N&W in 1910--The C&O in Bluefield

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Editorial
August 17, 1910

GO AFTER THE CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO
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    The Roanoke World learns that the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway is planning an entrance into Roanoke, Va., from Eagle Rock and that already rights of way has [sic] been purchased for such a route to Roanoke.  The building of the line would be of a decided advantage to Roanoke and there is no reason why the road could not extend to this city if the business men of the section would study the question properly and submit it to the Chesapeake and Ohio officials.  The road could be built from Roanoke to Radford, and from that town to this city could build a road which would be twenty miles shorter than the Norfolk and Western route.  The route would take the road through Bland county, where it could touch the tremendously wealthy Wolf Creek section, as well as the coal, iron and other minerals of that region.  From Bland it could come to this city through the East River mountain, the only tunnel it would be necessary to build, and from here it could go out through Graham to a point on the Clinch Valley where another tunnel would give it a chance to get into the coal lands of Buchanan county, from where it would easily connect up with the present Big Sandy branch, from which branch it is claimed that road is trying to get entrance to the coal of Buchanan county.
    Bluefield lost the Virginian by not keeping awake.  Will it now lose a chance at least to find out whether it would be possible to interest the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway, which could do the section even more good than the Virginian, as the Chesapeake and Ohio has western connections which give it a direct line to Chicago, as well as other far western connections?  With the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Norfolk and Western it would be an easy matter to force other roads to look favorably on this section with the result that Bluefield might see the future in which the wonderful natural resources of the section entitle it.
    A great many local people who read this will say it is another dream, but it is imagination backed up by hard work which has made every prosperous region in this or any other country.  It was a dream of a great future with religious freedom that made it possible for the Pilgrims to land on Plymouth Rock and make America what it is today.  It was a dream of a new and cheaper way to reach the wealth of the Indies which made it possible for Columbus to discover America, and it was the dream of wealth that put ?? [indistinct on microfilm] and big men at hard work to find gold at Panama.
    Nothing is impossible, as the Frenchman says, although it may be improbable.  Any engineer can prove by simple figures and a geological map that the Chesapeake and Ohio can build a line from Roanoke to connect up with its Big Sandy district in Kentucky cheaper than the present Norfolk and Western was built and the tonnage which would originate along such a line would be only limited by the road's ability to take care of it.
    Three years ago Major Page, who was at that time president of the Virginian Railway, stated to a Telegraph representative that the reasons why the Virginian did not come to this city was because the officials thought Bluefield was married to the Norfolk and Western.  This may be true enough, but if the Norfolk and Western stands in the way of progress in this city then we should divorce the Norfolk and Western on the grounds of incompatibility and allow the Chesapeake and Ohio to pay the alimony by building a line through Bluefield.
    Such a line can never be built if the Norfolk and Western is to be asked for advice, but must be secured by the men who are interested in the growth of the city to such as extent that they will be willing to make a try for the Chesapeake and Ohio.  It may be claimed that the Norfolk and Western can make it hard for shippers who take such a step, but the Norfolk and Western will not do so, and if it should there are always ways to secure relief.
    If the Chesapeake and Ohio plans a trip to Roanoke and one into Buchanan county, these two branches can be joined in Bluefield, which would be the only place for a division point.
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Gordon Hamilton
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