Railroads and feuds in Big Sandy Valley

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I propose that Joseph Lambies "From Mine to Market" describing the creation
of the bituminous coal industry and market and the parallel creation of the
N&W system will tell the tale better than any historical social study.  It
is about the creation of markets and wealth.

The coal fields had to be developed and the markets created working from
Pocahontas northward.  The coal fields potential value north of Williamson
were never easy to access as the coal was well underground.

It costs a lot of money to build a railroad through rugged remote country
where everything has to be carried in.  Recall that the Ohio Extension was
built from Kenova south as well as Elkhorn north.  Not for speed but for
transportation.

Would the Board of Directors, meeting in Philadelphia, consider what was
going on in the small towns of western West Virginia or eastern Kentucky?

Gary Rolih