THE ELK’S JOURNAL

Growing Up On The Banks Of The Elk River

By Chris Ellis (The article originally appeared in the Charleston Gazette-Mail on July 6, 2022)

Growing up on the banks of the Elk River afforded me the childhood opportunity to grow and mature in an area where people were connected to nature. The Elk River of my youth was a setting somewhat like a Norman Rockwell painting of American culture — small-town USA, main street, rural America, front porch sitting, lemonade stands, church bells ringing on Sunday, vegetable gardens in the backyard, and plenty of old folks fishing.

I was the knobby-kneed kid with a cane pole over my shoulder, a frog in my pocket, and a slingshot hanging out of my back pocket. I was released into the outdoors every morning during summer and encouraged to check in occasionally with Mom during the day. (Checkins mostly occurred when I was hungry, needed some doctoring for a scraped knee, or was simply too wet and tired to continue my exploring adventures in the wilds.)

I was blessed to grow up in a hard-working community with a sense of pride for what you have, surrounded by people who were for each other, dotted with folks who can fix anything, and didn’t mind at all lending a hand helping others who couldn’t. But most intriguing to me were those who chose to hunt and fish and cherish the outdoor lifestyle directly connected to the natural world. Hunting and fishing were not the exceptions; it was part of everyday life in the community.

In a time before high-tech communication — just three local TV channels and rabbit ears on your set to pull them in, if you were lucky enough to live in a house with a clear view of the sky — the spoken and written word were the most important aspects of learning. No one had computers, phones in their pockets, or the internet to search for any topic in seconds, and most were considered fortunate to have access to a set of encyclopedias — but we had each other and the art of storytelling. My connection to the world outside my river community was delivered daily to our doorstep: the newspaper. I couldn’t have cared less about national news, local business news, or even sports back then. My brain was too simple to process that information at a young age. But the topic I couldn’t consume enough of was hunting and fishing. The how-to, where-to and when-to and the articles highlighting the characters who had some aspect of hunting and fishing dialed in enough to be considered an expert in their field often left me in wonderment.

Not only was I fortunate to be raised in an outdoorfocused and loving community, but I was equally blessed to have access to writers who dedicated their time, energy, efforts and careers as storytellers in pursuit of the outdoor arts. Writers Skip Johnson, Andy Hansroth and John McCoy were directly responsible for my education, entertainment and, to be frank, my career choice as someone who lives and works to hunt and fish. I suspect strongly that I was not the only one.

RECOMMENDATIONS?

As a lifelong learner, I have chosen to raise my family here in West Virginia in hopes that they too may understand the connection to the natural world and receive an education outside of their formal schooling.

Not everyone growing up in West Virginia will be inspired to become an outdoors writer, industry professional or even someone who hunts and fishes.

That’s OK. But maybe, just maybe, their lives will be enriched no matter where they choose to live with an understanding and deep appreciation for the heritage, culture and history of rural communities in a rural state so blessed to be surrounded by Mother Nature’s precious bounties and natural resources. We are blessed.

Chris Ellis is a veteran of the outdoors industry. His book “Hunting, Fishing and Family from The Hills of West Virginia” is available from the West Virginia Book

CONGRATULATIONS NEW FIREMEN!

The Pinch Volunteer Fire Department would like to congratulate three men from our Elk River community who graduated from the Charleston Fire Department Recruit Academy on June 12, 2023 as Probationary Firefighters at the City of Charleston.

Congratulations to Captain/EMT Cody Carr (badge pinned by his brother CFD Firefighter/Paramedic and Pinch VFD Asst Chief Corey Carr); Firefighter/EMT Will Strickland (badge pinned by his father CFD Captain/ Paramedic and Pinch VFD Firefighter Mark Strickland), and Firefighter/EMT Quinton Teel (badge pinned by his uncle CFD Lieutenant/ Paramedic and Pinch VFD former Asst. Chief Justin Teel).