N&W in 1910--Long tunnel

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On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 12:05 PM, Gordon wrote:


>  Bluefield Daily Telegraph

> February 6, 1910

> LONGER THAN COALDALE

>

>     The Franklin Contracting Company will send men to work at once on the

> Cedar Bluff tunnel and the three and one-quarter miles of grading for which

> they received the contract from the Norfolk and Western.  O. T. Franklin,

> who was in the city last night, said that the work must be completed in a

> little over two years and while it is heavy construction his people expect

> to have it done on contract time.  The tunnel, which is to be 4,700 feet in

> length, will be nearly 900 feet longer than the Coaldale tunnel, which is

> the longest tunnel on the Norfolk and Western system.  During the

> construction of the Coaldale tunnel the contractors struck a thick vein of

> coal and it is often said in this section that they cleared $75,000 on the

> job.  No such luck will greet the Franklin construction Company as the coal

> is above the tunnel and will not be touched during the work.

>


I did a quick search and found the file on my computer and was puzzled as to
why I hadn't posted it to my website before. At any rate, some brief
background and the contract for the Coaldale tunnel is at
http://filebox.vt.edu/users/bharper/nwrwy/FlattopContract.html Per the
contract, the N&W knew the coal seam was there and planned accordingly -- it
wasn't just stuck by accident as this report seems to imply. In fact, in
1885, W.W. Coe, Chief Engineer of the N&W at the time, suggested exploiting
that coal seam in suggesting one route to reach the other side of Flat Top
Mountain: "By utilizing No. 3 vein for the purposes mentioned we would be
under ground for about 1 1-4 miles and would come out on the western slope
in the coal and by following the stream would be immediately below the coal
vein which is known to exist for many miles."

Bruce in Blacksburg
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