BUTLER TOWNSHIP — The Kokosing River winds far below a high bank dotted with hemlock trees and huge, moss-covered boulders into which people have carved their names. Nearby is the site of the long-gone town of Zuck, and above that is a steep hill, on private property, that is 1,120 feet high above sea level.
Standing on a huge rock, visitors can look down at the bend in the river 30 feet below, an impressive vista. The fast-moving water makes soothing sounds as it rolls by. The muddy bank is indented with the many tracks of deer and other critters.
The hills are high in this part of southeastern Knox County, and just beginning to turn a mid-April green. Yellow wildflowers line dusty Zuck Road. The population is sparse, with plenty of room between the houses. But even in the 19th century, Butler Township wasn’t heavily populated.
It is farming country. The floodplain that is loosely bounded by Zuck Road, Staats Road and the river and that lies between tall hills is wide, and mostly planted in crops, or soon will be. The top of the 1,120-foot hill is flat enough that it, too, is being farmed.
Zuck, also once called Green Valley, was officially named in 1880 when a post office was founded there. The town was named for Stephen Zuck, who co-owned the local gristmill and sawmill. In its heyday, Zuck also had a general store, but the town never quite thrived and the post office was discontinued in 1903.
Most of Zuck’s buildings, barns and houses were swept downstream and destroyed during the flood of 1913, the largest in the county’s history. Zuck Road was under 5 feet of water. A few days later, residents voted to abandon the town and today, nothing remains of it except memories. But the quiet river valley still lays flat and open, surrounded by towering hills, like a flat-bottomed bowl carved by nature and time.
