Balls Fork

Balls Fork is a stream that is mainly in Knott County, Kentucky in the United States.
It a fork of the Troublesome Creek tributary of the North Fork Kentucky River that it joins over the county line in Perry County.
It is long.

It is not known where its name comes from.
Unlike many other locations in Kentucky, there are no local families recorded with the surname Balls for whom it could have been named.

Tributaries and other locations

The mouth of Balls Fork is upstream on Troublesome at an altitude of .

* Its major tributaries are:
** Lick Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Georges Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Roaring Branch upstream at an altitude of
*** Elisha Fork upstream at an altitude of
** Big Branch upstream at an altitude of
*** Beech Creek upstream at an altitude of
*** Sand Lick Branch upstream at an altitude of
*** Road Branch upstream at an altitude of
*** Right Fork upstream at an altitude of
** Zach Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Rattlesnake Branch (also Cutoff Branch) upstream at an altitude of
** Laurel Creek upstream at an altitude of
** Hard Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Old Trace Branch (also John S. Combs Branch) upstream at an altitude of
** Old-house Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Trace Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Pond Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Knob Bottom Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Garden Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Sand Lick Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Stewart Fork (also Terry Fork) upstream at an altitude of
** Gearhart Branch (also Mill Branch) upstream at an altitude of
*** Conley Branch (also Little Branch) upstream at an altitude of
** Buck Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Wiley Branch upstream at an altitude of
*** Combs Fork upstream at an altitude of
**** Hurricane Branch upstream at an altitude of
*** Georges Branch upstream at an altitude of
** Bowling Fork upstream at an altitude of
** Long Fork upstream at an altitude of

General

The current Ary post office at the mouth of Balls Fork is actually on Troublesome Creek itself, as was the original site of the earlier Troublesome post office that served Balls Fork from 1882.

Balls Fork had six post offices in its history actually on the fork itself or its tributaries.
Three of them were refused the name Ball by the USPS because it had already been taken.

The Talcum post office, an attempted Ball, was established on 1903-02-25 by postmaster Levi Collins.
It was located at the mouth of Cutoff Branch.
After closing in February 1913 it was reëstablished by postmaster Mrs Ida Francis on 1917-04-21.
It moved along Balls Fork several times in its lifetime, ending up downstream from where it started.
It closed in 1994.

The Yellow Mountain post office was established on 1909-03-30 by husband and wife postmasters Reece F. and Louelzia Bolen.
It was on Mill Branch, upstream and named after the Yellow Mountain there.
It closed in 1951.

In 1918, Bud Dobson's mine was on a minor branch upstream on Balls itself.; and William Messer's upstream on Old Trace Branch.

Joseph Sutton's mine was on a minor fork of Trace Branch, upstream; John Ooten's on a minor branch of Pond Branch, upstream; Lewis Evans's upstream on Pond itself;
and Joseph Patten's Balls itself, upstream;

Richard Smith had a mine one on Wiley Branch, upstream; and John Smith one on Wiley Branch, upstream.

Grant Moore had a mine on Wiley Branch, upstream; and Solomon Sloane one upstream on Hurricane Branch.

William Stewart had a mine on Stewart Fork, upstream; and John Conley one on Conley Branch, upstream.

Georges Branch is across a ridge from the Coles Branch of Troublesome Creek.

Vest and the Grigsby family mines and post offices

A Balls Fork post office was on the Fork itself, upstream.
It was established on 1879-09-11 by postmaster William G. Grigsby, and closed in December 1881.
Although it would have been in Knott County today, it predated the creation of that county.

James M. Grigsby's mine was on Old House Branch, upstream.

The Vest post office, an attempted Ball, was established on 1886-01-31 by postmaster William Grigsby.
Anecdotally, although there is no record of such a person, it was named after a USPS official who validated the requirement for a post office.
It still exists today, and around it are a consolidated school, a store, and a crafts centre.

Combs family mines and post offices

The Bearville post office was established in 1952 by postmaster Lucinda Combs.
The name was a nickname of one of the members of a sprawling local family on Troublesome Creek and North Fork Kentucky River, one "Bear" Combs.
It was on Big Branch, upstream.
It closed in 1984.

Henry Combs's mine was upstream on Roaring Branch; J. S. Combs's was upstream on Hard Branch.

Triplett family mines and post offices

The Soft Shell post office, an attempted Ball, was established on 1926-05-04 by postmaster Sarah Triplett.
It was named for the local Soft Shell church, a subgroup of Regular Baptists that differentiated themselves from the Hard Shell Baptists, and located on the mouth of Wiley Branch.
It closed in 1983.

John L. Triplett had a mine one on Balls itself, upstream; and Thomas Triplett's land was farther up.

Richie/Ritchie family mines

Jason Richie had a mine on Beech Creek, upstream; Hiram Richie had one on a minor branch of a minor branch of Balls itself, upstream; and Peyton Richie one upstream on Balls.

Fugate family mines

In the Fugate family two brothers had mines on Georges Branch, and upstream; Daniel Fugate had a mine on a minor branch of Trace Branch, upstream; and Samuel Fugate had a mine upstream on Balls Fork itself.

Gearhart family mines

W. F. Gearheart had a mine on a minor branch of Laurel Creek, upstream; Lewis Gearhart one on Sand Lick Branch just over upstream past a spring; Elhannon Gearhart one on Balls itself, upstream; Martha Gearhart one on a minor fork of Balls, upstream; and Allen Gearhart one on Buck Branch, upstream.

Patrick family mines

Rachel Patrick's mine was on a minor fork of Sand Lick Branch, upstream. and James Patrick's was on a minor fork of Road Branch, upstream.

Terry family mines

Thomas Terry had a mine on Right Fork of Big Branch, upstream; Rebecca Terry one on a minor branch of Pond Branch, upstream; Bud Terry one on Pond itself, upstream; and Benjamin Terry one on a minor fork of Wiley Branch, upstream.

Bowling family mines

Green Bowling's two mines were on two minor forks of Balls, one upstream and the other upstream.
William Bowling's mine was upstream on Buck Branch.

See also

*List of rivers of Kentucky

Cross-reference

Sources

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Further reading

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{{coord, 37.3794, -83.1477, format=dms, type:river_region:US-KY, display=title

Rivers of Kentucky
Rivers of Perry County, Kentucky
Rivers of Knott County, Kentucky
Coal towns in Kentucky