maple-strewn

Updated: July 19, 2026

The air was heavy with the odor of petroleum. All about us were the ugly, towering derricks of oil and natural gas wells Witten's Bottom on the right, with its abutting hills; the West Virginia woods across the river, and the maple-strewn island between, all covered with scaffolds. The country looks like a rumpled fox-and-geese board, with pegs stuck all over it.

Reuben Gold Thwaites - Afloat on the Ohio: An Historical Pilgrimage of a Thousand Miles in a Skiff, from Redstone to Cairo