The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1893-06-08
Is ssE0 ENTERPRISE.
A New l,nilroad To Pierce tho Mountains
FROM Pinsviiie to Harlan G. II.
lrOulsvilIc CrI;ic.l

CSHUull tIIC Hit jllCubiOIC't DSiO"
I be built, it will result in giving Big
Stone Gap another railroad. The
distance from Pineville to Big Stone
| Gap is Is miles, and this enterprise
providea for the first 81 miles. AT
this end II miles will be built from
Big Stone Gap to Morris Gap, which
| is at the head of Glover Fork, one of
the tributaries of the Cumberland
River, for the accommodation of the
operations of the Interstate Invest
ment Company, Of Louisville, which
owns several thousand acres of land
there and which is going into the
coal and coke business, as soon as it
is ready. This leaves a gap of 20
miles between Morris Gap and Har-
Ian c. H., mt. Pleasant, which
would be filled to make through
line. 1t is predicted that the Louis
vile d Nashville X. r. would never
allow any other corporation to do this,
but will do the building itself. The
Glover Fork section is the richest in
Harlan county, Kentucky, and con-
sequently in eastern Kentucky, lying
as it does between the Little Black
and the Big Black mountains, 1000
feet high, with the richest soil, finest
timber, largest expanse of fields of
coking, camel and ordinary bitumi-
nous coal.
1.-THE Mt. Pleasant & Elkhorn
Railroad has come into existence very
unexpectedly to the railroad people
and she communities through which
it will run. The organization was
completed in the city and in the city
of Chicago this week, and the deed
of trust for the issuance of $780,
900 worth Of bonds Of said road was
duly approved, the same having been
recorded in the counties through
which the road passes. The legal
amount Of stock has been subscribed
and taken by persons in Chicago,
Minneapolis and this city, with some
connections in New York, that seems
to assure the early completion Of this
valuable road.
1t is 1853 miles lond and passes
through region the most remarkable
for coal and mineral deposits deposits
| and for timber in the State. There
isn't mile of this road but what
passes through thirteen veins coal,
opening on either side Of it. Geo
logical reports show ten veins within
forty six feet below the surface. These
deposits reach a thickness above sur
face Of ninety-eight inches, and the
quality of the coal is extraordinary,
especially az to camel coal and cox
ing coal. The road parallels the
Cumberland and the Big and Little
Black Mountains for the whole dis
lance, and will open up a region that
in the next few years will be the rich
est of all Eastern kentucky. 1t is
remarkable that so valuable region
has lain dormant so long. The first
division of the road will be let be-
tween this and the frs of July, be-
ginning at pineville and ending at
Mt. Pleasant Harlan county, Ky.
Already the value Of the lands i'll
Harlan county is increasing, aud in
less than one year the Critic predicts
that the lands in that county will be
worth and cannot be- bought for less
than three times their present value
in the market. This line will open
up the far-famcd Elkhorn coking coal
rehion, as it will traverse Elkhorn
from the head to the mouth of Big
Sandy River. There is great proba-
bility that this road will be connect
ell with one or two of the systems
| now in operation in West Virginia,
and it will also make certain the com
pletion of the Chattaroi Railroad,
WHICH is completed from Catletts-
burg to Peach Orchard now.
The Mt. Pleasant d Elkhorn road,
in the next ten years, Of its length in
| the State. 1t has advantage of par
| allcling the mighty ranges of noun
tains, and at the same time does not
| necsitate the tunueling of a single
mountain, the whole route being up
and down the accessible valleys of
the Cumberland and the Kentucky
rivers and their tributaries. The
break between the Cumberland and
kentucky in the Pine Mountain,
through which it will necessarily
pass, is perfect and the way made by
| this fault is almost level, the water
running both ways for distance
that is hardly perceptiole. So as
| soon Us the contract for the building
of this road shall be let the Critic will
publish it so that the people of that
region may get the full value of their