Auxier Place Names
by
Bobby W. Wells

How many of us have heard of such places as the Big Rocks, Sugar Bowl Cave, Love Tunnel, Hunter Branch, Osborne Branch, Jim Ward Branch, Cherry Tree Branch, Monkey Wrench, Table Rock, Cedar Grove, Hager Gap, Hager Shoals, Wireman Shoals, Jim Delong Gap, Shotgun Hollow, Pine Ridge, Happy Hollow, Ford=s Gap, Honeycutt Branch, Green Hole, Swirl Hole, Patrick Swirl, The Croquet Diamond, Black Diamond, Oil Well Hollow, Blockhouse Bottom, Harman Station, and OX cabin. There are all places in Auxier, Kentucky's history. In the following paragraphs, I will try to explain their locations.

Many of these place names are related to the Big Sandy River so I will begin with these. Patrick Swirl is the area in the river near Dickie Town. This swirl has been a good fishing hole throughout the years. Harold Sammons was a long time fisherman in these waters, as was Bub Burton and Aunt Polly Wireman. Many Auxier and Auxier Road residents have fished these water in the past, and some still do.

Just below the Patrick Swirl, the Big Sandy begins to drop. Rather than one steep drop or fall, the river goes through a series of rapids. These rapids are know as the Wireman Shoals. Wireman Shoals was named for Abraham Wireman who settled the large bottom near the shoals. The present day location of Wells Trailer Court, the Greenhouse Project and the Highlands Hospital grounds were part of the Wireman farm. In 1862, a civil war battle was fought at Wireman Shoals. This battle is listed as the Battle of Wireman Shoals, or a Johnson County Boat fight. Where they got Johnson County is still a mystery.

After leaving Wireman Shoals the river goes through another period of swirls and ebbies, but none of these were ever named. It is in this area that Bub Burton, Duke McKenzie, Claude Hunter and many others were know to have fished these waters. Recently Zenith Goble and Frank Buskirk have been seen running their trot lines in this area.

As the river approaches the Auxier Bridge it again becomes swift and, as it goes around the curve below Lloyd Wells= home, it again become a series of rapids. These rapids are know as the Hager Shoals. These Shoals were named for James Hager who lived near them. The Hager home was at the bottom of the hill at the mouth of a small stream. A road followed the stream to a gap in the hill. The gap was named AHager Gap@.

Near the head of Hager Shoals, a ford in the river was constructed. The ford allowed wagons that came from Johns Creek and other areas on the east side of the river to have access to the Auxier Coal Camp. This was the main crossing for vehicles until the swinging bridge was built in 1928.

As the rapids leveled in Hager Shoals, a swirl was formed at the end of the shoals. This swirl was simple known as the Swirl Hole. This hole was very deep on the east side of the river and was a great swimming hole. In the summer time, every kid in Crawdad Bottom would take advantage of this swimming hole. In the summer time, you would always find Grover (Doughbury) Newberry, Jimmy Little, Johnny Little, Paul Randall Wells, Herbert Wells, Kenny Wells, Willard AChick@ McKenzie, Walter Dean McKenzie and many others, including myself, in this water hole.

Just below the Swirl Hole, the river created a large sand bar. In late summer this sand bar became a favorite place to play roundtown. It was also used for a place to hold the coal which we would find in the sandy water, and throw it out on the sand bar to be picked up later in our boat.

The river formed a small deep hole in the area about 200 yards below the large sand bar. This hole was named the Green Hole because the water always looked green in the summer time. This hole was a good fishing hole as well as a favorite place to swim. Many boys in Crawdad Bottom, including myself, learned to swim in the Green Hole.

On land just behind the Green Hole was the old location of the Cedar Grove School. This school served the area until 1913. It was closed when a new school was built in Auxier. The school building washed off in the ice tide of 1919. For many years the rock from the school building=s foundation could be found in the area. A big walnut tree was also in the vicinity.

Cedar Grove was locate about 500 feet from the mouth of Jim Ward Branch. This branch is now known as Auxier Heights. In the old days, a wagon road went up Jim Ward Branch and crossed the hill into Johns Creek through a gap. The Gap was named Jim Delong Gap. Both Jim Ward Branch and Jim Delong Gap were named for these two men who lived in the area.

The next hollow down river from Cedar Grove was Osborne Branch. This hollow was renamed Jockey Hollow when the Northeast Coal Company came to the area. Jockey Hollow was the location of the first mine opening by the company. The opening, known as number 6, was the key to all of the Northeast Coal Company=s operations. All coal mined by this company came through the number 6 tunnel.

Near the mouth of Johns Creek is a hollow known as Oil Well Hollow. This hollow got it=s name because of an early well dug there by the Piney Oil Company. It is rumored that the new Paintsville sewage treatment plant will be located in or near Oil Well Hollow.

Just below the mouth of Johns Creek is a large bottom of land. The first two families to settle on Big Sandy settled in the blockhouse called Harman Station which was located in the large bottom. These two families were the families of Samuel Auxier and Matthias Harman. Harman later moved on up the valley leaving Harman Station to the Auxiers. The bottom became known as Blockhouse Bottom.

Cherry Tree Branch was the original name for the area that later became known as Shotgun Hollow. This branch empties into the drainage that travels along the road through Crawdad Bottom. It empties into the Big Sandy River in lower Crawdad Bottom. Most people still call the branch Shotgun Hollow, but the official name for the street through Shotgun Hollow is Spradlin Street.

Hunter Branch was the original name for the hollow now know as Mary Luck. When J.C.B. Auxier and a group of men started a coal company in 1910 to mine the coal belonging to the Auxier Coal Company, he named the company Mary Luck for his granddaughter. The coal company dominated the Hunter Branch area, and in time the branch became known as Mary Luck Hollow.

When the Mary Luck Mine was about to be closed, a new company was formed to mine the coal on the Lee Hall farm. This company, the Miller=s Creek Colliery, leased the Mary Luck ACoal Company tipple, and constructed a bucket system across the river to the tipple. The Miller=s Creek Colliery built a hotel to house its workers in the big bottom where John Bays Junior now lives. The area was called Monkey Wrench at the time. How it got this name is beyond my knowledge.

The Mary Luck Coal Company=s tipple was located at the mouth of Hunter Branch, and only a couple hundred feet down river from the OX cabin. OX Cabin belonged to the C and O Railroad. Its main purpose was to store equipment, and for the man who took care of the railroad switch. At this site, the two tracks merged into one, and someone had to he responsible for opening and closing the switch.

The Big Rocks, Sugar Bowl Cave and the Love Tunnel are locate on the old Auxier Coal Company property (which I know own). The Big Rocks are at the top of the hill opposite the Highlands Hospital. These rocks have been a favorite place for camping, and were a favorite place to visit when I was growing up in Crawdad Bottom.

Sugar Bowl Cave and the Love Tunnel were near each other. They are located up river from OX Cabin, and approximately 20 feet from the C and O right-of-way. Sugar Bowl Cave was a favorite place to visit when I was young. We played release in the area around the cave. Sometimes some of the older boys would do down into what we called the Love Tunnel, which was really a slit between the rocks that led deeper into the hill. Some of these boys told of seeing mining equipment deep inside the tunnel. I was never deep enough into the Love Tunnel to see this equipment, but it is very possible. The Mary Luck Coal Company left some equipment in the mine when it caught fire, and had to be closed.

During the Great Depression years, Sugar Bowl Cave was a favorite haven for hobos. Trains were constantly stopping below OX Cabin to allow other trains to get off the one way route from Prestonsburg. The hobos were able to get in the cave to build fires, and to be safe from the weather while they waited for the next train. As times got better in the early 1940's hobos ceased to be a problem at the cave.

The table rocks are located near the top of the hill about half way between Hager Gap and Jim Delong Gap. This rock formation is not clearly visible until you get near it. While I was a young boy, the Goble family=s annual picnic was held in this area more than once. It has been so long since I was at this site, that it is hard to remember much about it.

Most of us know where Ford=s Gap is located, but how many know where Pine Ridge is? Pine Ridge was the name of the area from Ford=s Gap out to the Bill Ford home place. In earlier days, this area was a favorite place for men to meet to play cards and drink. It was also a good place for young boys to camp out. In the 1940's and early 1950's there was only one house on Pine Ridge, the Bill Ford home place. It was the one place where men could gather and not be a problem to their neighbors. Needless to say it was a popular place.

The croquet diamond was once a very popular place in Auxier. It was located on a small knoll in the middle of what is now Wells Addition. Auxier had many skilled croquet players , and teams from Paintsville and other places came to Auxier to play. Doctor Earnest Archer, and his friends from Paintsville were regular visitors to Auxier to play croquet.

As baseball became popular in Auxier, croquet became less of an attraction. Eventually the croquet diamond became neglected. When a Boy Scout troop was formed in the community, the Northeast Coal Company built a scout cabin on the site of the croquet diamond. The scout troop was disbanded in the late 1940s after the company left town.

All of these place names have played a part in the history of Auxier, and I am sure many of our readers can remember some or all of them with fonds memories. Published March 1999, The Trestle, Auxier Historical Society