The Last Deer

[Editor’s Note:  After hitting another deer on the road en route to work, I felt this story was a little relevant.]

As you travel the roads of upper Appalachia, whether they are the modern asphalt highways or the worn in dirt roads, it is hard not to see the constant presence of the whitetail deer. Signs dot the state routes warning of heavy deer crossing areas and a seemingly endless number of deer are seen throughout the area. It is almost unconceivable to think that for a century these silent beasts of the forest were nonexistent in the area.

When the French and British traders first began to explore the area of upper Appalachia they found many native wildlife species that soon became highly sought after trade goods. The pelts of beaver, fox, bear, panther, wolf, and deer became the driving force for western expansion and helped to put early America on the map as an invaluable source of commerce for the European markets. Moreover, the pelts were not all sent over the Atlantic, many were used bought and traded within the colonies, so much so that the deer pelt became interchangeable with forms of currency. The deer pelt was a very common and easily harvested fur to the point that the value of the skin was worth a dollar; therefore, since actual legal tender was in short supply on the frontier the hide of the deer was a common substitute as a form of currency. This is where the synonym of “a buck” came into being for the dollar.

The deer continued to be hunted and traded as western expansion crawled further and further west. As communities began to pop up along the ridges and valleys of the greater Ohio Valley the deer population began to decline as they were hunted as both a food source as well as a trade good.  By the 1830s a deer sighting became a rare event, as the forests were disappearing into cleared farmlands and the creatures were nearly hunted to the point of extinction.

In 1844, it became a historical fact that the last deer in Carroll County, Ohio was killed. James Ferrell a resident of Fox Township, in Carroll County and one of the original county commissioners was travelling the North Branch of Yellow Creek, when he spotted a deer. The deer was at a small salt lick and quickly spotted Ferrell. A chase then commenced and for three days a lengthy pursuit occurred crisscrossing the rough terrain of Northern Jefferson and Eastern Carroll counties. The chase ended by a well-placed rifle shot from Mr. Ferrell which dropped the weary beast, at which point a large feast was then held and the last of the native venison was savored by all of those in attendance.  

Deer in the area remained to be nonexistent for many decades to come.  Moreover, during the 1910s and 20s it was determined that deer no longer existed within the state of Ohio by the Ohio Division of Natural Resources.  This is further evidenced by a newspaper clipping from the Massillon Independent in 1926. In the article it describes how police were called to a Perry Township residence just west of Canton in Stark County, Ohio, to investigate “a horned beast, scaring the local citizens.” Upon further investigation that resulted in the death of the “beast” it was determined that the animal was in fact a buck that was believed to have travelled from deep in the mountains of Pennsylvania.

In years that followed the Stark County incident, deer slowly began to work their way back into the area. They began a slow steady growth in and around Ohio. By 1990, the deer population was estimated to be around 150,000 in the state of Ohio.  The current deer population is estimated to be close to 750,000 deer, where a reported 27,000 where killed on the roads by motorists and 261,000 deer were killed in Ohio by hunters with over 2000 killed in Carroll County.

It is hard to ever imagine a time without deer being a constant presence, and one can only imagine if you told James Ferrell that there would be so many deer roaming the area what his response would be.  However, although they create a lot of damage by way of vehicles and crop destruction they are still a mystical wonder of the woods that helped to establish this area in its pioneer days. Just as it hard to imagine what it would be like without deer around it is hard to imagine what this area would be like if we never had them.

Shelter from the Storm: History of Vance's Fort

As you travel the modern roads of today, and visit the cities, towns and villages dotting the hills and dales of upper Appalachia, it is hard to ever imagine the area as a vast wilderness laden with dangers lurking behind nearly every tree. This was an area forged by the sweat and blood of a unique breed of pioneer, those who could see the diamond in the rough of this land, knowing that when mined and polished it would bear the fruits of their labors for their families and the countless generations to follow. Moreover, in order to fire up their tireless forging of the wilderness the pioneers needed a hearth and smithy to commence the work, this is the story of that metaphorical place and man, and this is the history of Vance’s Fort.

In 1774, twenty four year old Joseph Vance made the daunting trek from Frederick County, Virginia across spine of the Appalachians to the western frontier. He followed the bloody trail that was cut into the wilderness by General Edward Braddock nearly twenty years before and came into the tiny outpost surrounding Fort Pitt. He then continued westward to an area of nearly uninhibited lands that his friend and fellow Virginian, George Washington, had told him laid nestled in the hills just east of the mighty Ohio River.

"Rich Flatts"
Cross Creek, Pennslvania (2011)

At the time this land was being claimed by both Virginia and Pennsylvania, and Joseph Vance made his land claim for the farm known as “Rich Flatts” in Augusta County, Virginia’s Land Office. Upon receiving his land grant, Joseph began to clear next to a spring creating the head of a small stream leading to Raccoon Creek.  Here Joseph erected a fortified blockhouse and planted a field of crops, as well as girdled a large amount of trees surrounding the area to quickly thin them out. Upon completion of this Joseph returned to Virginia and married his cousin Anne Vance, and returned to his new lands in the west.

However, while he was in Virginia, Joseph was convinced by his father, Major William Vance, and several other military minded men that Indian unrest called for more protection than a simple blockhouse, and if the strained bonds of affection between the colonies and Mother England were to sever war would break out. Furthermore, if war were to commence the British Empire would probably take a page out of their enemy’s book and align with the Indians to wage war on the western frontier. Thus with this knowledge, Joseph returned and began to erect a small fort surrounding his blockhouse. The fort was one of the strongest on the western frontier consisting of several cabins and blockhouses all surrounded by a stockade made of oak.