The Virginian Railroad
Formed in 1909, the 600 mile Virginian Railroad was created to haul coal from the mines in West Virginia to the ships at the Sewells Point docks in Norfolk, VA which were waiting to carry the coal to foreign ports. It was built through the vision and financial backing of H. H. Rogers, who hired talented people and gave them the best equipment that his money could buy.
The railroad owned 83 freight steam locomotives and nearly 15,000 coal cars. In 1950 the VGN hauled over 28 million tons of coal
Among other achievements, they had a very successful electrification program, replacing steam engines with 7000 horse power electric engines to haul 70+ coal car trains carrying 16,000 tons for the run out of the mountains over 2% grades from Mullens, WV 134 miles to Roanoke, VA. The current was generated at the Narrows, VA power station halfway between the two. The system was activated in 1925 and ran until 1962.
Matoaka
This town is named for Chief Powhatan's daughter Matoaka who was better known by her nickname "Pocahontas".
Matoaka was the only terminal for Deepwateer Railroad, providing connection to the Norfolk & Western Railroad. The Deepwater end was connected to the New York Central Railroad. The Deepwater Railroad was eventually extended to Virginia and connected to the Tidewater Railroad to form the Virginian.
Due to most of them lying north of Matoaka made it a gateway to undeveloped coal fields of Mercer County.
There was a moonshine bar at nearby Matoaka Gap, now named Clark's Gap, north-west from here, which the railroad workers as well as others took great advantage of.
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