CABELL.
Cabell was created in 1809, from Kanawha, and named from
Wm. H. Cabell, Gov. of Va., from 1805 to 1808. It is 35 miles
long, with a mean breadth of 20 miles. A considerable portion of
the county is wild and uncultivated, and somewhat broken. The
river bottoms are fertile, and settled upon. Pop. 1830, 5,884; 1840,
whites 7,574, slaves 567, free colored 22; total, 8,163. Barboursville,
the county-seat, lies on the Guyandotte river, 7 1-2 miles from
its mouth, and 352 miles WNW. of Richmond. The turnpike, leading
from the eastern part of the state, by the great watering-place,
to the Kentucky line, passes through this village, which contains
about 30 dwellings. Guyandotte lies on the Ohio, at the mouth of
the Guyandotte River. It is much the most important point of
steamboat embarkation, as well as debarkation, in western Virginia,
with the exception of Wheeling. It is a flourishing village,
containing 1 church, 6 or 8 stores, a steam saw-mill, and a population
of about 800.
Cabell county was settled at a comparatively late period.
Thomas Hannon was one of the earliest settlers, having removed,
in 1796, from Botetourt county to Green Bottom, about 18 miles
above Guyandotte, when the first permanent settlement was made.
Soon after Guyandotte was settled, at which place Thomas Buffington
was one of the earliest settlers.
A portion of the beautiful flatland of what is called Green Bottom,
lying partly in this and Mason county, a few years since, before
the plough of civilization had disturbed the soil, presented one
of those vestiges of a city which are met with in central America,
and occasionally in the southern and western forests of the United
States. The traces of a regular, compact, and populous city with
streets running parallel with the Ohio River, and crossing and intersecting
each other at right angles, covering a space of nearly
half a mile, as well as the superficial dimensions of many of the
houses, are apparent, and well defined. Axes and saws of an
unique form—the former of iron, the latter of copper—as well as
other implements of the mechanic arts, have been found. These
remains betoken a state of comparative civilization, attained by
no race of the aborigines of this country now known to have existed.
Who they were, or whence they sprung, tradition has lost in
the long lapse of ages. It is a singular fact, that these remains are
rarely, if ever, found elsewhere than upon the river bottoms, or flat
level lands.
