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<DIV><FONT face="Trebuchet MS">Bluefield Daily Telegraph<BR>April 18,
1909</FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV align=center><FONT size=4>RAILROAD'S PROPOSAL NOT FAVORABLE
ONE</FONT></DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=center><STRONG>People Not Likely to Agree to Shoulder Forty Per Cent.
of Cost of Overhead Bridge</STRONG></DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left> W. H Coffman, who was appointed as a
committee of one at the Chamber of Commerce meeting Thursday night to consult
with the officials of the Norfolk and Western relative to the construction of an
overhead bridge at the point, about one thousand yards east of the city limits,
where the new country road will cross the railroad tracks, went to Roanoke
yesterday, but was unable to discuss the matter with the chief engineer. Chas.
S. Churchill, owning to the fact that Mr. Churchill was indisposed. An
effort to reach the general manager, N. D. Maher, was futile, as he refused to
discuss the subject. An audience was finally secured with President L. E.
Johnson, who stated that he was not in favor of a grade crossing at that
particular point, and made a proposition on behalf of the company, after
estimates of an overhead bridge to be seventy-five feet long with abutments and
covering four tracks, with a clearance of twenty-two feet, had been furnished by
the engineer, costing about $5,000. The proposition was that the Norfolk
and Western would pay 60 per cent, of the cost provided the city and county
furnished that remaining 40 per cent, which proposition it is thought will
hardly meet with the approval of the people in general, as the reason for
constructing the three miles of macadamized road which the county and city have
authorized is for the purpose of furnishing better means for bringing business
to this city, and will consequently be of advantage to the railroad itself,
inasmuch as it means more traffic over their lines which would otherwise go to
the Virginian at Princeton. The people, it is believed, will not agree to
shouldering 40 per cent. of what should justly fall upon the road that will reap
much of the benefit.</DIV>
<DIV align=center>------</DIV>
<DIV align=left>[<EM>The three miles of road referred to was from the east end
of Bluefield to the Gap of the Ridge on the way to Princeton. In the 1940s
we called this the "old" Princeton-Bluefield road. Strictly speaking, a
macadamized road is a road of just compacted crushed stone, and is named for the
Scotsman, McAdam, who devised this improvement over dirt roads. When tar
is added, it is termed a "tarmacadam" pavement, usually shortened to
"tarmac."</EM>]</DIV>
<DIV align=left> </DIV>
<DIV align=left><FONT face=Script size=6>Gordon Hamilton</FONT></DIV>
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