N&W in 1912--Three items: Mail, Rates, Loggers

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Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Sun., April 14, 1912

IN CITY AND COALFIELD
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Mail Boxes at Station
    The mail boxes at the passenger station have been moved to a point near the centre [sic]of the train sheds, directly in front of the station. There are now three boxes. The one in the centre is for city mail and matter that is to be gathered by letter carriers for dispatch from the city postoffice. The box to the east is for mail east-bound, the one to the west for west-bound mail. It is urged that if delay in the dispatch of mail is to be avoided no mistake in the use of these boxes should be made.
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Special Rates Given
    The Norfolk and Western has made rates to Macon, Ga., where the reunion of the Confederate veterans will be held this year. Tickets are good from May 5th for fifteen days, and can be extended to June 5th. The rates are for the round trip and are as follows: Bluefield, $12; Bramwell, $12.50; Pearisburg, $11.30; Pocahontas, $12.25; Tazewell, $12.45; Welch, $12.75; Williamson, $14.15.
[Those rates for a round-trip to Georgia sound pretty good today.]
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Loggers Going Home
    The Norfolk and Western trains and the Chesapeake and Ohio trains are commencing to carry loggers back from the Ohio river territory. Ever since the spring freshets commenced the men have been working their way to the Ohio river and river cities watching logs, which have finally been carried to their destination, permitting of the return of the men detailed to watch them on their course. From the time that the first splash dam was broken until now these men have been on duty day and night and have seen all kinds of weather and troubles, but they are nearly over for a year.
[Before logging railroads became common the early logging technique was to float the logs to market on streams.  The flow on some streams was so marginal that logs could only be floated when spring freshets, or floods at other times of the year, provided enough flow.  In order to float the logs without having to wait for nature to provide enough flow, a series of wooden splash dams would be built, and logs to be floated would be accumulated in the ponds formed by the splash dams.  When it was time to float the logs downstream, a portion of the splash dam would be knocked down, and the accumulated logs in the pond would be flushed downstream.  Because some logs would snag on something and hang up, the loggers had their hands full.  Also, rustling of logs took place, and this caused some loggers to brand their logs to prove ownership.]

Gordon Hamilton
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