"Kentucky's Last Frontier" by Henry P. Scalf--Reflections On The Book

 

Henry P. Scalf was a newspaperman, genealogist, and Appalachian writer who lived from 1902 until 1979.  For many years, he worked for the "Floyd County Times" in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, and wrote on nearly every subject that a small courthouse town newspaper might cover.  He was also an avid student of the history of Eastern Kentucky and wrote and published several works which ranged from several pamphlet sized works including one about Jenny Wiley, an early Eastern Kentucky pioneer woman who was captured by and escaped from a band of native Americans, and about a half dozen genealogical books during his lifetime.  Much of his writing, documents, and books are in the Special Collections Department at the University Of Pikeville Library which I have used more than once in my research. I own one of his dozen or so self-published genealogical books about the Stepp-Stapp Families of America.  His best work was done in the fields of newspaper writing and genealogy.  Most of his books and pamphlets were self published in small editions and can be difficult to locate on the open market.  

I was able to purchase an autographed copy of the book we are discussing here, "Kentucky's Last Frontier" which was self published as a hardback in 1966 with a foreword by the eminent Kentucky historian Thomas D. Clark.  My copy of the book was part of the estate of another Kentucky newspaper writer, Helen Price Stacy and I was lucky enough to buy several works by other regional writers from her collections after they had passed into the hands of a friend who buys and sells antiques.  The book covers a "12-county area, centered by the Big Sandy, Licking, and North Fork Kentucky rivers...With a few southeastern counties of the state, it constituted "Kentucky's Last Frontier."  My copy is, sadly, not in great condition but due to the difficulty of finding a copy in any condition, I was glad to find it.  The book covers a large segment of the history of Eastern Kentucky from the times of early settlement to about 1955 or so.  It is possibly, at least partially, derived from earlier newspaper articles written by Scalf.  While the book is a wonderful resource for the student of Eastern Kentucky and Appalachian history, it does have several weaknesses including Scalf's unique style of documentation of sources and inclusion of notes.  Many times in the book, quotations are not clearly identified in the text and there is a section of notes which covers 109 pages in the back of the book and the notes are not cited in the text by any currently recognized system.  But these issues are offset by the fact that the Bibliography is 6 pages long and well documented.  Any reader with the desire to read all those documented sources would have a strong background in the history of the region up to the time this book was published.  

The book is composed of 25 chapters which are presented chronologically from an opening chapter about the geologic and prehistoric origins of the region to the final chapter about, in part, the widespread coal, oil, and gas extraction in the region which has served to greatly damage the beauty of the land.  There is a fine discussion of the consequences of the 1957 flood which devastated the region and, until the recent Eastern Kentucky flooding of the summer of 2022.  While the book can be a slow read, it is well worth the effort to find and read a copy if you are a student of either Eastern Kentucky or Appalachian History.  I know that there are copies in both the University of Pikeville library and at the library of Big Sandy Community and Technical College.  I suspect there might also be a copy in the collections of the Johnson County Library in Paintsville since they own a large, publicly available but non-circulating regional books.   I hope you can locate a copy if you are interested in the area which it covers. 

A Year To Be Moderately Thankful For!

 

Ever since June 16, 2015, America had little to be thankful for until the results of the November 2020 presidential election were finalized and President Biden was sworn in and the nation was once again in safe hands after four years of having a TRAITOR living illegally in the White House based on his TREASON with Putin and Russia.  But, after the election was settled, we were still due to face an act of Insurrection, Domestic Terrorism, and TREASON on January 6th, 2021.  The consequences of that act on January 6th are still playing themselves out both in the nations law enforcement and judicial communities and it will be at least 20 to 30 years before the end of the appeals, prison sentences, and further insurrections play themselves out.  America will continue to suffer for at least another generation due to the TREASON of TRAITOR Trump.  The moral, ethical, and legal damage which has been wrought on the psyche of the nation will continue to be serious damaging for at least a generation.  Many of the individuals who have been participants in all those acts of insurrection, sedition, domestic terrorism, and treason are currently raising children who have been exposed to the arcane, violent, and deeply destructive ideas of their parents, just as all parents deeply affect their children's thinking, and those children are likely to carry on their parents' traditions of ignorance and violence for years to come. 

But on November 8, 2022, this country and a majority of its voters delivered a message to TRAITOR Trump and his many co-conspirators that we will not accept that kind of insurrection, terrorism, and treason.  In the best electoral performance in about 40 years by the party of a sitting president, the Democratic party has held onto control of the US Senate, actually gaining one seat and possibly two based on the pending outcome of the runoff election in Georgia, and nearly held control of the US House.  But the House was lost by just a few seats and the Right Wing Radical Repugnicans and other co-conspirators of TRAITOR Trump will assume control of the US House in January 2023 and will do everything in their power to obstruct the positive works of President Biden and the Democratic party. They will end the incredibly important work of the January 6th Committee and do everything they can to destroy any evidence it has gathered on the insurrection and any other crimes of which the committee members have become aware.  They will bury the TRAITOR Trump tax returns which the US Supreme Court has finally just ordered to be released to the House Ways And Means Committee if TRAITOR Trump even delivers those tax returns before the new congress assumes control in early January.  I am betting that TRAITOR Trump will simply refuse to deliver the returns and will bet that the wheels of justice will run too slow for him to suffer the legal consequences of any criminal referral which the current chair of the House Ways And Means Committee might send to the justice department by the end of the year.  Both he and Kevin McCarthy, a proven co-conspirator, will do everything they can to prevent the truth from ever coming to light about the insurrection of January 6th. It is highly likely that several of the very members of congress who are suspected of assisting the terrorists of January 6th will now assume key positions in the very congress their previous efforts sought to obstruct and destroy. 

But, the newly appointed Special Counsel Jack Smith will also have a lot to say about the January 6th insurrection, the clearly treasonous attempts to overturn the 2020 election, the theft of highly classified documents from the White House and the high likelihood that they were passed on to Russia and/or other foreign actors who are opposed to the very existence of the United States.  The fact that the White House and the Department of Justice are in the hands of Democrats and Jack White is on the job are one of the major events of the past year that we have to be moderately thankful for.  It is no accident that when the FBI sought the warrants that  led to the discovery of hundreds of US government documents in the hands of TRAITOR Trump at Mar A Lago that the law cited in those warrants was the Espionage Act.  It is no accident that Jack Smith, the person chosen by Attorney General Merrick Garland is an experienced war crimes prosecutor who is accustomed to dealing with and successfully prosecuting rouge government officials all around the world.  The case against TRAITOR Trump has always been about TREASON and Russian Espionage.  Jack White and the team he is assembling to conduct this investigation and prosecution will track the story to its logical end.  They will indict TRAITOR Trump for every crime which they uncover and, at the very least, it will include the crime of mishandling and illegal possession of classified government secrets.  It is also highly likely to include TREASON and espionage for the sale or uncompensated transfer of those documents to Putin and Russia and is just as likely to include crimes committed during attempts to sell those documents to other foreign countries, especially those countries which either have or are seeking nuclear weapons and the technology related to them.  And no one should ever forget that the list of such countries includes Russia, North Korea, Iran, and Pakistan.  Thankfully, Jack White and the staff he is assembling, with the assistance of the entire US intelligence community, will pursue all possible crimes to the logical ends of the investigations and they will successfully prosecute all offenders.  

We are also incredibly blessed to have control of the US Senate which will stop many of the efforts of Kevin McCarthy and his co-conspirators to destroy the goals of President Biden.  A bicameral legislature is one of the greatest inventions of early political strategists and the American Founding Fathers in particular.  That concept has saved this country from many mistakes over the past two and a half centuries and there is no doubt it will save us from many as long as Kevin McCarthy is Speaker of the House and Democrats retain control of the White House and US Senate.  

We are also greatly blessed by the fact that, in general, voters all across the country had the wisdom to elect Democratic US Senators and Congress members,  state officials including governors, secretaries of state, and state attorneys general.  In Michigan and Arizona, in particular, we won nearly every office and that delivered a strong message to people such as the Right Wing Radicals who plotted to kidnap and assassinate Governor Whitmer.  We are blessed to have her in office in Michigan.  Nevada reelected US Senator Masto.  Arizona elected a Democratic governor, two US Senators, and most of the other officials in the election.  Now Georgia is faced with the decision to reelect Senator Warnock or to elect a markedly, terrifyingly incompetent and unqualified opponent.  In Georgia, the effort to elect Hershel Walker to the US Senate is a clear cut litmus test about just how deeply damaging the Right Wing Repugnican Party is willing to be in order to gain another vote in congress.  Walker is definitely the most unqualified candidate to ever be nominated for a senate office in this country.  

But two years ago, Georgia stepped up and did the right thing for the state and for America.  I believe they will do it again in the senate runoff election.  Yes, we have had a year for which we can be moderately thankful.  But we have also had a year in which the potential damage to America and American Democracy was as high as it has ever been since the times of Benedict Arnold.  We must continue to fight against TRAITOR Trump and his co-conspirators until they are all in prison where they should have been many years ago.  We must continue to fight to elect Democrats in every office in the country.  Literally, we are in the fight of our lives to save America and American Democracy.  Thank God, we won most of the important battles of the past year.