Red Bird River

Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Template other The Red Bird River (a.k.a. Red Bird CreekTemplate:Sfn or Redbird CreekTemplate:Sfn) is one of two tributaries at the head of the South Fork Kentucky River, the other being the Goose Creek.Template:Sfn It is located in the Daniel Boone National Forest, in the southeast of the U.S. state of Kentucky.Template:Sfn It is long and drains the eastern half of Clay County.Template:Sfn

Hydrology and basin

At its mouth, the Red Bird River's mean annual discharge is .Template:Sfn It drains an area of . Its overall gradient is .Template:Sfn

Tributaries and other locations

The headwaters of Red Bird River are in north-eastern Bell County, separated from the rest of that county by the Kentucky Ridge.Template:Sfn It constitutes the county line between Clay and Leslie Counties for a reach.Template:Sfn Kentucky Route 66 follows the course of the River from Oneida to the Clay–Bell County line.Template:Sfn Template:Tree list

• Its major tributaries include:
  • Bear Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at , whose further tributaries and locations are in its own article
  • Banks Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Sam Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Dry Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Hector Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Ben Branch upstream at altitude Template:Sfn
    • a right branch upstream at altitude Template:Sfn
    • a left branch upstreamTemplate:Sfn
    • a left branch upstreamTemplate:Sfn
    • a left drain upstream at altitude Template:Sfn
  • Jacks Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Dave Bowling Branch (a.k.a. Spurlock Branch) upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
      • Right Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Copes Branch upstream at altitude Template:Sfn
  • Big Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at , whose further tributaries and locations are in its own article
  • Elk Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Town Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Left Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Little Double Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Big Double Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at right and left forks at
    • Right Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn headwaters at
    • Left Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn headwaters at
      • upper forks upstream,Template:Sfn
  • Sugar Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Bond Hollow upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
    • Spruce Pine Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
    • Masters Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
    • Sulphur Spring Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
  • Gilbert Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Bowling Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
  • Little Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Right Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
    • Left Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
  • Elisha Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at
    • Left Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Middle Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Right Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Flat Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn long and which rises in the Sand Hills,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Little Flat Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Panther Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Left Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Bowen Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Daniel Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Brushy Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Spring Creek,Template:Sfn long and rising in the Sand Hills east of the Brightshade post office on Goose Creek,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Cane Knob Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
    • Right Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn headwaters at
    • Left Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn headwaters at
  • Rich Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Katy's Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Left Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
  • Jacks Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at upper forks at
    • Old-House Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Left Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn headwaters at
      • Oakley Cave Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • Right Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn headwaters at
      • Jesse Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Bear Creek upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at upper forks at
  • Whitehead Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
  • Phillips Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn long with a gradient of ;Template:Sfn mouth just south of QueendaleTemplate:Sfn at headwaters at . Flowing generally north-east, it varies in width between to .Template:Sfn
    • Saw-Pit Branch (a.k.a. Steel Trap Branch) upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
    • Pups Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • East Hilton Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
    • Sandy Fork longTemplate:Sfn
  • Blue-Hole Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
    • Bear Wallow upstream,Template:Sfn
    • the forks upstream,Template:Sfn
  • Lick Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
    • the forks upstream,Template:Sfn
  • Rich Branch upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at
  • Meadow Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn
  • Cow Fork upstream at altitude ,Template:Sfn mouth at headwaters at

Template:Tree list/end The two Bear Creek tributaries are sometimes distinguished as Lower Bear Creek and Upper Bear Creek.Template:Sfn The two Jack's Creek tributaries are likewise sometimes distinguished as Lower Jack's Creek and Upper Jack's Creek.Template:Sfn Similarly, on some modern maps a distinction is drawn between Red Bird Creek, which is the reach upstream of the confluence with Phillips Fork, and Red Bird River, which is the reach downstream;Template:Sfn although the KGS Fourth Report in 1918 made no such distinction and simply named whole thing Redbird Creek.Template:Sfn

The meeting point of Clay, Bell, and Leslie counties is just east of Sandy Fork.Template:Sfn

Hector Creek, Jack's Creek, the Red Bird post offices, Beverly, Nuckles, and the Red Bird school

Red Bird was the name of a Native American who was murdered near the river, according to a 19th-century tale that traces back at least to an early settler and preacher named John Gilbert.Template:SfnTemplate:SfnTemplate:Sfn The story goes that a Chief Red Bird with his housekeeper Jack were murdered just upstream of the creek mouth of Hector Creek,Template:Sfn at the former site of the Red Bird River Petroglyphs. Jack's Creek (the Lower one) is named after the Jack in the tale.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Gilbert, or his son Abijah, is also credited in a similar story with coining the name of Hector Creek, naming it after his hunting dog that was killed by a bear on its banks.Template:Sfn

Local schoolteacher and minister John Jay Dickey recorded the Gilberts's tales in his diary in the 1890s.Template:Sfn Chief Red Bird and Jack are not recorded in any history books at all from the early 19th century,Template:Sfn only being recorded by Dickey as aforementioned and by Richard Collins (revising his father Lewis's earlier work) in the 1870s;Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn however there were two Red Bird post offices and several other things named after (at least) the river and the two creeks.

The first Red Bird post office is largely a mystery.Template:Sfn It is known to have operated from 1828 to 1831, but its location and postmaster are unknown, and its location only narrowed down as far as being either on Red Bird Creek next to the mouth of Big Creek or somewhere on Big Creek.Template:Sfn

The second Red Bird post office in Bell County was established on 1876-10-24 by postmaster Richard Wilkerson Asher.Template:Sfn It was located at the mouth of Cow Creek and remained there as it passed through the hands of successive family members.Template:Sfn When R. W. Asher died in 1884 it passed to his daughter Amanda "Mandy" Jane, who married one William R. "Bill" Knuckles.Template:Sfn She attempted to rename the post office Knuckles, but she misspelled it as Nuckles on the USPS forms.Template:Sfn She in turn died in 1890, the postmastership passing to her husband, who in his turn died in 1910 with their son John Beverly Knuckles taking over the postmastership.Template:Sfn The USPS requested a change of name in August 1911, and the post office finally became Beverly.Template:Sfn John was replaced by his wife Myrtle as postmaster on 1913-12-22.Template:Sfn

In the latter part of the 20th century the Beverly post office moved to the mouth of the Lawson Branch of Lawson Creek, some away.Template:Sfn It is still open as of the 21st century.Template:Sfn

R. W. Asher was a storekeeper and a preacher, and in his time the post office served a small area with a corn mill, a school, and a church.Template:Sfn Bill Knuckles was also a storekeeper, and also a lawyer.Template:Sfn John Beverly Knuckles and Millard F. Knuckles were landowners, who in 1921 offered their land to build a school and hospital.Template:Sfn

This was to become the Red Bird Mission and Settlement School, built by the Women's Missionary Society of the Evangelical Church of Pennsylvania.Template:Sfn It has operated a sales outlet for local craftspeople, a community store, several schools, fifteen churches across five counties, a hospital, and a clinic.Template:Sfn

The Jacks Creek post office was established on 1932-02-26 by postmaster Marion Hensley.Template:Sfn It closed in June 1954.Template:Sfn

The Burns post office was established on 1892-06-20 by postmaster Harriet Burns.Template:Sfn She had wanted the names Burns Store, Hector, or Hayes (after a local family).Template:Sfn It was located upstream on Hector Creek, and closed in August 1893.Template:Sfn

The Hector post office was established on 1900-12-28 by postmaster Arazona Davidson.Template:Sfn It was originally upstream on Hector Creek, but was moved in 1924 by postmaster Jane L. Chadwell to the mouth of a left branch of Hector now known as Davidson Branch and earlier known as Jim Hubbard's Branch, close to where Burns had been years before.Template:Sfn It closed in 1977.Template:Sfn

A gap named Hector Gap connects the headwaters of Hector Creek to the Lockhart Creek tributary of Goose Creek.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Kentucky Route 149 crosses that gap and follows Hector Creek for the whole of its course, the Daniel Boone Parkway also following the creek for most of it.Template:Sfn

Eriline

The Eriline post office was established on 1902-12-09 and lasted until 1988, with a 32-year hiatus from 1911.Template:Sfn It was supposed to be named after Eveline (some sources spell as Evaline) Britton (1861–1939), wife of Van Britton (1855–1911) its first postmaster, but the clerks at the USPS could not read the handwriting on the application form, naming it Eriline instead, and the Brittons did not consider it important enough to make a fuss about the name.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

It was originally established at the Brittons's home at the mouth of Hector Creek, but moved three times.Template:Sfn The first move was to the east side of the Red Bird River, south of the mouth of Big Creek, which was the result of its reëstablishment after the hiatus on 1943-08-29 by George C. Hensley.Template:Sfn The second move was back north in 1944 by Mary W. Bowling to the west of the Red Bird, from the then Jacks Creek post office.Template:Sfn The third move took it upriver in 1949, and at its closure in 1988 it was still on the west side of the Red Bird, at the junction of Kentucky Route 66 and Jacks Creek Road.Template:Sfn

Spring Creek

The Spring Creek post office was established on 1876-07-10 by postmaster Jesse Mattingly.Template:Sfn It was located at several sites on Spring Creek at or just upstream of the creek mouth.Template:Sfn After closing on 1884-05-08 it was reëstablished at the mouth of Flat Creek by on 1885-01-16 by postmaster Christopher Bowling.Template:Sfn After later moving back to Spring Creek, it closed in October 1944.Template:Sfn

Marcum

The Marcum post office was established on 1908-03-11 by postmaster Henry B. Marcum Jr.Template:Sfn It was named after his family, descendants of Henry's grandfather Thomas Marcum who was an early settler on Red Bird some time around 1812.Template:Sfn It was originally located just below and across from the mouth of Sugar Creek.Template:Sfn Some time before 1928 it moved upstream by to across from the mouth of Gilbert Creek.Template:Sfn It closed in June 1984.Template:Sfn

Antepast

The Antepast post office was established on 1910-01-20 by postmaster Wilson T. Martin.Template:Sfn It was originally located on Red Bird downstream of the mouth of (Lower) Beaar Creek, and moved further downstream in November 1932 under postmaster Howell T. Bowling.Template:Sfn It was here, some upstream of Oneida, that it closed in November 1936.Template:Sfn

There are several competing hypotheses recorded for the origin of its name.Template:Sfn Clay County historian Jess D. Wilson, in his book When They Hanged The Fiddler, gives the most directly sourced: a story from his own family lore about the local preacher waiting for "Andy's passing" in the middle of church services, as Wilson's great-grandfather Andy Baker would drunkenly and noisily pass by.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Another account, supported by George R. Stewart's American Given Names dictionary, states that it was after some person whose name in turn was taken from Biblical figure Herod Antipas, no such person being recorded in the area, however.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The third, and least likely, account, from George R. Stewart's American Place Names dictionary, is that it was named after antepasti.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Gardner serving Bringardner

The Gardner post office was established on 1931-05-31 and run by postmaster Ray Kevil Carter until August 1940.Template:Sfn It served the Gardner Station on the railroad for the Bringardner Lumber Company, owned by Fred Bringardner of Lexington.Template:Sfn The post office was at the mouth of Lick Fork.Template:Sfn

The Bringardner Lumber Company's railway operated out of what was at the time known as Asher's Fork, further upstream towards the Beverly post office.Template:Sfn Charles Bringardner, Fred's son, sales manager, and a later president of Bringardner Lumber, also later operated the Red Bird Lumber Company near to Marcum post office.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Charles was commissioned as a junior lieutenant in the United States Naval Reserve in World War 2, with M. R. McCorckle of McCorckle Lumber running Bringardner Lumber whilst he was away.Template:Sfn

Flat Creek and Creekville and Van Camp post offices

The Flat Creek post office was established on 1857-08-15 by postmaster Felix G. Gilbert.Template:Sfn It is not known exactly where it was located and it closed on 1861-09-06.Template:Sfn

The Van Camp post office was established on 1924-09-29 by postmaster Jable L. Stewart.Template:Sfn It was located upstream on Flat Creek at the mouth of its Rocky Fork.Template:Sfn Stewart's first choice of name had been Sand Hills after the creek's headwaters, but this was rejected by the USPS.Template:Sfn It closed in September 1938.Template:Sfn

The Creekville post office was established on 1928-09-01 by postmaster Bascom C. Bowling, one-time postmaster of the Annalee post office that was to become Peabody.Template:Sfn Bowling's first choice of name had been Flat Creek.Template:Sfn It was located at the Flat Creek mouth on Red Bird, and closed in 1972.Template:Sfn

Skidmore and Sandy Fork

The Skidmore post office was established on 1876-08-03 by postmaster J. D. Asher.Template:Sfn It was named after his successor Andrew C. Skidmore who took over from Asher on 1876-10-27.Template:Sfn It was in the store of Joasiah Asher, J. D. Asher being a local miller, at the mouth of Phillips Fork.Template:Sfn Postmaster James F. Asher moved it upstream to just away from the county line in 1902.Template:Sfn It closed in June 1913.Template:Sfn

The Sandy Fork post office was established on 1877-02-26 by postmaster J. R. Fairchild.Template:Sfn It was located at the mouth of the same-named Sandy Fork, and changed name to Sandyfork in March 1894.Template:Sfn It closed on 1911-09-30.Template:Sfn

Roark

The Roark post office was established on 1907-01-29 by postmasters John A. and Lucy F. Roark.Template:Sfn Located upstream on (Upper) Jack's Creek it has been operated by members of the Roark family, all descendants of early John Coke Roark from Roanoke, Virginia.Template:Sfn It is still there today.Template:Sfn

Asher family

A family named Asher settled in the Upper Red Bird Creek area in the 19th century,Template:Sfn descendents of early settler and local landowner in the Goose Creek and Red Bird valleys, Dillion Asher (1774–1844), who back in 1800 had lived in a minor tributary hollow just downstream of the Phillip's Fork.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He may or may not have been the first tollgate keeper at Cumberland Ford, the Asher family history saying that he was but Robert L. Kincaid in The Wilderness Road saying that it was rather one Robert Craig.Template:Sfn He definitely had a lean-to at the ford in 1797, but he moved to Upper Red Bird shortly afterwards.Template:Sfn He had passed through he area earlier in 1777, planting some peach seeds along the way, and he came back to see how they had fared.Template:Sfn He built a log home there in 1799, which still stands on the grounds of the Red Bird River Community Hospital of the United Brethren Church.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The Asher Fork post office and tributary of Goose Creek are named for the family.Template:Sfn As is the Asher post office on the Beech Fork of Middle Fork Kentucky River to the west.Template:Sfn

The family included the aforementioned Richard Wilkerson Asher, J. D. Asher, Josiah Asher, and James F. Asher.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Other Ashers were Matilda Asher, who lived on Saw-Pit Branch,Template:Sfn a Mrs Asher (forename unrecorded) who had a mine upstream on Phillips Fork,Template:Sfn and A. J. Asher who had a mine on Lick Fork.Template:Sfn

See also

• List of rivers of Kentucky

Sources

• (Template:Trim The coals of Goose Creek and its tributaries at the Internet Archive)
• (Template:Trim When They Hanged The Fiddler and Other Stories from "It Happened Here" at the Internet Archive)

External links

• University of Kentucky: Kentucky River Basin Report
• Daniel Boone National Forest: Red Bird Ranger District