Galinipper; A crick ever kid oughta know.

[Sinker]

Galinipper; just a little creek. Dry years it'd stop runnin an I've heard that it went dry in the thirties. When I was a kid (an I was), it was fishin hole, swimmin hole, hideout, woods. It ran thru some good farming land, and hardwood timber, longside bluffs and hillsides. Playgrounds fer kids, stompin grounds fer young fisherman and hunter, still an overlooked refuge to just be quiet. Caught the first fish I remember out of a "deep" hole; ever bit of 4 ft. Bullhead, bouta pound. Back then we ate all them little fellers, be they bullhead, bluegill, or perch, which was anything but bluegill or carp an had scales! I thought a bass was just a perch that didnt eat too good or taste as good as some! Probly cawt enuff little fish ta fill a pickup, and picked up enuff ticks an chiggers to fill a train! Back then ever kid waited til fall ta grow th skin back on his ankles; he just naturally wore scabs from bites all summer! Several other little cricks an 'branches' ran inta Galinipper, and most all this paradise was my "Assumed Jurisdiction". There's very little of that neck o'th'woods ain't got my footprints several layers deep. Weren't hardly any deer in this country then. I remember Dad runnin in th house an comin out with th 22 to get whatever had scared the cattle; they had run bawlin ta th house all spooked. Finally a doe stepped inta sight, first I ever saw an didn see another one fer bout 12 years. Now they thicker'n rabbits was back then. Lotsa squirrels an quail, groundhogs, coons an possums.
I could ramble quite a spell on it, but it'd still end up th same way. Town put inna sewer an th sewer overflow has been processed safe.......but it ain't th same as it was. The whole creek where I used ta briggle around is now a green slimy mess. It still got some fish, but not like back then, an I wouldn be wantin ta eat none. Mebbe I'll talk about't again sometime.

[chefjim]

Sounds like paradise to me. When I was growing up, I lived in a big city, but I still managed to find the little creeks and such around the edges. My big game consisted of salamanders, frogs, garter snakes, and anything else I could fit in a jar or in one of my pockets. I guess I always belonged in the country. It just took forty years for me to figure it out......

[WVsnowflake]

I would love to hear more about your younger days, I love to hear about other places and times.

Me, well I was born in the city( Baltimore) and dad being the good father he is didn't want his daughter growing up that way so at the age of 8 we moved back to the hills & hollers of WV. We had plenty of creeks, hollers and rivers to investigate. There is a cave on our mountain that my dad used to take us to for picknicks, To me it seemed a really long way back there. Once we got there we managed to squeeze into the cave and there on the wall (faded) but still there was my dad's name , all my uncles plus every other lil boy who lived in our holler in the 50's. Below dad's name he wrote mine & my sisters name. I was about 11 at the time. Now that I sit and think back on those times, My dad would have been about 11 or 12 when him & his "gang" found the cave and went back there to play by themselves. I can't imagine any kids today doing that they would be terrified to be away from home. ( or too lazy to walk that distance) Dad said they would get up in the morning and if they didn't go out and play they would have to do chores all day so they never came home till supper time. I wish I had been born in that simpler time. even though the times would have been harder. Yea we clamored over the mountains, but didn't go as far away as dad, was always home for lunch, ( or mum would worry) But even tho I had room to run I always felt smothered and not free.... So when my boys were old enough to run I gave them their freedom ( and a walkie talkie ) that way they could go off and investigate. My youngest was happiest sitting beside the creek drowning worms. Since I was both momma & poppa I made sure weekends were spent fishing at the lake or at the river camping.

[Sinker]

Remember, these kids growin up now will someday look back at "NOW" an consider it their "simpler time"! I could die broke and homeless an still be satisfied, if when my grandkids look back, they can say "Remember when Grampa bilt th sled?" or some other sucha thing! It's up to each of us how these yunguns remember today. Why not take'm fishin?

[olhillbilly]

I grew up on Muddy creek. I didnt get to venture out to explore Galinipper till I was in my early teens an started runnin with the town kids. Galinipper provided small bluffs an yucky green water, since it was commin outta the town lagoon. I was bout ten years after Sinkers exploration of the uncharted waters. Little did we kids know it had already been charted before us. This stretch of Galinipper was close to town an didnt hold the varieties of fish that Muddy, held. But it did have bluffs.

Muddy creek had largemouth bass an bullheads an big green perch that I still prefer to this day, as far as scale fish go. And then it also had bluegills an other perchy type fish, as well.

Muddy is on one side of town an Galinipper on the other side. Water from yards flow into one or the other creeks. I used ta drink outta Muddy. But not Galinipper, cuz the town's poo ran into Galinipper. I wudnt drink outta either, today. Too much poo an not enuff water.

Thinkin I mite havta start a Muddy creek thread.

[Sinker]

I drank outa Galinipper before th lagoon was there, lotsa times. Never did take a canteen or water jug huntin back then. There are still springs on a couple of bluffs I'd drink from, but that ain't surface water. I would advise strongly against drinkin from Galinipper OR Muddy nowdays.