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<DIV><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">Bluefield Daily Telegraph<BR>April 3,
1909</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=4>VIRGINIAN RAILWAY FINALLY OPENED</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=center><STRONG>Occasion Made Notable by Presence of H. H.
Rogers, Mark Twain and New York Financiers</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left> Norfolk, April 2--The opening of the
Virginian railway, extending from Sewells [<EM>sic</EM>] Point, Norfolk, to
Deepwater, W. Va., on the Kanawha river, a distance of 446 miles, took place
today with a most auspicious celebration here, made more notable by the presence
of H. H. Rogers, who personally built the Virginian at a cost of about
$40,000,000; Samuel L. Clemens (Mark Twain), and several prominent New York
financiers interested with Mr. Rogers in the undertaking.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> The celebration festivities began with the
arrival early in the day of 625 people from along the line of the new road on a
special train of twelve coaches and two Pullman cars. It was an
enthusiastic crowd, all wearing the Virginian colors, orange and white.
The arrival of the excursion train was followed two hours later by the arrival
of Mr. Rogers and his guests on the New York steamer Jefferson.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> The day was filled with events of interest,
the program for the entertainment for the visitors including an inspection of
Norfolk harbor, the Virginian coal pier at Sewell's Point--the largest in the
world--with a dumping capacity into ship bottoms of 36,000 tons per day; and,
finally a public reception to Mr. Rogers and his guests.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> Mr. Rogers will be the guest of honor at a
$20-per-plate banquet here tomorrow night.</DIV>
<DIV align=left> The Virginian railway, begun in March, 1906,
was completed February 17, 1909. More than 1,000,000 acres of land in West
Virginia have been made accessible by it and the road has opened up a large
country never before enjoying railway facilities.</DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=left>[<EM>There was only a small incidence of blurring in the
microfilm of this article, but there could be transcription errors, particularly
in numbers and proper names.</EM>]</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Script size=6>Gordon
Hamilton</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>