[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 81 (Friday, June 19, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6658-S6659]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     HAPPY BIRTHDAY, WEST VIRGINIA

  Mr. BYRD. Mr. President, on June 20, 1863, in the midst of the great 
Civil War, in which father fought against son and brother fought 
against brother, a new star in the constellation that we see on that 
flag was born. It was the 35th star. The great State of West Virginia 
became a separate government. Its motto, quite appropriate, considering 
the history of its birth, is ``Montani semper liberi''--``Mountaineers 
are always free.'' And so I salute my State on its birthday, which will 
be on tomorrow, as I said; 1863-1998, 135 years, its 135th birthday. 
Happy Birthday, West Virginia!
  Mr. President, I invite my friends in the Senate to visit West 
Virginia. When I was in the State legislature, 52 years ago, we had 
only 4 miles of divided four-lane highways. Think of it--4 miles of 
divided four-lane highways in all of West Virginia, 52 years ago.
  Then commenting on that fact was Raul Tunley, writing in the Saturday 
Evening Post of February 6, 1960, when he said, with reference to West 
Virginia's highway system, that it was not to be compared with the 
highway systems of its neighboring States. His exact words were ``Its 
[highway system] is decades behind that of its neighbors.'' That was 
1960. I was in the Senate at that time, and those words were seared on 
my memory. ``Its highway system is decades behind that of its 
neighbors.''
  Well, Mr. President, come to West Virginia now. Many times I have 
stopped in hotels and motels in West Virginia. I have met travelers 
from other States, tourists who have come to West Virginia to see its 
majestic mountains, its viridescent hills and its iridescent sunsets, 
and they have commented to me, glowingly, upon our highways, the 
highways that we now have in West Virginia, the State which Raul Tunley 
disparagingly wrote about in 1960, saying that ``Its highway system is 
decades''--not years --``decades behind that of its neighbors.''
  Well, Mr. President, we in West Virginia welcome visitors from other 
States. I trust that Senators at one time or another will have traveled 
in West Virginia, and that they will have met its fine citizens and 
tested their hospitality and seen the beauties of nature, all of God's 
creation, in those mountains.
  I have visited over 800 of the 1,000 post offices in West Virginia. 
So I have had an opportunity to get up the hollows and visit up the 
creeks and over the hills and in the mountains. I have had an 
opportunity to see much of West Virginia by virtue of my travels.
  And interestingly, Mr. President, West Virginia's post offices, the 
names of communities and places in West Virginia, tell many stories. If 
you travel through West Virginia, you can go from Acme to Zenith, from 
Pax to War. You can sample Justice, Independence and Liberty without 
leaving your car, and you can drive in Harmony or Confidence, or, if 
traffic is bad, in Shock. You may even choose to settle in New Era or 
perhaps in Paradise. Maybe Friendly or Hometown is where you want to 
sink your roots.
  On the other hand, Odd may suit your fancy, if Looneyville, Pickle 
Street, Pinch, Droop, or Left Hand fail to meet your requirements. 
These are all place names in West Virginia--towns, cities, and small 
communities whose names still reflect the hopes and humors of those who 
settled my quirky but wonderful home state.
  Some of these new inhabitants clearly had been elsewhere, or perhaps 
had missed the homes they left behind, for the map of West Virginia 
reads like a world atlas. You can tour the sights of

[[Page S6659]]

Athens, Belgium, Cairo, Turkey, Ireland, London, Rangoon, Shanghai, 
Waterloo, Medina, Vienna, Congo, Glasgow, Ghent, and Genoa without a 
passport--without crossing more than a county line! You could even 
Tango in Montecarlo. You can see much of the United States as well, 
including Auburn, Augusta, Bismark, Cleveland, Miami, Dallas, Newark, 
Denver, Washington, and Wyoming. And if these big cities overwhelm you, 
the lower key attractions of Minnie, Little, or Peewee might be 
soothing, but if your dreams and fantasies are truly wondrous, then 
Cinderella--Cinderella, Cinderella--is the place for you.
  Some names are more evocative of the settlers' beautiful and wild new 
surroundings, such as Grassy Meadows, Green Valley, Clear Creek, 
Deepwater, Lake, Limestone, Shady Spring, Cold Stream, Coldwater, Three 
Forks, Falling Waters, and even Falling Rock. And speaking of Three 
Forks, West Virginia's schoolchildren are good in math. When I was a 
boy, we had the old spelling matches and the arithemetic matches on 
Friday afternoons. So we are good in math. So there is Onego, there is 
Two Run, there is Three Forks, there is Three Mile, Three Churches, 
there is Four Mile, Four States, Five Forks, and Six and even Hundred.

  Speaking of falling rock, in fact, rocks figure rather prominently in 
my state of old mountains. West Virginia communities include, simply, 
Rock, as well as Rock Camp, Rock Castle, Rock Cave, Rock Creek, Rock 
Oak, Rockport, Rockcliff, Rockford, Rock Gap, Rock Lick, Rock Valley, 
and Rock View, in addition to the more flavorful Salt Rock. And of 
course the trees and animals are not to be overlooked, trees and 
animals discovered by the settlers are also recorded on the maps--Apple 
Grove, Birch River, Oak Hill, Paw Paw, Piney View, Willow Island, 
Beaver, Bob White, Pidgeon, Buffalo, Panther, Wildcat, Deerwalk, Trout, 
Pike, Wolfcreek--Wolfcreek Hollow is where I spent my boyhood years--
Elk Garden, Crow, Duck, and of course, as was already mentioned, 
Turkey, West Virginia. I am proud to say that in West Virginia, sites 
as pristine and beautiful as those discovered over two centuries ago 
can still be savored by today's generations. I proudly offer the 
spectacular chasm of the New River Gorge, the monumental beauty of 
Seneca Rocks, the ecological rarity of Dolly Sods, the unique variety 
and interest of Canaan Valley, where, when I was minority leader, I 
took all of the democratic Senators there on a weekend for meetings. 
Sometimes these meetings are called retreats. I think I was the first 
Senate leader to take Members of the Senate to retreats and especially 
to the choice, unique retreat, sui generis, in Canaan Valley, WV.

  There are the scenic and historic virtues of Harpers Ferry at the 
confluence of two famous rivers--the gentle Shenandoah and the mighty 
Potomac. The Potomac River rises where? In the highlands of West 
Virginia. This is just a short list of West Virginia's many natural 
treasures.
  Of course, West Virginia and King Coal were once nearly synonymous, 
and the importance that mining played in the life and economy of early 
West Virginia is also evident in her place names. Alloy, Coalburg, Coal 
City, Coalfield, Coal Fork, Coal Mountain, Coalton, Coalwood, Coketon, 
Colliers, Lead Mine, Montcoal, Nitro, Petroleum, and Vulcan, West 
Virginia, all clearly pay homage to the valuable natural treasure that 
underlies West Virginia's beauty.
  Romance--Shakespeare--had he lived in a later time--may have been 
thinking of Romance, WV, when he wrote ``Romeo and Juliet.'' Romance 
has its place as well, both as a community and in the affection of the 
early settlers for their lady loves, enshrined in countless communities 
named after them, from Alice and Rachel and Sarah to Minnie and Dollie 
and Naoma, West Virginia. But some of the most interesting place names 
relate to the concern that our forebears had to pay to the weather and 
atmospheric conditions in those days before electricity, central 
heating, and air conditioning. Ah, what a world it was! West Virginia 
has towns named Cyclone, Hurricane, Mt. Storm, Skygusty, Tornado, Sun, 
Twilight, Snowflake, Frost, Mud, and Windy. Clearly, El Nino is not the 
only weather phenomenon to etch a name for itself in people's memories.
  If West Virginia had much to offer those who ventured into her steep 
mountains, followed her coursing streams in those early days, she has 
so, so much more to offer the world today. Instead of 4 miles of four-
lane, divided highways, as in 1947, she today has 900 miles of four-
lane, divided highways. In addition to her stunning good looks, this 
lady State of the mountains offers the brawn, the brain, and the 
talents of her hard-working and thoroughly modern populace.
  In towns and cities dotted with institutions of higher learning, West 
Virginia produces the intellectual firepower to combine with the fabled 
brute strength of her coal miners, her ``John Henrys'' of old. The 
transportation system, including the interstate highways and 
connectors, rail, air, and even river routes, is increasingly 
interconnected and modern. For those who do not wish to transport goods 
or to commute in traffic, West Virginia offers an extensive fiberoptic 
telecommunications network that allows today's cyber workers to combine 
high-technology jobs with an uncrowded pastoral setting--imagine that, 
an uncrowded pastoral setting; how majestic, how beautiful West 
Virginia seems--a low crime rate, and great family life.
  By this fall, West Virginia will even boast eight distance learning 
nodes, allowing her citizens to maintain and expand their high-
technology edge. In West Virginia, you can surf a standing river wave 
in a brightly colored kayak or surf the net through a computer modem.
  Well, Mr. President, may I say to my good friend from Nebraska, 
Senator Kerrey, I have spent my career in public service, and the 
underlying theme of that half-century of labor is one of nurturing the 
infrastructure that will allow the natural talents of West Virginia's 
people to flourish, providing the support and encouragement for West 
Virginians of all ages to come, come to West Virginia, come to seek a 
good education, and the necessary transportation links and other 
services to attract businesses to the State so that these skilled and 
devoted sons and daughters of the mountains might remain close to home.
  While my work has required that I spend much of my time away from the 
hills and hollows of my youth, I cherish every report of new businesses 
choosing to establish themselves in West Virginia and West Virginia 
companies adding jobs and products to their operations in the State. 
These reports mean that my dreams for West Virginia are coming true, 
that the dream of so many West Virginians to remain in West Virginia 
and to raise new generations of mountaineers is becoming a reality. I 
see that energy and optimism throughout the State as new opportunities, 
new roads, and new buildings rise alongside the gentle reminders of the 
great and historic legacy of West Virginia's earlier settlers. It is, 
after all, proof that Confidence and Paradise can still be found in 
West Virginia, not far from Prosperity in Raleigh County, WV.
  So, Saturday, June 20, is the 135th birthday of West Virginia's 
establishment as the 35th star in the constellation on our national 
flag. I know that God's blessings have shone down on her people, on her 
mountains, on her green hills, and on her green valleys, and that I 
have been blessed to be a part of securing for her a bright future.
  Happy birthday, West Virginia, and best wishes to you always! Montani 
semper liberi--mountaineers are always free! Mr. President, take that 
message to China: Mountaineers are always free.

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