Remembering the Flood of 57...

Flashback to the 57 flood. I was a sophomore at Grundy High School, and the bus did run that Tuesday morning, January 29 of 1957. Upon our arrival at Grundy High School our driver, John Catron, who also worked at the Black & White bus garage just below Grundy, left to go to work there...

When we walked inside the school, we discovered that many buses did not make their runs. Going down to the office, I discovered that someone had called from the School Board Office to say schools were closing, and since Principal John Meade couldn't make contact with John Catron, he asked my Uncle Karl Reedy, who was teaching there at the time (Becoming the football coach in 1959), if he would drive our school bus back to Harman. Uncle Karl was willing of course, and that was one frightful trip back to Harman, with all eyes staring big-eyed at the rapidly rising water in the Levisa.

When we arrived at Harman Junction, Bull Creek was also raging, but Uncle Karl drove right through several places where water was in the road. Shortly after we arrived at the Harman Company Store, water was running two foot deep in the road.

Uncle Karl managed somehow to drive the bus back to his home on 460, which was located beside of the old King-Kone at the time, just below the Grundy Drive-In. The flooding was much worse within the Grundy city limits, with water lapping over the bridge that went across the river to the railroad depot, Buchanan-Williamson, and Bailey Lumber Company.

Water damage was extensive at Grundy's Main Street stores, especially in those that had basements. Accomplished writer, Lee Smith, whose father owned the Ben Franklin 5&10 store, remembers that a huge catfish flopped down the back stairs to plop in the water-filled toy section.

One vivid memory after I arrived home at Harman was watching Homer Elswick wading through two feet of water down the road past our house. Homer was just as cool as a cucumber, with not a trace of fear in his demeanor. I marveled, but didn't dare to leave the porch.

There was not a lot of damage on Harman, other than muddy roads and the Harman Baptist Church basement having a foot of mud in it,  but Grundy was flooded, and so was Pikeville, with water depth reported to be between three to nine foot deep...Damage to homes and businesses was extensive, with several deaths reported from drowning and also electrocution. President Eisenhower declared the entire region a disaster area, as damages were estimated at over $50 million dollars.

The Dime Story from my Dad...

Sharing a story my dad, Earl Gratton Fields, shared in his memory book he wrote a few months before he died in 1995.
"Money meant more back then. I remember that Granny would tell me where a hen's nest was, and she would let me take 'half a dozen' to the country store and I could trade them for a nickel's worth of candy, (a good-sized bag for a nickel he told me)...
& pop was cheaper than that, maybe a penny.
It was rare when I saw a dime... our shoe leather would generally be thinner than a dime ...when we had shoes...never more than one pair a year."...

(I think he told me once that the leather on his shoes was so thin he could tell what kind of coin he stepped on...LOL)...

"When we lived on Church Hill at Tom's Creek, someone gave me a dime. I came out of our yard and started down the lane below our house. I met two Pickett brothers and made the mistake of showing them my dime...When they decided to take it from me, I said, "NO WAY!"...

Quickly, I put the dime in my mouth and they backed me up against a fence and began choking me. Somehow, I managed to break free, and instead of me running away, they did...
Finding a rock, I threw it at them, hitting one of them in the back. He squalled so loud that everyone came running out of their houses to see what had happened. Sure did scare me....

I ran back up the hill to our house and hid behind it. Knowing for sure that I was in for it, so I didn't come out from hiding when Dad came out on the porch and called for me....

Fortunately, a neighbor, Arville Donahue, had seen what had happened and came to our house to tell dad, and dad didn't whip me for throwing the rock, or hiding even.

It must not have hurt the boy much, because after they moved to Coeburn, Virginia, they would come to visit me and even bring me something..
Not often you make friends by throwing rocks at them!"...

{Remembering that my sister Dorla threw a rock at Willard Owens once when Willard and I were squabbling about something, hitting him in the back as he ran back up the hill to his house. Willard mentioned this and laughed about it in later years.

I can remember when we would ride our bikes down to Belcher's Grocery when we lived just above the trestle that came from #1 mine at Harman. We would ride to just below the old Harman School at Harman, Virginia.
One day, we discovered that the price of pop had raised to 6 cents...We thought it would stay a nickel forever....I think I was in high school before it went to a dime....
A rare find in my day too!}...LOL