The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1903-02-18
ALONG THE NORFOLK s.
WESTERN RAILWAY
Where AIlis Bustle, and the Bu-
gle of Progress is Forever
Sounding Louder.

| gle OF Progress Is Forever
Sounding Louder.
Travelling along the line of the
Norfolk & Western Rrailway from
Keuoya to Bluefisld your corres
pondent could not but note the
wonderous activity everywhere pre-
sented.
The topography of the country
clearly shows, that engineering ano
constructing railroad entailed 6
difficult and complex problem.
Yet graphing with, and su.-
mountingBthese barriers has open.
cd to the markets of the world
that before vast, and undeveloped
mineral wealts lying beneath
thousands of acres of virgin forests.
Kenova the starting point on
this trip. is busy little city pleas
antly situated.
The strategic location of the
place will doubtless make it of con-
siderable Importance in the future.
1t is near the confluence of the
Ohio and Big Sandy rivers, and is
the junction point of three large
railway lines.
No fairer beauty of landscape
can be imagined than is presented
from the hills around Kenova
Stretching far away to the west are
the waters of the La Belle Rivere,
as the early French settlers called
the Ohio river; here a steamer is
Iaboriously but steadily making its
way up the river, there, fussy lit
tie tug boat, attached to long line
of barges, filed with coal, is arrang-
ing them for trip to lower points.
Truly, the view is unsurpassed.
A few miles out from Kenova, and
the train is winding in and out
along the valley of the Twelve Pole
river. AT first this valley is broad
and extended. but as the train as
cends, it gradually gets narrower,
until the tillable land is limited to
a small strip, and at times, even
this disappears.
Here the grand and impressive
scenery of mountain, canyon, and
ravine, begin to meet the eye. One
moment can be seen overhanging
the train the jagged sides of a tow
ering peak, the next, far below,
rushing mountain torrent, pent in
by perpendicular granite cliffs,
fighting it's way on to the sea.
Soon the train enters the Keno.
va coal field. which extends south
east as far as Welch, with numer-
GUS operations in the many small
mining towns reaching as far as
Edgartown. The coal of this dis
trict, embracing the oannel, gas
and splint varieties, is very valuable
for steam and domestic purposes.
1t is firm, solid, and easily handled
thsresore a good shipper. The
coal beds in this field are not SO
thick as are those of the Pocahon-
tas field, but they are fully equal
to the Kanawha beds, which it in
some measure resembles The
seams vary in thickness from four
to twelve feet, and, as a rule, from
four to six feet of good merchant
able coal can be mined. The can
mel coal in this field is of excellent
quality, and is thought to be iden.
tical with that of the famous Can
Melton mines on Kanawha.
From Williamson to Alpwich. a
distance of about thirty miles. is
the section in which the Hatfield
Mccoy feud took place.
Here the fearless and sturdy
moun'aineer lives in a world of his
own, and avenges a wrong either
personal or inherited, after his
primitive ideas, little caring what
those outside may think or say.
When Matewsn is reached the
conductor, if you will ask him, will
point out peach tree, near the
track, upon which three were hang
ed and riddled with bullets, and the
train passes over bridge at the
same place, upon which a Hatfield
shot three McCoys.
AT Weloh, the county seat of
Mcdowell, Nesting down among
the towering mountain peaks, the
traveller is ushered into the famous
Pooahontas Flat Top coal field eel
ebrated the world over as produc.
ing the finest steam generating
coal mined anywhere.
1t i6 almost unnecassarv tn de.