Sure it's Saint Patrick's Day, but I'm primarily of English heritage, and we don't need to celebrate a saint from a land we conquered. Tee hee. Top of the mornin' to ye, Mr. Adams. Life's no fun when even Ted Kennedy is raining abused upon you, is it? But enough of that. I apologize for earlier outages; something went wrong with the CGI on the server end, and I can't fix that.

On 17th March 1883, the first load of Pocahontas coal arrived at the Norfolk & Western Railroad's facilities in the city of Norfolk. The company name is significant; the N&W RR was a corporate predecessor to what would become the Norfolk and Western Railway (i.e. N&WRy) in an 1896 reorganization. By the looks of it, the trip from "Pocahontas Mine No. 1" to Norfolk took five days, as sources indicate that the first load from No. 1 departed on 12th March 1883.

"Pocahontas coal" is the term given to coal extracted from a certain area in Virginia and West Virginia. At one time, the area's coal was some of the best available in the United States; moreover, the United States Navy chose this type of coal to support the coal-fired warships of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet was probably fueled by Pocahontas coal.

Pocahontas Mine No. 1 is in Pocahontas, Virginia. A brief search indicates that this mine is still in existence and, more importantly, can be toured as a museum. Now that I know it exists, I'll have to detour over there the next time I'm in the area, and see what we have. Representative Richard C. Boucher (D-9th) introduced legislation in 1994 that would have created the "Appalachian Area Coal Heritage Act" in support of the Pocahontas area; relevant Thomas links are here and here. Whether it passed, I don't know.

Three railways served the Pocahontas area, the Norfolk and Western, the Virginian, and the Chesapeake & Ohio. It is worth noting that all three of these railways were strong financial performers, primarily due to their position as coal haulers. Indeed, they were strong enough to become the modern-day Norfolk Southern Railway and CSX Transportation, the Virginian being merged into the Norfolk and Western on 01 December 1959.

At any rate, 122 years and probably a couple billion tons later, the Norfolk Southern Railway continues to haul coal eastward to Lamberts Point, Virginia, for outbound consumption. Hooray for coal and its employment.

Posted by: Country Pundit at 09:45 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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