Coaldale or Flat Top?

[NW Mailing List]

Jeff,

This is all assumptive

In reality it is probably Peeled Chestnut Mountain, but that name doesn't appear on any maps. Modern DeLorme maps list it as Coaldale Mtn, but maps from 1898, 1902 and 1918 don't provide any mountain names at all. They provide the names of ridges, gaps and streams. All of the maps from the period listed note the ridge as Big Stone Ridge. The problem is the mountains of the Flat Top Plateau are not necessarily distinct as East River Mtn is or Peters Mtn or various other mountains that do have names. What you find in the Flat Top Plateau is Indian Ridge, Big Stone Ridge, Micajah Ridge and local names such as Belcher Mtn, No. 9 Mtn, Peeled Chestnut Mtn, Elkhorn Mtn, etc.

The only place that I've seen named at Flat Top Mtn is near the community of Flat Top which is located about half way between Princeton and Beckley on the WV turnpike. 

It is Elkhorn tunnel because that is what the N&W named it as it pushed through on the Elkhorn Extension to reach the mines on Elkhorn Creek, but I have seen it called Flat Top and Coaldale tunnel (because of the community of Coaldale that was the western portal of the original tunnel).  The current location of the community of Coaldale was established about 1952 when the new Elkhorn Tunnel was opened and the old community of Coaldale was torn down.

Alex Schust   
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: NW Mailing List 
  Sent: Thursday, October 14, 2010 11:20 PM
  Subject: Coaldale or Flat Top?


  I am seeking clarification about the mountain through which Coaldale Tunnel (or is it Flat Top Tunnel?) was built.  Just about every historical document I've read refers to Flat Top Mountain and Tunnel.  However all modern verbage identifies both the mountain and tunnel as Coaldale.  

  Jeff Hawkins

  www.railsinvirginia.com
  www.railfirephotography.com




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