Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1907-10-11

| ROMANCE HAS 1T THAT BLAZE WAS
| STARTED BY REJECTED LOvER-AN
OTHER VERSION IS THAT 1T WAS
| CAUSED BY FOREST FIREs-HAs
NEVER BEEN QUENCHED.
A telegram from Charleston. W..
Va. says: On Paint creek. about 70
miles above this city, near the station
at Standard, a coalmine fire is raging
"a fire about the origin Of which an
interesting romance Is woven. AT
night the mountainside in which the
mine IS located Is abaze with weird
play of light; by day column of smoke
| ascends like monument. In truth,
the mountain is atire, an unquench-
able fire, as those who have already
lost $50 900 in q vain attempt to
smother it will testify.
In the late fiftiee of the last century
the Kanawha Coal and Oil Company
was organized for the purpose OF pro
ducing oil from camel coal found In
the mountains divided by Paint creek.
| The vein located was comparatively
thin one, lying In the heart of thick
seam of the bitumiDous coal. The
company was busy with its operations
when the civil war broke ont, but con
tinued at work for some time there
after.
The superintendent was blunt old
Englishman named Gordon. who had
handsome daughter, ROwena. who
was the delight of her fathers heart
and the despair of the young men of
the neighborhood. There was the
| usual courting and flirting, with the
usual final selection of one man and
the inevitable preparations for the
wedding. The lucky man was one
Adkins, a native of the mountains.
strapping young fellow, who had won
the fathers favor as a workman even
before be won the daughter g esteem as
lover. Thus the course o true love
seemed to run smooth.
But the war came aud the PaiI t
Greek section was as badly torn by
opposing factions as any other small
part of the entire country. The natives
we're of the South. while most of those
who had come to work In tAe mines
were Union men. Of the latter was old
man dordoD, while Adkins was reg
ular fire-eating son of Dixie.
After several stormy interviews Ad-
kins was forbidden to enter the Cor
don home, and Rowena was ordered
not to see him. He enlisted in the
Confederate army and marched out
with Wise on his famous retreat up the
valley. This was in the spring of 1861
| In the autumn he returned home on a
furlough and sought to renew anica-
BILE relations with the GordOns, but was
repulsed by both father and daughters
1t is said that in a spirit of revenge he
set fire to the drumhOuse at the mouth
of the mine. The fire was c0mmuni-
/ Gated to the rich vein of camel coal
inside, and, obtaining good hold, has
been burning ever since.
| Adkins returned to bis regiment and
was killed in battle. The Gordons left
the country soon after, and their sab
sequent history is not known here.
That is the romantic version. The
lprosaic one is that fire was communi-
Gated to the mine by a forest fire that
ragged furiOusly in October, 1861. Cer-
tain it is that the mine began to burn
at that time and has been burning
ever since.
In the late eighties a company was
formed by Charleston men to extin-
guish the fire and reopen the mine, but
after spending 100000 in vain at.
tempt the enterprise was abandoned,
1t is probable that the fire will be al
flowed to burn until the entire vein OF
coal is consumed.
Often, for years at time. the hIe
cannot be seen, but there is always
something about the locality to bear
witness to it's presence. Sometimes ii
is smoke, sometimes steam. In wet
weather there is always a vapOr rising
from above the mine. In winter snow
melts as rapidly as it falls on the par
ticular spot, while the ground aroun6
| is white. In the spring vegetation
appears earlier where the earth ii
warm from this underlying heat. O1
late it has been burning visibly at night
the extent being perhaps hundree
! wards along the face of the mountain