ACE Adventure Blog

Great people having a great time
in the GREAT outdoors!

Hawk's Nest

What's The New River's Top Recorded Water Level?

Posted by: Rick in West Virginia, New River Gorge, Hawk's Nest, Fayette Station, ACE Adventure Resort on Mar 31, 2010

We may never know the New River's highest flows historically, but in March 1878, five years after the railroad was built, the New River rose to more than 53 feet near Fayette Station. Estimates made from flood marks on the canyon walls put the flow around 310,000 cubic feet per second.

OK, I did as much research as I can, and maybe somebody out there can help me, but I'm going to have to make some assumptions on this. The original Fayette Station Bridge was built in 1889, 11 years after this event. I can only assume that they would have built the bridge above this mark. The original Fayette Station river gauge on the bridge was put in place on July 19, 1895 (another 6 years later), which consisted of a wire suspended on the upstream side off a guard rail in the middle of the span.

Play With Kids

Posted by: Brandi in Jetboats, Hawk's Nest, Family Vacations on Mar 28, 2009

Get outside and play, even with small children!

With today's computer age creating gaming, texting, and social media monsters out of our younger generation, I take every possible opportunity to instill a love of the outdoors in my children. Nonetheless, finding something to do with a 2- and 5-year-old in a rural area can be hard. But if you are familiar with Southern West Virginia, you should have no problem! I put this list together for those mothers who, like me, can't take the kids whitewater rafting, but want to spend some quality time outdoors. I have great memories of these places and hope you enjoy them! Don't worry, there will be more - spring is just around the corner and I have some exploring to do!

1. Hawks Nest State Park/New River Jetboats
Hawks Nest sits on the rim of the New River Gorge...

Rafting the New River in the 1800s Part 2

Posted by: 0 in New River Gorge, Hawk's Nest, Bateau Boat on Mar 20, 2009

In my last post, I was talking about what a wild ride it must have been to go down the New River in the wooden bateau boats of centuries past. Here's a great anecdote that describes the experience:

In the summer of 1869, Collis P. Huntington (a C&O Railroad Executive) hired a bateau for $10 to take him and a group of railroad executives from Hinton to Hawk's Nest (now a West Virginia State Park) to oversee the proposed route for the planned railroad. Bateaus were used early on to survey the route and to supply the work crews building the railroad.

In 1870, John Dempsey, said to have been the most experienced boatman in the county, took his bateau with three young C&O engineers, trailing a small yawl (a 12' to 15' longboat, used by the engineers to cross and re-cross the river). Somewhere below Cotton Hill near the "narrow falls" (possibly Landslide Rapid), the three young engineers attempted, under protest, to follow Dempsey down the river in the yawl. Unfortunately, they capsized and drowned - thus ending the practice of using bateaus for the railroad.

With the completion of the C&O Railroad in 1873, a much safer and easier form of transportation, it marked the end of their use on the Lower New River. But bateaus were used on the Upper New River sections, the Greenbrier and Lower Gauley River until the 1920s.

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