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<DIV>
<DIV>Mike,</DIV>
<DIV> I grew up in Boone County in the southern WV coalfields between
Charleston (the capital city) and Logan. The area was served by both
the N&W and the C&O. Based on the stories told by the "old-timers"
as I was growing up, most of that area of the state was "wide open"
during the early 1900s. And this area is where a lot of the violence took
place during miner union organizing. If you have a chance to see the
movie "Matewan" it is not far from the truth. It is a popular legend in
southern WV that the railroad town of Thurmond hosted a poker game that was in
continuous play for over ten years as various players came in and out of the
game.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The danger wasn't just limited to rail travel. It was just a
dangerous place to live. My grandfather was the manager of a company store
for years in a small town in southern Boone County. For the first
few years that the town existed the only access to the town was by
rail. There were no roads.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Rick Huddle</DIV>
<DIV>N&WHS #3689 </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>From:</B> <A
title=mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">NW Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A
title=mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list@nwhs.org">NW Mailing List</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Wednesday, September 30, 2009 1:53
PM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> RE: N&W in 1910--Huge
rocks</DIV>
<DIV><BR></DIV>Would anybody care to speculate how dangerous it was to travel
by rail "back in the day". I've seen so many articles (thank you Gordon and
others) now about train wrecks, malicious vandalism, fights, shootings, etc.
Was train travel just that much more dangerous in general around 1910, or was
it the areas served by the N&W railroad resembled the "Wild West"? Or
maybe it was that so many more people traveled by railroads?<BR><BR>Mike
Weeks<BR>Greenville NC<BR><BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From: <A
title=mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org
href="mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org">nw-mailing-list-bounces@nwhs.org</A>
on behalf of NW Mailing List<BR>Sent: Tue 9/29/2009 2:27 PM<BR>To: 3N&W
Mailing List<BR>Subject: N&W in 1910--Huge rocks<BR> <BR>Bluefield
Daily Telegraph<BR>March 8, 1910<BR> <BR>FREIGHT TRAIN CRASHES INTO TWO
HUGE ROCKS<BR>-------<BR>Tracks Near Ada Badly Torn Up And May Not be Cleared
Before Afternoon<BR> <BR> Nathan Neal, colored, was
slightly injured in a wreck which occurred one mile west of Ada last night
about 8 o'clock. Eight cars were thrown crossways on the track and two
cars overturned. Engine 1057 [M1, 4-8-0, Richmond 1907], with Hugh
Carney at the throttle and Fireman T. S. Simmons plunged into two rocks
weighing a ton or more each, which had rolled off the bank on the track
directly in front of the train. The engineer did not see them until he
was within three or four car lengths and although he applied his air as
quickly as possible, the engine went ploughing into the obstructions, but only
suffered the loss of its pilot. Neal, who was injured, was standing on
top of a car near the engine and when he saw what was happening he jumped,
spraining his back. If the engineer and fireman had jumped they might
have been killed. As it was both stuck to their posts and came out
unharmed.<BR> The rocks must have fallen some time before
the train came along as a farmer who lived nearby saw them on the track and
was putting on his clothes to go out and warn the train men of the danger when
suddenly the headlight of a freight came in sight and the wreck
occurred.<BR> Dr. Cornett was put on a special engine to the
scene of the wreck to attend to Neal's injuries, but they were so slight that
he was able to go to his home on No. 16.<BR> Train No. 3 was
delayed by the wreck and it was necessary to transfer passengers to train No.
14 while No. 3 went back to Roanoke as No. 16 and No. 16 came west as No.
3.<BR> The wreck was one of the worst small wrecks the road
ever had. The track was badly torn up and estimates last night said that
the east bound track would be cleared and repaired by 7 o'clock this morning
while the westbound track cannot be cleared and repaired before the middle of
the afternoon.<BR> A boy who was riding in the car with some
cattle was uninjured although the car he was in was picked up by the force of
the wreck and turned around so that it was thrown across the track. A
pail of milk, which was in the car was not even overturned while the car was
cavorting around like one of the young heifers. A dog which was in the
car added his howling to the noise of the smashing timbers and the boy who was
tending the cattle was more interested in quieting the dog for fear that he
would stampede the cattle than he was in fear of personal
danger.<BR>------<BR>["...riding in the car with some cattle...." I have
heard of drover cabooses on some western railroads where the drovers could
ride while accompanying a shipment of cattle or sheep, but in the car with
cattle? And, a boy at that!]<BR> <BR>Gordon
Hamilton<BR><BR>________________________________________<BR><A
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