Coaldale or Flat Top?

[NW Mailing List]

And the map of 1893 refers to the tunnel as "Tunnel." When the tunnel was opened in 1888, newspaper article of the time referred to it as the half mile tunnel connecting the Bluestone and Elkhorn coal operations. The tunnel has been called Tunnel, Coaldale Tunnel, Flat Top Tunnel and Elkhorn Tunnel; however the current name is Elkhorn Tunnel.

When the tunnel was built in 1888 the N&W referred to the work as the "Elkhorn Extension" and the extension ran through the Coaldale Coal & Coke Co. Property and maps of the time referred to the mountain as the Great Flat Top Mtn. Topo maps up until at least 1915 showed the mountiand as Big Stone Ridge and Flat Top Mtn. Current maps only list Big Stone Ridge.

The local name for the mountain is Peeled Chestnut Mtn. Maps from 1864 show the ridge line as Tug Ridge and Great Flat Top Mtn similar to the N&W map of 1893, except the Tug Ridge is shown as Big Stone Ridge which modern maps use.  Modern Maps do not refer to Flat Top Mtn or Peeled Chestnut Mtn in the area.

McDowell County court house records from 1873 and 1874 refer to the mountian as Peeled Chestnut. If you were to ask local people how to get from Maybeury or Anawalt to Pocahontas I expect most would tell you to follow the road over Peeled Chestnut Mtn.

Some web-sties like to refer to the coalfield as Pocahontas Flat-Top Coalfield. That term started disappearing by 1894 and was dropped from general use by 1898.

Gordon's research below reflects the best research except I have argued before there is no Elkhorn Mountin to the north side of Elkhorn Creek. There is no Elkhorn Mtn on the south side of Elkhorn Creek either, except we local people have always called crossing the mountain from Pageton to Elkhorn as crossing Elkhorn Mtn.  I will agree there is an Elkhorn Grade however.

I have on ocassion found that people working in corporate offices writing annual reports and such have their own version of geography and history which is not reflected in local court house records.

Alex Schust
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: 'NW Mailing List' 
  Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 11:45 AM
  Subject: RE: Coaldale or Flat Top?


  And the Coal and Coke Operations in the Pocahontas and Flat Top Coal Fields map in the 1889 Annual Report refer to Flat Top Tunnel and Flat Top Mountain which extends more-or-less at right angles to the tunnel and mainline.

   

  Gary Rolih Cincinnati

   

  From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
  Sent: Friday, October 15, 2010 11:55 AM
  To: NW Mailing List
  Subject: Re: Coaldale or Flat Top?

   

  One clue might lie in the N&W Ry. Annual Reports, which are available on a CD from the N&WHS Commissary.  The Reports for 1898 thru 1902 refer to "Flat Top Mountain" and/or "Flat Top Tunnel."

   

  Certain Annual Reports 1900 thru 1925 refer to Coaldale only as the settlement and railroad location at the west end of what  the Bluefield Daily Telegraph newspaper and some employees frequently called "Coaldale Tunnel." (My grandfather was an engineer on the Pocahontas Division who died when I was young, but I remember my grandmother speaking of "Coaldale Tunnel.")

   

  Annual Reports 1901 thru 1903, 1911 and 1947 thru 1952 refer to "Elkhorn Tunnel."

   

  The 1952 Annual Report refers to the "...grade over Elkhorn Mountain...."

   

  The 1953 Annual Report lists "Elkhorn" as one of the mountain ranges that the N&W crosses.

   

  So, the N&W terms for the mountain and the tunnel varied.

   

  Gordon Hamilton

   

  ----- 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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