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Birch River Monthly Spotlight July 2001 - The Blue Hole The best known place on lower Birch River is the Blue Hole, which is located seven and one half miles above the mouth. It is supposedly the deepest spot on the river, being perhaps fifteen to twenty feet deep in the wintertime. However there are others who say that it approaches forty feet deep. In the winter, the water at normal flow is a striking indigo blue when viewed from above the river level, hence its name. This name is not unique. There are Blue Holes elsewhere, including the upper Elk River, on New River at the top of Gauley Mountain and even in other countries. Birch's Blue Hole probably got is depth because of a scouring effect from the water. The river makes a very abrupt turn at the lower end of the hole but not before it eddies out into a large, round pool where the current swirls at high flows. At one time, the Blue Hole was noted for large walleyes and catfish. Many fish stories have originated there over the years. Walleye catches of up to twenty-eight inches have been recorded, although the fishing has since declined. The earliest known settlers at the Blue Hole were Henry and Margaret Butcher Shaver, who came there in 1903 and lived in the river bottom on the north side. Foundation stones from their house are still evident. Other families subsequently lived at the Blue Hole, but nobody has lived there since the 1930's. The river makes a loop of more than one mile in the Blue Hole vicinity, the largest of several dramatic loops on lower Birch. The loop begins at the upper Blue Hole and ends at the Upper Keener Eddy. It includes the mouth of Middle Run, the Smith Eddy and the mouth of Diatter Run. Middle Run begins near Coon Knob and Interstate 79 and empties into Birch just below the Blue Hole. Accompanying Middle Run along the way to Birch is Middle Ridge, a commanding presence on U.S. Geological Survey maps of the Herold Quadrangle. The lower end of the ridge consists of over five hundred acres of uninhabited woodland. Smith Eddy, which is located below the mouth of Middle Run, is named for Lon Smith, a farmer, blacksmith and trader of horses and mules. He bought property on the river in 1912 and lived there until 1941. Diatter Run comes into Birch at the end of the Smith Eddy. Like Middle Run, it begins in the vicinity of Coon Knob. The origin of the Diatter name is a mystery, although one story is that it was named for Frank Diadda, who supposedly deserted from the French army in 1758 when the English captured Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh. He eventually migrated to Diatter Run (also called Diadda). |
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