The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-04
SOUTHERN PROGRESS
RAILROAD EXTENSION AND RIvAIl-
 RY OF COMPANIES.
Interesting Developments Affecting Die rectIy and Indirectly Widely Sep. arated Sections Of the COuns
 try-P1ans of Carriers.

Baltimore, Feb. 3,-(speciaL )--In- teresting developments affecting di- rectly and indirectly widely separated parts of the country turn upon the ri- valry of several companies to realize upon the possibilities of railroad ex- tensions in the southwestern counties of Virginia for the exploitation of coal lands.
 There Is no railroad at present in either Buchanap or PiclEenaon County which together form strip of terri- tory from forty to fifty miles long ana twenty or more miles wide. bounded on the northwest and southeast by mountain ranges and beset with topo- graphical difficulties between. The rough and broken nature of the coun- try is the principal obstacle to rail- road construction. but that tines will be built therein Is accepted as certain. and that too. before the coal flelds out side the boundaries of the counties have reached a point anywhere near full development. The magnitude of the mineral wealth in those counties. even if fuel alone be regarded, is so great that 1t must compel the entrance of railroads.
 One of the recent happenings in that quarter was the incorporation of the Virginia and Southwestern Railway
 
 the field to survey a line from Clinch- port, Va, on the. Virginia and South western Railway. along the line of Clinch river toward sand Ridge, near Coeburn, Va, and Toms Creek. At about the same time the South and Western Railway began work on line to run up from Clinchport. Meanwhile at place much nearer Toms Creek, a little line of six miles length (the In- Ia xxyifH, the Virginia and Southwestern and also with the Louisville and Nashville Railroads at Appalachia, Va, is build- ing an extension which may reach to Toms Creek, or at least to the objec- tive point of the cutoff planned by the Virginia and Southwestern people from Clinchport. It is generally ex- pected that this extension is designed to reach Toms Creek which is now en- tered only by branch of the Norfolk and Western Railway.
 Bearing upon this situation. accord ing to The Manufacturers Record of this week, is the announcement that the Southern Railway will immediate ly begin survey for connecting line from Marion. N. C.. to Johnson City. Tenn; this is accepted as an indica- tion that the Southern proposes to | seek a share of the coal traffic to come
  western Virginia. There is also the possibility that the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway. which by next summer will have completed It's Big Sandy ex- tension to Elkhorn City. Ky, may con- tinue that line twenty"five or thirty miles to the Cranes Nest coal fields. The building of a line to connect the South and Western with the Detroit 1 Southern via Ironton, O.. to make a | coal route to the Great Lakes has been talked of for several years, but the | Chesapeake and ohio Railway. by means of it's Elkhorn City road, ap- pears to be nearer to making such a route a reality than is any other coun- l try.
 The Louisville and Nashville road. which could provide a Southern as well as a Western outlet for the coal of | Wise and Dickenson counties. Virginia. is nearer to the Cranes Nest region than is the Chesapeake and Ohio. it's | Eastern terminus (where 1t connects with the Norfolk and Western) being at Norton, Va, which is only ten or fifteen miles from Toms Creek. It could also probably. by means of traf- | hc connections at Cincinnati O., es- tablish a through coal route to Lake vile is already engaged in building a | number of coal spurs in the vicinity Of Pennington Gap, Va. which is in Lee County, some distance southwest of the Crane's Nest field. There Is also the possibility that this company may endeavor to build a railroad through the mountains of North Carolina in or der to connect With the Atlantic Coast Line, with which 1t Is affiliated.
 Another possibility Is that the Nor folk and Western Railway may build an extension into Dickenson and Wise counties by striking southward from its line in West Virginia and crossing Buchanan County, Virginia It has al- ready begun the . extension' of the Jaeger and Southern Railroad in Me- Dowell County West Virginia (adjoin- ing Buchanan County) and proposes to build hfty-seven miles of line, going into Virginia under the charter of the P6eahentas and Western Railroad An extension Of such length nlight readily