N&W New River Cripple Creek Branch or Extension

[NW Mailing List]

On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 1:03 PM, Al wrote:


> Where did the N&W New River Cripple Creek branch (or "extension" of another

> branch if that is the proper name) with 1880s iron furnaces originate and

> where did it end?

>

> When was it built?

>

> Are there remains of any of these furnace sites still in existance?

>

Start here: http://filebox.vt.edu/users/bharper/nwrwy/NWRad.html which is
timetable/station info for the Radford Division of the N&W. Click on the
link for Walton, which will take you to a listing of stations on the Bristol
Line, including North Carolina Junction. Click on that link, which will get
you to this page: http://filebox.vt.edu/users/bharper/nwrwy/ncbr.html  which
has information that I have gathered about the Cripple Creek Extension.

The line extended to Galax and was projected to ultimately connect in North
Carolina with the Cape Fear and Yadkin Valley, although that never came to
fruition. Another branch extended in Fries. Yet another branch took off from
Ivanhoe and extended to Speedwell. Numerous branches and spurs were built
and abandoned all through the area to serve mining operations; with a little
bit of effort the right of way of some of these lines can still be found, in
some places the Va. Department of Highways used the roadbed for a roadway.

There are ruins of some of the iron furnaces in the area. A quick Google
search turned up this publication from the National Park Service written by
Mary B. Kegley, who is a noted local historian. See
http://www.nps.gov/history/history/online_books/symposia/newriver-84/sec11.htmto
read "Charcoal Iron Furnaces Of Wythe County, Virginia" that was
presented at the New River Symposium in 1984. I don't know if these are
still held, but these were annual events where papers were presented on a
variety of historical and present-day topics pertaining to the New River in
North Carolina, Virginia, and West Virginia. A check of the contents for the
1984 gathering shows several papers about iron mining, plus some other
historical topics.

Bruce in Blacksburg
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20101119/4e01c341/attachment.html>