Quicksand, Kentucky

Quicksand
Unincorporated community
Quicksand Location within the state of Kentucky Quicksand Quicksand (the United States)
Coordinates: 37°31′44″N 83°20′42″W
Country	United States
State	Kentucky
County	Breathitt
Elevation	810 ft (250 m)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	41363
GNIS feature ID	501479

Quicksand is an unincorporated community located in Breathitt County, Kentucky, United States. The community is along the North Fork of the Kentucky River, directly across the river from where Quicksand Creek flows into the river. Ever since it's inception, it has been known as "where the Back's live," a very prolific family who were the first settlers there, in 1791.

The community post office closed in 1996.

Topographic map of the Quicksand, Kentucky area

History

The first settlers were Joseph Back (1745-1819), his wife Elizabeth Hoffman-Maggard Back (1755-1826), and their four children: Joseph Back Jr. (1773-1802); John Back (1774-1853); Mary Back (1777-1807); and Henry Back (1785-1871). They migrated there, from Culpeper County, Virginia. Their son John Back (1774-1853) married Catherine Robertson and they continued the Back family in Quicksand; in 1836, John and his son Joseph bought 2,500 acres of land in Quicksand, for $2,000 in gold. That land extended, from Quicksand, up Quicksand Creek, on both sides of the creek, for eight miles. Two generations later, John's grandson, Miles Back (1853-1940) was said to own 20,000 acres there. His house was on the hill in Quicksand, overlooking the river. In 1908, Miles sold 15,000 acres to Fred Mowbray and Edward Robinson, who operated a lumber company in Cincinnati. They built a massive sawmill along the river at Quicksand, just down the hill from Miles Back's house; it was called "The Mowbray-Robinson Lumber Company." From about 1909 until about 1922, their lumber company cut down all of the old hardwood forests there. They sold the lumber to the Singer Sewing Machine Company, in South Bend Indiana, which manufactured wooden cabinets for their sewing machines. They made about 10,000 sewing machines a day. However, clear-cutting all those trees created an environmental disaster. In 1923, Fred Mowbray and Edward Robinson donated all of that devastated land to the University of Kentucky, forcing the college and the taxpayers to pay to replant the trees and attempt to fix all the damage. The university established the Robinson Substation there alongside the North Fork of the Kentucky River. They replanted some of the trees.