On Mon, Sep 14, 2009 at 12:05 PM, Gordon wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
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<div><font size="2" face="Tunga">Bluefield Daily Telegraph<br>February 6,
1910</font></div>
<div align="center"><font size="4">LONGER THAN COALDALE</font></div>
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<div align="left"> 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.<br></div></div></blockquote><div><br></div><div>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 <a href="http://filebox.vt.edu/users/bharper/nwrwy/FlattopContract.html">http://filebox.vt.edu/users/bharper/nwrwy/FlattopContract.html</a> 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."</div>
<div><br></div><div>Bruce in Blacksburg</div><div><br></div><br>