Tale of the Elk

Tale of the Elk is a classic history of one man's love affair with the Elk River. Historian Ken Sullivan calls the book "West Virginia's answer to Norman MacLean's A River Runs Through It." Bill Byrne was an attorney who "practiced law in Charleston when he had to, and fished the Elk when he could." He traveled up and down the Elk - which in that day ran free and undammed to Pocahontas County - and made friends every inch of the way. Byrne tells the stories of his native friends who lived along the Elk River. He also tell the tales of some prominent West Virginians of the era, many of whom were his fishing buddies. According to Sullivan, you may learn more about this period of West Virginia from these words, overheard in camp and canoe, than from most history books.