Iaeger and Southern

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
July 10, 1904

Tunnel Into Virginia and Then Tunnel Out

Iaeger-Southern Loop Extension Will Open Rich Coal Deposits

Rader Sinss, civil engineer, is now engaged in making a preliminary survey and located the route
for an extension of the Iaeger Southern Railway, one of the Norfolk and Western's numerous branch 
lines, from a point near Iaeger, in McDowell County, to the rich coal deposits back of Pocahontas in 
Tazewell County.

The proposed extension will enter Tazewell County by means of a tunnel, and in order to get into 
West Virginia another tunnel will be necessary.  The present plan, it is understood, is for the eastern end
of the road to connect with the main line of the Norfolk and Western  at a point in this county [Mercer], 
thus completing a loop.

A charter has been granted, it is learned, empowering the promoters to build the road, and it is not thought 
that any time will be lost in beginning the work of construction.  Nothing definite could be learned as to the 
probable cost of the new extension, nor as to when it is likely to be completed, but it is thought that the work 
will be let to contract in the near future. 

The Roanoke Times of yestrday says:
"The state corporation commission has just had under consideration a novel case, it being the application of 
the Iaeger and Southern Railway Company of West Virginia, for permission to build a loop from a point in 
McDowell County, West Virginia, in to the county of Tazewell, VA., and thence back into the state of West Virginia.  
The proposed loop  extension will be made into this state for a distance of from 1,700 to 1,800 feet, and this will 
be in a tunnel.  The road is a coal road controlled by the Norfolk and Western railway, President L.E. Johnson 
being at the head of both.  It will tunnel from the West Virginia line into this state and back into West Virginia, this 
being the most feasible route of reaching points it desires to reach.  The commission, in granting the application, 
requires the the railway company to file copies of its charter and to convey to some persons in this state power of 
attorney to represent it.  The proposed extension will enter Virginia at Low Gap, in Tazewell County. 

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Alex Schust

(Note:  There is not much in this article that makes sense other than the Iaeger and Southern wanted to build an extension which was probably down the Dry Fork to Berwind. If there was to be a loop it was probably to connect with an extension on Jacob's Fork.  At one time there was an idea to build a railroad into Virginia and then up Horsepen Creek to connect with N&W at Pocahontas.  Current Low Gap, VA is located near Jenkinjones, WV which is no where near the Iaeger and Southern. A Nov 16, 1904 article that I believe has been posted before talked about how the Dry Fork extension had been let to contract with the railroad entering Tazewell County and going to Pocahontas.  It was expected (by the newspaper) that the Dry Fork extension from Iaeger to Pocahontas would become the mainline and the route through Elkhorn would become a branch line.  However the coming of the Virginian spurred the N&W to upgrade its line from Bluefield to Iaeger and it remained the main line as the route from the Dry Fork extension was never built to Pocahontas.) 


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