehicle from the capitol city of Charleston. Company scrip and federal money could also be used here, just like it was in the other ELRICO towns, but no one dared to try and spend the scrip in Clay, where it was worth nothing., The big picture, however, was worth it all. In a lengthy yet shallow indentation, pressed into the base of the mountain that paralleled the Baltimore and Ohio railroad tracks, men waited patiently, most tired and anxious, and longing to hear of possible work eastward. They came from all around, staying sometimes for days and hoping that they, too, night hop a train towards a new life. This overhang, known as “Hobo’s Cave”, housed any transient workers during the coal and lumber boom in Clay County. The black soot from their fires can be found on the walls and ceiling of the cave. It serves a reminder that somewhere in history, this place in its own right was another world, both dominated and destroyed by man., The BGC Railroad was wrought from and inherited by J.G. Bradley in the early 1900s and was one of the last all-steam transit lines, operated by the Elk River Coal and Lumber Company, ELRICO, for short. The company strictly used steam engines during its years of operation between 1904 until it shut down in 1965. Bringing coal and lumber out of the mountains of Eastern Clay County was the railroad’s main goal, twisting at a steady speed along twenty-two miles of Big Buffalo Creek between the towns of Widen and Dundon. Any freight brought out to Dundon was loaded onto Baltimore and Ohio freight cars and then transported to destinations outside of the West Virginia border.