N&W in 1911--Cedar Bluff

[NW Mailing List]

Bluefield Daily Telegraph
November 5, 1911

CEDAR BLUFF FEELS PULSE OF NEW LIFE
------
Point Where Blue Grass and Coal Fields Meet Making Plans for Development
------
GRAND  SCENERY AND HEALTHFUL LOCATION
------
Hundred Lots at Favorable Prices Have Changed Hands Within Last Thirty Days and Outlook for Rapid Growth is Encouraging
------
NEW HIGH SCHOOL AMONG BUILDINGS TO BE ERECTED
------
    Cedar Bluff, Va., Nov. 4. (Special)--The village of Cedar Bluff, situated in Tazewell county, Va., on the Clinch Valley division of the Norfolk and Western Railway, about thirty-eight miles west of Bluefield, is feeling the pulse beat of new life, growth and business activity.  The new railroad being extended from Berwind, W. Va., to connect with the Norfolk and Western at this point (known at the "Cedar Bluff cut-off") is rapidly nearing completion.  Cedar Bluff is the point where the blue grass and coal fields meet; and when the new railroad is completed this town will be the gateway to that portion of the great Pocahontas and Thacker coal fields of Virginia and West Virginia now being opened up, as well as the portion already under development.  The Clinch Valley coal fields touch this town on the west and continue more than seventy miles.  Indian creek and Middle creek, which drain vast coal regions from head to mouth, empty into Clinch river within the limits of this town.  Berwind is only eighteen miles away, Canebrake fifteen miles, mouth of Beech Fork creek twelve miles, and seven miles to the big tunnel.
    It is rumored that this new railroad will handle all through freight originating west of Iaeger, W. Va., and that the fast mail and passenger trains between Columbus and Norfolk will pass over this route.  The railroad facilities for the north, east, west and south will be unsurpassed.
------
[Considering the restriction posed by the single-track Elkhorn tunnel to the then increasing traffic, it is not surprising that it seemed likely that some traffic would bypass the tunnel by being diverted over this new line termed a "cut off."  I don't know to what extent the diversion happened, but the need for it largely disappeared when the Elkhorn grade (including Elkhorn tunnel) was electrified in 1915.]

Gordon Hamilton
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20110620/f14b79d5/attachment.htm>