The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-12-08
ROMANCE OF A FIRE.
Started by Rejected suitor, It Has
 Burned 45 Years.
From the Baltimore Sun.

i From the Baltimore Sun.
 On Paint creek. about 20 miles above Charleston, w Va, near the station at Standard, a coal mine fire is raging, a fire about the origin of which an inter- esting romance is woven. At night the mountain side in which the mine is To- cated is ablaze with weird play of light By day a column of smoke ascends like monument In truth. the mountain IS afire, an unquenchable fire, as those who have already lost S20,000 in vain at tempt to smother 1t will testify.
 In the late fifties of the last century the kanawah Coal and Oil company was or ganized for the purpose of producing oil from the camel coal found in the moun-
 tains divided by Paint creek. The vein located was a comparatively thin one, lying in the heart of a thick seam of the bituminous coal. The company was busy with it's operations when the civil war broke out, but continued at work for sometime thereafter.
 The superintendent was blunt old Englishman named Gordon, who had a handsome daughter, Rowena, who was the delight of her fathers heart and the despair of the young men of the neigh borhood. There were the usual counting and flirting, with the usual final selection of one man and the inevitable prepara- tions for the wedding. The lucky man
 was one Adkins a native of the moun- tains, strapping young fellow, who had won the fathers favor as workman even before he won the daughters es- ! teem as lover. Thus the course of true love seemed to run smooth.
 But the war came. and the Paint creek section was as badly torn by opposing factions as any other small part of the entire country. The natives were of the south, while most of those who had come In min Tpia Of the latter was old man Gordon, while Adkins was a spirited son of Dixie. After several stormy interviews Adkins was forbidden to enter the Gordon home and Rowena was ordered not to see him. He enlisted in the Confederate army and marched out with Wise on his famous re- treat up the valley. This was in the spring of 1861. In the autumn he returned
 home on furlough and sought to renew amicable relations with the Gordons but was repulsed by both father and daugh- l ter. 1t is said that in a spirit of revenge | he set fire to the drum house at the mouth of the mine. The fire was com municated to the rich vein of camel coal inside and. obtaining good hold, has | been burning ever since.
 Adkins returned to his regiment and was killed in battle The Gordons left the country soon after. and their subsequent history Is not known here.
 Il htt IS tue rOillailtic version. The pro- saic one is that fire was communicated to the mine by forest fire that ragged furiously in October, 1861. Certain 1t is that the mine began to burn at the time and has been burning since.
 In the late eighties a company was formed by Charleston men to extlnguish l the fire and reopen the mine but after | spending $2O,000 in a vain attempt the , enterprise was abandoned It is probo- I ble that the fire will be allowed to burn until the entire vein of coal is consumed. Often for years at time the fire cau- l not be seen, but there is always some | thing about the locality to bear witness | of its presence. Sometimes it is smoke. | sometimes steam. In wet weather there l Is always vapor rising from above the mine. In winter snow melts as rapidly l as it falls on the particular spot, while | the ground around Is white. In spring vegetation appears earlier where the | earth is warm from the underlying heat. | or late it has been burning visibly at night, the extent being perhaps 100 yards | along the face of the mountain.