Bluefield, WV stands rich in history. Here I stand amongst this history. As today’s Norfolk Southern trains carry coal from the Blue Ridge towards the shoals at Norfolk, I retrace the history of yesterday’s Norfolk & Western and this town that that railroading and coal mining helped to build.
You can see it in the faces of the locals and in the peeling signs upon the brick that Bluefield supported the mines, and, in its core still supports the coal heritage of this region. Coal has been key to our past, is key to our present and will be key to our future.
I talk about the good old times and about the Bluefield of today. How the mountains are beautiful and to be respected. How the mountains built this city and so much of this region. In a deeper look, these mountains helped build much of America.
This is a region rich in coal, but, because of that mineral, it is rich in history and culture, as well. I talk amongst the locals and get a sense of the history, of what it was like when Y6B and Class A locomotives came to the yard to tie up and get much needed water and coal to take trains onward from this region. Coal built this town at the junction of Virginia and West Virginia, a town which once had the highest population of millionaires in the country.
The wealth of coal barons and the rise of speculation in the area added to this rise of fortunes, but as well, Bluefield’s perch high in the Appalachians made the town naturally cooler than much of the surrounding valleys. Bluefield was, as well, nestled in a prime location between the rich coal fields and the city of Roanoke, seventy miles to the east, which was developing into a key rail hub on the Norfolk & Western and Virginian railroads for moving coal to points north, south and east. Coal could be effectively moved to the northwest and west on the Norfolk & Western, as well.
This key location helped the coal of the Blue Ridge develop America and its growing need for fuel. In a sense, the availability of railroads in the region helped America continue to industrialize. As the steel centers, factories and shipyards developed along the Seaboard, in the Northeast and Midwest, so grew the demand for coal. Thanks to the mines, miners, railroads and railroad workers of this region, America was able to effectively industrialize.
