The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1907-10-28
ROMANCE BURNED IN FIRE.
Started in Coal Mine by Rejected
Suitor-Has Burned Forty Years.
CRaltinora Sun)


On Paint creek, about twenty miles
above Charleston. w. Va, near the sta
ton at Standard, coal mine 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 ablaZe with a weird
play of light: by day a column of
smoke ascends like monument In
truth, the mountain is afire, an un-
quenchable fire, as those who have al
ready lost $4,000 in the vain attempt
to smother it will testify.
In the late SOS of the last century
the Kanawha Coal & Oil company was
organized for the purpose of producing
oil from the camel coal found in the
mountains 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 its operations when the
civil war broke out, but continued at
work for some time thereafter.
The superintendent was a 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
nelghborhood. There was the usual
counting and flirting, with the usual
flnal selection of one man and the in
evltabIe preparations for the wedding.
Inc lucky man was one Adkins. a ma
tive of the mountains. a strapping
young fellow, who had won the faith
er S tayor as workman even before
ne won the daughters esteem as a
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 op-
posing factions as any other part of
the entire country. The natives were
of the south, while most of those who
had come to work in the mines were
union men. OF the latter was old man
Gordon, while A1kins was a regular
fire eating son of Dixie.
After several stormy interviews Ad-
kfns was forbidden to enter the Gordon
home. and ROwena was ordered not TO
see him. He enlisted in the confeder-
ate 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 fur
Tough and sought to renew amicable
relations with the Gordons, but was re-
pulsed by both father and daughter. 1t
is said that in spirit of revenge he
set fire to the drum house at the bot
tom of the mine. The fire was commu-
ricated to the rich vein of camel coal
inside, and, obtaining a 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 sub
sequent history is not known here.
That is the romantic version. The
prosaic one is that fire was communi-
Gated to the mine by a forest fire that
ragged furiously in October, 1861. Ger
tain it is that the mine began to burn
at that time and has been burning
since.
In the late sos a company was
formed by Charleston men to extin-
guish the fire and reopen the mine,
but after spending $4,000 in a vain at
tempt the enterprise was abandoned.
1t is probable that the fire will be al
lowed to burn until the entire vein of
coal is consumed.
Often, for years at a time, the fire
cannot be seen, but there is always
something about the locality to bear
witness to its presence. Sometimes it
is smoke, sometimes steam. In wet
weather there is always a vapor arts
ing from above the mine. In winter
snow melts as rapidly as 1t falls on
the particular spot, while the ground
around is white. In the springs vege-
tation appears earlier where the earth
is warm from this underlying heat. or
late it has been burning visibiy at
night, the extent being perhaps 100
yards along the face of the mountain.