Deepwaterr in 1904 -- Bluefield

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PROPOSED NEW ROAD TAKING UP OPTIONS
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Why the Deepwater Cannot Afford to Pass Around Bluefield
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    That the Wabash, Deepwater, Tidewater, or whatever railway it may be that has engineers at work surveying a route from Widemouth to Oakvale, means business is evidenced by the fact that options secured some time ago are being taken up all along the route, and bona-fide payments being made on the property.  During the last few days representatives of the proposed railway have purchased right-of-way through the Oney farm [obviously where Oney Gap tunnel was later constructed], up East River from Oakvale, and have made a cash payment to bind the bargain.
    There is much speculation in the eastern end of the county [Mercer County] as to the route the new road will take.  It is certain that it will touch Oakvale, as a map already filed with the secretary of state at Charleston shows, and will run from there to the state line, where it is expected that it will form a junction with the proposed Tidewater railway, which will run from the state line to Norfolk or some other point on the Virginia seaboard.
    The residents of Ingleside were much elated Saturday by the appearance in that town of about twenty engineers, who stated that they had been employed by the Deepwater Company to take elevations, etc., and make plans of the most feasible route from Oakvale to Widemouth.  Gentlemen who talked with the engineers received the impression that the proposed road will follow the course of East River from Oakvale to Ingleside, and leaving the river there will run from Ingleside to Widemouth by way of Princeton, either passing directly through or running within less than a mile of the county seat [Princeton].
    The opinion which had obtained to some extent, that the road would come up the valley just south of this city, is discouraged by gentlemen who talked with the Deepwater engineers.  It is their belief, however, that the company will build a branch line into Bluefield.
    When it is considered that in the matter of ticket sales the monthly receipts at the Bluefield office are exceeded by only one other office on the entire Norfolk and Western system, it will be readily seen that no railroad could afford to run around this city if entrance into Bluefield were possible.
    It is a fact that only at Roanoke are the receipts from ticket sales more than at Bluefield, such large cities as Columbus, Norfolk, Petersburg and Lynchburg, falling considerably behind in this respect, while in at least one month during the past year the aggregate amount of money received from the sale of tickets at Bluefield exceeded even that taken in at Roanoke, and for that month Bluefield enjoyed the distinction of ranking first among all the stations along the Norfolk and Western as a producer of revenue from ticket sales.
    It is a further fact that more money is realized from the sale of mileage books at this point than at any other point in the road, without a single exception.
    Surely, the Deepwater railway will not ignore these facts.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
March 15, 1904

Gordon Hamilton
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