N&W and Virginian in 1909--Mate Creek

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
February 16, 1909

BELIEVED TO BE MERELY VIRGINIAN EXTENSION
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Rogers Line May Tap Thacker Coal Field Through Mate Creek Road

    The Mate Creek railroad, projected from the Norfolk and Western toward a point approximately reaching the present southern limits of the Guyan valley branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio, is still puzzling the coal operators and railway men of southern West Virginia.
    It transpires that the Williamson attorneys, who are engaged in securing right of way for the new line are in the direct employ of Brown, Jackson  & Knight of Charleston, who are attorneys for the Virginian in this state. This discovery has led many to believe that the Mate Creek road is merely an extension of the Virginian, and that the Rogers road is to tap the great Thacker coal field.  It is also believed by many that, in the event of the friendly relations recently established between the Virginian and Chesapeake and Ohio directors, that when the Mate Creek extension is finished, the Virginian will use the new link for connection with the Guyan valley branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio.  This would give the Virginian a loop surrounding and penetrating the richest undeveloped coal field in the world.
    The various railway activities noticeable in southern West Virginia are taken as harbingers of a return to prosperous conditions, and a resumption of development, which will make the next decade memorable in the industrial history of the state.
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[This is another example of the speculating on railroad matters by the Bluefield newspaper.  Apparently this branch was constructed by coal companies because the 1915 N&W Annual Report  states, "This branch, 4.48 miles in length, and Mitchell Branch of Mate Creek Branch, 1.57 miles in length, with 3.39 miles of sidings, to operations of the Red Jacket Consolidated Coal and Coke Company and the Red Jacket Junior Coal Company were purchased from those companies May 7th, 1915, at a cost of $98,000.]
 

Gordon Hamilton
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