N&W in 1903 -- Narrows Branch

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SURVEYING FOR RAILROAD UP WOLF CREEK
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    Capt. W. L. Umberger [?? blurred; best estimate], the civil engineer in charge of the surveyors at work on Wolf Creek, running a line up that watercourse from Narrows to Saltville was in the city yesterday.  He said the construction of the road is practically assured.  This road will open up a section of Virginia rich in material resources.  In the territory there are many thousands of acres of fine timber, much of it hardwood, iron ore and coal and other minerals are found in large quantities.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
May 21, 1903

[This line was built as the standard-gauge New River, Holston and Western Railroad Co., and it had been extended in stages  from its connection with the N&W at Narrows, VA, to Rocky Gap, VA, 20.6 miles, when the N&W acquired the company in December 1912.  But, it continued to operate as the NRH&W, and was extended 14 miles to Suiter, VA. in 1914.  A 1915 schedule shows a passenger train each way the full length of the line.  On June 1, 1919, the NRH&W became the N&W's Narrows Branch, but it never reached Saltville.  In 1942 the 4.13 miles between Suiter and Bastian was abandoned, and in 1946 the remainder of the branch was abandoned.  I remember reading long ago that the principal argument of the protesters at the abandonment hearing was that the abandonment of the railroad would deprive the local governments of the tax revenue from the railroad that was needed to pay for the paved road that put the railroad out of business! ]

Gordon Hamilton
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