Sandy Basin contains about six hundred square miles, lying on the headwaters of the West (or Russell) Fork of Big Sandy River. It is on the Virginia side of Cumberland (Pine) Mountain, and covers portions of Buchanan, Dickenson and Wise Counties. Its main streams are Russell Fork, Pound, Cranesnest and McClure Rivers. All its waters gather and flow out of the Basin through the remarkable chasm torn through the northern end of Cumberland Mountain, known far and near as “The Breaks.” This upland area is completely walled in by high mountains, forming a natural bowl or basin, broken only at “The Breaks.”
Sandy Basin has been settled about two hundred and thirty years. Obviously many events of deep human interest have occurred there during the settling of the region and its gradual change from pioneer conditions to the modern comforts that surround its present inhabitants.
It is the purpose of this volume to capture and preserve some of the more striking activities of a few prominent leaders of Sandy Basin, as learned from available records and the existing recollections of the pioneers, and to show how the men and women of its earlier days lived and exerted themselves to make a living for their own families and to be of service to their less fortunate neighbors.
Table of Contents:
Jesse Austin, p. 1
Frank Monroe Beverly, p. 17
Richard Colley, p. 47
Elijah Shelby Counts, p. 67
Winfield Scott Grizzle, p. 90
Helen Timmons Henderson, p. 115
Richard D. B. Sutherland, p. 139
William Sutherland, p. 159
Francis Peter de Tubeuf, p. 186
Illustrations
Elder Jesse Austin and wife, Margaret, p. 6
Frank Monroe Beverly, p. 21
Sand Lick – Richard Colley’s Home Site – 1930, p. 51
Sand Lick – same Area – 1954, p. 51
Elder Elijah Shelby Counts, p. 68
Winfield Scott Grizzle, p. 91
Helen Timmons Henderson, p. 116
Richard D. B. Sutherland, p. 141
William Sutherland and his wife, Sylvia, p. 162
Richard Smith’s Plan of sale of Land, p. 192
Aerial View of Tubeuf’s Home Site at St. Marie on the Clinch, 1960, p. 197
