The Louisville and Nashville Railroad was extended from Corbin and reached Pineville in 1888. This was the beginning of the new industrial era of Bell County. I was in Pineville the day the first train came in. The people from all over the county must have been there. I well remember the large crowds. I was then a lad of twelve. When the railroad was being built through the Narrows, when it was extended from Pineville to Middlesborough, I remember what a time we had getting to Pineville through the Narrows when the blasting was going on. We were often held up for hours, and we could hardly hold our horses when the boom of the blast occurred, and then after the blasting was over, the horses balked at the smell of the powder. Some of them had to be left at the mouth of Clear Creek and we had to walk into town and carry our loads, or tote them as we would say in Bell County.

        Mr. Robert L. Kincaid, of Harrogate, Tennessee, Executive Vice-President of Lincoln Memorial University, has furnished me some very interesting data on the coming of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad into this section. The information was furnished him by John M. Scott, Secretary of the L. & N. R.R. Co., Louisville, Kentucky.

        "Construction of that part of the Knoxville Division of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad from Lebanon southward was begun in February, 1865, and by July 1, 1866, had been completed as far as Crab Orchard. On February 4, 1868, the extension was opened for business as far as Broadhead, and trains were operated to M. Vernon on November 16, 1868. Operation to Rockcastle River began September 8, 1870. By July 1, 1882, the road was in operation to London, and the extension reached the Tennessee State Line at Jellico in April, 1883.

        "That part of the Cumberland Valley Division of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, from Corbin, Kentucky, to Norton, Virginia, was completed and put into operation as follows: From Corbin to Pineville, May 1, 1888; from Pineville to Cumberland Gap, September 1, 1889; from Cumberland Gap to Big Stone Gap, Virginia, April 15, 1891; and from Big Stone Gap to Norton, May 15, 1891.

        Since the building of the main line through the county extensions have been made throughout the county, to the various coal fields in the county: up Bennett's Fork and Stony Fork above Middlesborough; to Harlan from the main line at Wasioto; up Yellow Creek, from the mouth of this stream, to the mines on Clear Fork of Yellow Creek; up Puckett's Creek; up Tom's Creek; to the mines at Cardinal; up Big Clear Creek; from Wasioto to Chenoa; up Greasy Creek to the mines there; up Four Mile Creek; up Straight Creek, both Left and Right fork; up Clear Fork of

Cumberland River, where both the Southern and Louisville and Nashville railroads operate. Both of these roads operate through the tunnel under Cumberland Gap in and out of Middlesborough. The Southern Railroad operates only in the county in and around the Middlesborough valley and the head of Clear Fork of Cumberland River. All the other roads are owned and operated by the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company, to which company the county owes its development.

        The Kentucky Lumber Company and the Jones Lumber Company, Williamsburg, Kentucky, in the '80's and '90's were floating logs down the Cumberland River from Bell County to their plants. The lumber business began with the floating of logs to mills outside of the county. About this time some few saw mills operated in the county, but did not amount to much because of the lack of getting the lumber out to the markets on account of no railroads. With the coming of the railroad in 1888 all this was changed.

I. T. J. ASHER AND SONS, WASIOTO, KENTUCKY

        The Pinnacle Printery, Of Middlesborough, published a book by J. C. Tipton, in 1905, known as THE CUMBERLAND COAL FIELD AND ITS CREATORS. This book gave a history of the industrial development of Bell County up to that time. The coal business, at that time, was sixteen years old. The lumber business of T. J. Asher and Sons came along with the early development of the coal business. Mr. Tipton says of this company:

        "The business was originally founded by Rennebaum & Slawson in 1886, as a circular saw mill with capacity of some 18,000 feet of lumber per day, in its present location about two miles above the now flourishing city of Pineville. In 1890 the property was purchased by the present owners and the mill was changed to a band saw mill increasing its capacity to 30,000 feet per day.

        "The mill is most admirably located on the Cumberland River just at the point where the Louisville and Nashville Railroad leaves the river on its southern and eastern course through the Cumberland Coal fields. The railroad gives them access to the markets of the world and the Cumberland River and its tributaries bring right to their booms the various kinds of high grade timber for which eastern Kentucky is notably celebrated. Owing to good business management and the high grade of these products, the business has been eminently successful under its present management. In 1895 the plant was entirely remodeled by putting in a strictly modern saw mill plant with a capacity of 50,000 feet daily and adding an up-to-date planing mill of large capacity, enabling them to fill orders promptly, of any size, either for lumber in the rough or dressed. As the plant now stands it is one of the best equipped in the south or elsewhere and the raw material they control, in the quality of the timber and its accessibility is surpassed by none and equaled by few in America. Soft yellow poplar lumber is their principal output and the quality is such that it gives them a world wide market. They have a very considerable export trade, their products going so far as South Africa. Certain lines of trade in Great Britain use large quantities annually of their A 1, A 2, and A 3 brands of yellow poplar. Atlantic Coast cities take probably the larger part of their various kinds of lumber, though they fill many orders from cities as far west as San Francisco and north as far as Montreal and Quebec. Whenever they have a surplus they find a ready market for it in the middle west and north of the Ohio River. The plant is run to its full capacity and has not been shut down a working day since 1895, except a week or so annually for the purpose of cleaning up and overhauling. Their timber is cut in the winter and carried to booms on the spring freshets of the Poor, Clear, and Martin's Forks of the Cumberland River. They have the only large mill in this section and control most of the desirable timber of easy access in these streams.

        "They also own in fee simple, some 15,000 acres of coal and timber lands adjacent to the Louisville and Nashville and Southern roads from which poplar and pine has been cut but is heavily timbered with oak, ash, chestnut, lynn and other marketable woods.

        "These lands are underlaid with various seams of coal which permeate these mountains, ranging in thickness from three to six feet, some which faces immediately on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and the farthest of it may be from either the Southern or Louisville and Nashville branch line. One vein of camel coal is now being opened on their property about one mile south of Wasioto.

        "The firm stands high in business and financial circles wherever they are known and particularly so in Eastern Kentucky and Tennessee. They are essentially self made men of the truly American type with all the geniality and hospitality for which Kentuckians are notable. Square and upright in all of their dealings they have gained the unlimited confidence of the public and their word as to the quality they offer to sell, is all the bond required by those who know them best.

        "The senior member of the firm, T. J. Asher, takes an active part in the business, being a practical mill man he superintends the operating departments. Robert Asher, the oldest son of T. J. Asher, is in charge of the office business, assisted by a stenographer and J. M. Carroll the bookkeeper. Mr. Carroll gained his experience in the lumber business in upper Michigan and has been clear through the course from prep to post graduate. Other members of the firm are H. H. Asher, G. M. Asher, and A. J. Asher, and they are each department managers in operating the plant.

        "The firm also operates one of the largest department stores in Bell County, located at Wasioto. This business is managed by Dr. M. Brandenburg, son-in-law of T. J. Asher."

          The following has been taken from the HISTORY OF KENTUCKY published in 1928 by the S. J. Clark Publishing Company, Chicago-Louisville.

        "Endowed with a broad vision and keen sagacity, Thomas J. Asher has erected the guide-posts of progress and success in Eastern Kentucky and his work in connection with the development of the lumber industry, the opening of the rich coal mines in Harlan and Bell Counties and the building of railroads and highways has been of inestimable benefit to the state. He resides in Pineville (should be Wasioto) and through the wise utilization of his talents and opportunities he has become one of the wealthiest men in the Cumberland Gap region. Of a retiring disposition, he has never cared for the artificialities of life and his democratic manner, innate courtesy and kindness of heart have endeared him to those who enjoy the privileges of his friendship.

        "Mr. Asher's paternal grandfather was born in North Carolina, October 5, 1777, and about 1795 responded to the call of adventure. He was one of the early settlers of Clay County, Kentucky, and aided in planting the seeds of civilization in this region. He had many encounters with the Indians but was a man of intrepid spirit, inured to hardship and danger, was an experienced woodsman, a great hunter and a splendid type of the Kentucky pioneer. He transformed the wild land into a fertile, well improved tract and resided on his farm in Clay County until his death on the 8th day of May, 1844.

     "It was there that his son, Andrew Jackson Asher, was born July 11, 1817, and he also chose the career of an agriculturist, likewise becoming an expert marksman. He was industrious and persevering and through earnest, systematic effort developed a valuable farm on Redbird Creek, in Clay County, but spent the latter part of his life in Bell County. He married Margaret Hendrickson, who was born in 1821, in Knox County, Kentucky, where her parents were early settlers. She was a devout Baptist and passed away in Bell County in 1904, while her husband's demise occurred August 1, 1888, when he was seventy-one years of age.

        "Their son, Thomas J. Asher, was born on the old homestead May 21, 1848, and was reared and educated in Clay County. When a young man he moved to Bell County and acquired a farm near Calloway, also entering the logging business. His first logs were sold to the Southern Pump Company, of Burnside, Kentucky, and from 1870 until 1881 his activities his activities were centered at Calloway. He then located at Wasioto, in the same county, and increased the scope of his labors. In 1889 he started a sawmill, in which he installed the first circular saw used in this section of the state. About 1895 he improved his equipment by the purchase of a band saw and erected a steel frame mill capable of producing from fifty to seventy-five thousand feet of lumber each day. He created a large industry and conducted the mill until 1910. Since 1900 he has figured conspicuously in coal mining operations in Bell and Harlan counties and constructed a railroad twelve miles long with a two-mile branch along Tom's Creek. He is present of the Asher Coal Mining Company, whose properties are located at Colmar, Varilla and Tejay in Bell County and in Coxton, Wood and Chevrolet, Harlan County. The output of these mines averages four thousand tons daily and the corporation

ranks with the largest of the kind in eastern Kentucky. The village of Tejay derived its name from Mr. Asher's initials. He is also president of the Bailey Construction Company, a well known firm of road contractors, with headquarters at Pineville. In his character the qualities of enterprise and conservatism are perfectly blended, thus enabling him to direct his energies into channels where fruition is certain.

        Mr. Asher was married March 3, 1870, to Miss Varilla Howard, for whom the village of Varilla in Bell County was named. She is a native of Calloway, Kentucky, born May 14, 1848. Mr. and Mrs. Asher have five children: Hugh H., president of the Bell National Bank of Pineville; Robert, who is connected with a furniture house of Cincinnati; George M., a prominent dairyman and coal operator of Bell County; Andres J., who is engaged in farming near Pineville; and Verdie Ray, the wife of Dr. M. Brandenburg, formerly a physician and now a successful hardware dealer of Pineville. He is engaged in the coal business and has extensive farm holdings in Oklahoma.

        Mr. and Mrs. Asher are affiliated with the Baptist Church and in politics he is a republican. He was elected county Judge of Bell County and served for four years, from 1914 until 1918, performing his duties in a thoroughly satisfactory manner. He has achieved the full measure of success and has made the 'square deal' a principal of his life. In 1916 the Courier Journal published an article written by Tom Wallace, whose description of Mr. Asher's constructive work is as follows:

        The most prominent figure in Pineville, and one of the most interesting in the Kentucky mountains, is County Judge T. J. Asher, who is building the Dixie Highway in Bell County. He educated himself after he was a grown man and is now reputed to be more than once a millionaire. He lives in a cottage (two-story frame house) by the roadside at Wasioto, a station a mile or so outside of Pineville, where he had a lumber camp when he was interested chiefly in lumber.

        Judge Asher is of a nervous temperament. He knows everyone and talks to everyone but he rarely stands still for five minutes at a time.

After Judge Asher went out of the lumber business about 1910, he built his railroad from Wasioto up Cumberland River to Tejay, and opened up mines on his property. The road later went on into Harlan County. Mr. Asher developed some 30,000 acres of coal lands on the upper Cumberland in Bell County and in Harlan County. Later he purchased about 20,000 acres of coal and timber lands on the upper waters of Straight Creek and on Redbird Creek. A railroad was extended up the Left Fork of Straight Creek and now these lands are being developed.

        T. J. Asher is by far the leading industrialist of Bell County, and one of the greatest businessmen southeastern Kentucky ever produced. He did more to give the laboring man employment, more in taxes for the building of roads and bridges, more to the cause of education in taxes, and more to the general upbuilding of Bell County than any other man who has lived within the confines of Bell County up to his day. As a tribute to his high-minded purpose and accomplishments his picture adorns the front page in this book.

II. COAL BUSINESS IN BELL COUNTY

        The coal business in Bell County, after the coming of the railroad in 1888, took two lines of development. Middlesborough was the hub of one of these and Pineville was the other. In each case a large land company built the towns, and laid out the first lines of development. In Middlesborough it was the American Association. In Pineville it was the National Coal and Iron Company.

        Middlesborough is the logical result of the purchase of some sixty thousand acres of the best mineral lands in this section by the American

Association, a Kentucky corporation, but made up mostly of English shareholders. They invested millions here. The Town Company was formed and the embryo city was given the name of Middlesborough, after the great manufacturing city of the same name in England. The town was incorporated in 1890 and before the close of the year had a population of over 6000, a well laid out town with a street car line, an electric light plant, water works, the finest hotel between Louisville and Knoxville, numerous office buildings and business houses that would credit any city of 50,000 population. The undoubted success of the first business enterprises here led to overcapitalization and over production, and the Baring failure in England and great financial collapse in this country in 1893, following in the wake of this new enterprise, caused a reaction and the enormous shrinkage in values that swept everything before it except those that had elements of stability behind them. It is worthy of note that none of the coal companies or any of the traders failed or went into the hands of receivers. Alexander A. Arthur was the leader of this movement in the Middlesborough area.

        Pineville, the present town, was laid out by the National Coal and Iron Company. Before the coming of the railroad in 1888, the town had occupied the Narrows south of the present town. The boom brought a court house, office buildings, churches, school building, business houses, and dwellings in large numbers. Pineville became a town of four or five thousand people within a short time. After the development of the town the company developed the old Straight Creek mines, at the forks of the two Straight Creeks. This was one of the big mines of the county. After the boom, a slump came. It brought values down, some failures, and a general depression of business. But, out of this depression and readjustment, came a permanent prosperity which has lasted, in varying degrees, since that time. Theodore Harris and M. S. Barker were the prime movers in this new industrial movement in the Pineville district.

        From these two centers, the Middlesborough and Pineville districts, the coal business moved in different directions and spread, n a few years, over most of the county. In the Yellow Creek Valley, the line of coal development crept up Bennets Fork and on into Tennessee, up Stony Fork to its head on top of Log Mountain, across Log Mountain to Clear Fork of Cumberland River, down Yellow Creek to Excelsior and below, and toward Fern Lake. In the Pineville area, the lines of coal development went to Wallsend, up Straight Creek, up Four Mile Creek, up Greasy Creek, up Big Clear Creek, and later up Cumberland River to the Harlan County line, and how it is moving on up the Left Fork of Straight Creek

into the Red Bird area and promises to develop a bigger coal field than Bell County has ever had in the years before.

A. NATIONAL COAL AND IRON COMPANY

PINEVILLE, KENTUCKY

        This business was originally organized in 1888 as the Pine Mountain Iron and Coal Company. That company was the pioneer in the coalbusiness here and the promoters of the town of Pineville. They owned practically all of the land now included in the city limits, built the first Pineville Hotel and other buildings, and advertised the town until it became a familiar name in many sections of the country. Like pioneers in many other development enterprises, the first result was disappointment to the promoters in a financial way, though it blazed the way for the development and prosperity that followed in its wake. The property was operated under another title with various degrees of success for a number of years. In 1896, the property with all of its franchises and improvements, was sold at public sale, when it was purchased by some of the present owners of the property and later an entirely new company was organized under the title of the National Coal and Iron Company, of which Theodore Harris, President of the Louisville Banking Company, of Louisville, became president. Maxwell S. Barker, a member of the Louisville bar, was made Vice-President and General Manager, and Samuel H. Stone, Secretary and Treasurer. W. R. Wood is the Superintendent in charge of the operations at the mines.

        The property passed into their possession, with that since acquired, includes 15,000 acres of choice mineral and timber lands and 300 lots in the incorporated city of Pineville.

        The present company began operations in 1898 with a daily capacity of 250 tons. The coal is high grade steam, domestic, gas and coking coal, and has rapidly grown in favor wherever introduced. The coal is known on the market as Straight Creek Coal. There are 200 coke ovens in connections with the plant, but they are not run at their full capacity.

        There are some valuable deposits of iron ore on the property, and judging from its quality, location and surroundings, the time will come when it will become one of the valuable assets of the company. (In this Mr. Tipton missed his guess. The company has come and gone and the iron ore was never worked).

B. WALLSEND COAL AND COKE COMPANY

WALLSEND, BELL COUNTY, KENTUCKY

        This plant, as it now stands, is one of the best equipped and largest producing mines in the Appalachian Coal fields, says Mr. J. C. Tipton. He continues: "The property was originally acquired in 1889 (the year after the railroad came to Pineville) and its development began at once but the venture was not a financial success until after the purchase of the property by the present company which occurred on August 1, 1904. At that time Mr. Charles E. Hall, of London, England, became president and general manager, D. B. Logan, Vice-President and E. Reno Short, Secretary and Superintendent, the later two of Pineville, Kentucky. It is a Kentucky corporation but the stock is largely held in England; some of the shareholders are among the nation's most prominent men of affairs both in politics and in the business world. The new management at once revised the conditions, the business was thoroughly systemized both inside and outside the mines. The output of the mine was largely increased until their present capacity is about 800 tons per day.

        They are now working in two entries, one on each side of the valley, using the same tipple for both mines. Both pick and machine methods are used in mining. Electric motors are used in gathering the cars and the track inside the mines is a complete railway system in miniature. For rapidity and economy in getting the coal from the Mine to the tipple the system in use here is not surpassed anywhere.

        They own approximately 1500 acres of coal land on which there are other valuable seams. The company is now preparing to make an entry on another seam higher up the mountain which has a thickness of 60 inches (in comparison of 36 inches for the one they are working) at the opening now and is some eight or nine hundred acres in extent. There are fifty coke ovens located near the tipple and the coal used to make coke is disintegrated and carried from the tipple to the ovens by elevators and conveyors.

        Mr. Charles E. Hall, the president and manager, is the controlling spirit in the enterprise. He devotes all of his time and the present favorable

condition of the company's affairs are due entirely to his personal application and correct business methods.

        Mr. Short, the Secretary, has been connected with the mine for many years. He is Mr. Hall's right hand man and has proved a very valuable assistant in the laborious work such a business involves.

        The central office, railroad station, telegraph and express offices are at Wallsend, Bell County, Kentucky. Wallsend today is a part of Pineville.

        This mine, the Wallsend mine, was the first one to start operations in Bell County, having started in 1889 and one year after the railroad entered Pineville.

        The Bell Jellico Coal Company was capitalized at $100,000.00 and had it general offices in Pineville, Kentucky. It was located on Greasy Creek. The property consisted of 1400 acres. R. G. Yingling, of Williamsburg, Pennsylvania, is the president; M. L. Chadman, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, is treasurer, and A. C. Bowers is the general manager in active charge of the business; F. G. Tice is secretary and in charge of the store and books.

C. OTHER INDUSTRIES IN THE

PINEVILLE DISTRICT

        D. B. Logan was one of the prime movers in developing Pineville after it had come through the slump after the boom days following 1888. He made large investments in Pineville property and in coal lands around Pineville. The Pineville Hotel, originally built for an office building for the National Coal and Iron Company, was remodeled and turned into a hotel. The stockholders of the hotel company were Dr. Tilson Ramsey, President; T. J. Asher, Vice-President; D. C. Burchfield and D. B. Logan. The hotel flourished for many years as the leading hotel of Pineville.

        The Bell National Bank was organized in 1904, and, for many years, was a faithful and strong institution in the development of Bell County. The Board of Directors were C. J. Johnson, T. F. Gibson, T. R. Ware, W. R. Wood, E. G. Conant, D. B.Logan. D. B. Logan was made president and C. J. Johnson Vice-President and E. G. Conant cashier. The capital stock was $25,000.00

D. THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION, INCORPORATED

        This corporation is the successor of the parent of all the developments that have followed their coming into the field in 1889. They sowed with a lavish hand but others have gathered most of the yield so far. They and their friends built the railroad lines converging here, and dug through the Cumberland Mountains at the expense of many million dollars. They purchased and opened up for development nearly 50,000 acres of mineral lands and built railroads in order to make them accessible. They furnished the Town Company money to improve the town; they built the Harrogate Inn, and the magnificent Four Seasons Hotel, (some of the buildings and grounds are now occupied by Lincoln Memorial University); the Middlesborough Hotel, water works, electric light plant, churches and school houses, business blocks, and in fact it was their money that changed this plateau and wild mountain valley from an almost inaccessible wilderness to their present high degree of development and prosperity.

        In an attempt to save their original investment they felt compelled from time to time to make large additions to their first capitalization until the aggregate reached far beyond what the developments will justify for years to come. They built the Knoxville, Cumberland Gap and Louisville Railroad 81.80 miles; and Middlesborough Belt Railroad 28 miles, and the Marietta and North Georgia Railroad 259 miles, making a total of 368.80 miles, together with all the rolling stock and other equipment, but the English investors lost all the money they put into railways and rolling stock. They now own between sixty and seventy thousand acres of mineral lands in Bell County, Kentucky, Claiborne and Campbell Counties, Tennessee, and in Lee County, Virginia. That much of the property is underlaid with rich and valuable mineral deposits cannot be disputed, but in order to give them any commercial value an outlet had to be provided, and here is just where the promoter and first manager of the company, Mr. A. A. Arthur, lost his bearings. It was a case of "biting off more than he could chew." It would have been a draft on the Bank of England to have financed the numerous developments and improvements he set on foot. He failed to take into consideration the fact that the country was new and undeveloped, that new markets had to be secured, that there was a bitter opposition to be overcome, and that there was no support in sight for the numerous fine hotels he built, towns projected and industries financed, and that it take years for a new railroad through a new country to become self-supporting. He induced the Association to put up the money to buy the properties and build the railways, but as the earnings never met the interest charges, or current expenses, the properties all went one after another into the hands of the receivers. TheBaring failure in London and the panic of '92 and '93 in this country contributed to this end somewhat, but early mismanagement made the step unavoidable in the end. In 1891 some of the largest shareholders, becoming dissatisfied with Mr. Arthur's management, looked about to find someone to take his place, and selected an old personal friend, James Herbert Bartlett, an engineer by profession, a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers of England, the American Institute of Mining Engineers, and of various other engineering societies. In November, 1891, an arrangement was made, and Mr. Bartlett arrived at Middlesborough in January, 1892, as general manager of the American Association, Limited, and in 1893 was made receiver for the Middlesborough Belt Railway and for the Association's landed property, and in that capacity, to some extent, straightened out the tangled affairs of the company and put it on a business basis. In the reorganization which followed the investment of the English shareholders who owned about two and half million dollars in ordinary and preferred shares was wiped out. The bondholders'

interest was not paid and they had to take the property for their debt; new stock and bonds were issued and sold to buy the property from the receiver. After the reorganization was completed, Mr. Bartlett was made managing director and has not only put their property on a sound basis, but by good business judgment and conservative management has brought the credit and standing of the community up with themselves to a position where they have both the respect and confidence of the outside Though the original investments were lost, the improvements made were of a substantial permanent character, and are here yet. The money spent has enhanced the value of other property in this part of Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia, a hundred fold. The aggregate of taxes collected here now is dollars where twenty years ago it was cents. The business affairs of the company and the entire community is now on a basis where success is assured.

        A large proportion of the coal lands in the Middlesborough district belong to the Association, some of it leased to mining companies. There are now eleven mines in operation on their property, mostly located on Bennetts Fork of Yellow Creek, which are served by both the Southern and Louisville and Nashville railways. About one million tons of bituminous coal were sent to the market in 1904. Since the reorganization of the company they have cut loose from all subsidiary companies and devote their entire attention to developing the mineral

resources of their property, and Mr. J. H. Bartlett, the Managing Director, has been indefatigable in his efforts to bring additional capital and additional prosperity to this community, having incorporated and promoted the Middlesborough Mineral and the Cumberland Railways, which are now being built to develop the Clear Fork region and the land of the Association, and one of which is projected to go to Harlan, the surveys having been completed and rights of way secured. The investment here is large and the ramifications of the business covers a wide field and it requires a high degree of both financial skill and executive ability to properly manage the property and arrange for further and future development.       

        The opening of the Clear Fork district, which will probably take place this year, will enable an entirely new and extensive coal field to be developed. The Southern Railway and the Louisville and Nashville Railway are jointly building the new line so that all the Association's lessees here will have the exceptional advantage of being able to reach all Southern markets over two main trunk lines, the Northern markets over one. Nowhere else in this country can such another situation be found.

        The Association's lessees at present are: Fork Ridge Coal and Coke Company, Bryson Mountain Coal and Coke Company, Yellow Creek Coal Company, Reliance Coal and Coke Company, Mingo Coal and Coke Company, Nicholson Coal Company, Ralston Coal Company, Sterling Coal and Coke Company, Fern Lake Coal Company, Winona Coal and Coke Company, Turner Coal Company, Excelsior Coal Company, Virginia Iron, Coal and Coke Company, Middlesborough Pressed Brick Company. The offices of this company are in Middlesborough, Kentucky, U.S.A., and its officers are J. H. Bartlett, Managing Director; J. D. Templin, Superintendent; J.C. Richardson, Mining Engineer; G. W. Easton, Resident Attorney; H. M. Axline, Secretary; T. Milam, Treasurer; Frank McIlhiney, Janitor.

        John Ralston is one of the pioneer coal men of the Middlesborough section. He came in ahead of the railroad and was actively developing his plans while Middlesborough was yet in the hands of its promoters. The Mingo Mountain Coal and Coke Company was the first coal company in the Middlesborough field and Mr. Ralston was president of this company. Mr. Ralston continued as president of this company until 1894, when additional capital was infused and an eastern man was chosen for the position, Mr. Ralston taking the place of Vice-President and an active manager. He remained in that capacity until 1901, when he ceased to be actively engaged in the Mingo property, having previously organized the Ralston Coal Company, of which he was the president and active manager. This company was a success from its inception. In 1902 the Stony Fork Coal Company was organized with Mr. Ralston at the head and his son, Charles E. Ralston, as Superintendent.

His son Robert L. Ralston is Vice-President and Superintendent of the Mingo Coal and Coke Company. He has five sons, all but one actively engaged in the coal business here. Robert L. and Charles E., as before mentioned, Herbert M. is Superintendent of the Ralston mine, and James Howard is in the general mercantile business at Ralston mine and Stony Fork. Mr. Ralston is a native of Scotland, coming to this country with his parents when a boy of six years. The family settled in Pennsylvania, near Harrisburg, where our subject made his home before coming to this field.

        C. M. Woodberry came to Middlesborough in 1889 when the town was yet in the embryo state; he was the first vice-president of the Town Company, and took an active part in the developing the young but prosperous city. He was the general manager of the Electric Light, Heat and Power Company, Vice-President of the First National Bank and held other positions of trust and responsibility. In 1891 he formed a connection with the Mingo Mountain Coal and Coke Company, taking the position of treasurer and sales manager. In 1895 the Mingo Mountain Coal and Coke Company was reorganized and named the Mingo Coal and Coke Company, and Mr. Woodbury was chosen President. One of his sons, Daniel Corydon Woodbury, is a rising Electrical Engineer, located with a prominent railroad company in New York City; another son, Edward N. Woodbury, is a cadet at West Point; while William N., a third son, is at Yale College taking a Mining Engineering course.

        Fork Ridge Coal and Coke Company is the largest mine in the Middlesborough (1904) district. This company has leased 3,000 acres and their leases extend for fifty years.

        The company began operations in 1895 and worked with surprising degrees of success until 1899 when it passed to the present owners, who have operated the mine since that time under the same charter and corporate name.

        Hu L. McClung is President of the company, Tecumseh Milam, Treasurer, and E. B. Taylor is General Manager in active control of the Property. Mr. Taylor is a native of England and by profession is a mining engineer. He came to this country in 1889.

        The Middlesborough Coal Company, Middlesborough, Kentucky, was largely a coal selling agency for the Reliance Coal and Coke Company. The incorporators of the Reliance Company were: Job Whitehead, John Gent, J. B. Huff, Hunt Evans, and Thomas Ingram. Three years after the organization P. C. Swab purchased the holdings of Mr. Sanner and became the sole owner. Mr. Walter Whiteman, of

Philadelphia then became President and Daniel Cooper Swab, son of P. C. Swab, became Vice-President and Treasurer. D. C. Swab, G. W. Whiteman and Q. A. Tipton were the owners of the Middlesborough Coal Company. Mr. Tipton was in active charge of the Reliance mines.

       Bryson Mountain Coal and Coke Company began operations in 1890. Mr. T. Cockill is President of the company and holds the majority of the stock. Mr. J. H. Keeney took charge of the mines as General Manager in 1900.

        The Nicholson Coal Company was organized by W. F. Nicholson in 1902. He was connected with the Excelsior Mining Company before that time. He is a native of Virginia and spent his mature years in banking and mining.

        J. L. Manring came from Ohio in 1895 and began work as a bookkeeper for the Middlesborough Coal Company. He later organized the Manring Coal Exchange, a coal sales agency for the Middlesborough district, and handled insurance in connection with the agency. He was Vice-President and General Manager of the Fork Ridge Coal and Coke Company. In 1903, Mr. Manring aided in the organization of the Sterling Coal Company and was its first president. In 1904 the Manring Coal Exchange was organized with J. L. Manring as President and R. E. Hess as Secretary and Treasurer. Mr. J. L. Manring and others purchased the Bennetts Fork Coal and Coke Company but reorganized it and named it the Winona Coal and Coke Company. Manring was chief executive. The offices of the Manring Coal Exchange, the Queensbury Coal and Coke Company, the Sterling Coal and Coke Company and the Winona Coal and Coke Company are all in the two-story stone front building on Twentieth Street, erected for the Watts Steel and Iron Syndicate.

        The Sagamore Coal Company on Stony Fork began operations in 1892, with M. J. Saunders, President; Burke H. Keeney, Vice-President; James L. Larmour, Secretary; A. M. Chamberlain, Treasurer and General Manager. Mr. Chamberlain owns the controlling interest in the mines. The railroad was completed to the mines in 1903 and the first shipments were made January 1, 1904.

        Luke and Drummond Coal Company was also located on Stony Fork. George Luke and Hugh Drummond were the owners of the stock in this company. They came to this field in 1896 and were connected with the Bennetts Fork Coal Company. In 1903 they left this company and formed the Luke and Drummond Coal Company.

        The Yellow Creek Coal Company was located on Bennetts Fork near the Kentucky-Tennessee state line. This was one of the large companies of the Middlesborough field. The men who promoted this company and owned the stock in it were: John G. Fitzpatrick, who married a sister of Congressman David G. Colson; Joe Bosworth, who went to the Kentucky house and senate a number of terms and who was the father of good roads in this section; and E. S. Helburn, who figured large in the development of Middlesborough and the surrounding territory. J. E. Evans, who was city Judge of Middlesborough, was bookkeeper for this company for many years.

        The Turner Coal Company, of Middlesborough, was organized just before the year 1904, and worked what was known as the Turner Vein. It is some 200 feet lower than the Bennetts Fork seam. The mine was located only about one mile from Middlesborough. The company was made up of local people, Mr. William H. Turner being the president and general manager of the company.

E. OTHER INDUSTRIES OF THE

MIDDLESBOROUGH DISTRICT

        There were two banks which played an important part in the early development of this section around Middlesborough, the National Bank of Middlesborough and the Citizens Bank.

        The National Bank of Middlesborough was organized in 1903 and began business January 4, 1904. The officers were R. C. Ford, President; L. L. Robertson, Vice-President; W. C. Sleet, Cashier. The Directors were J. Goodfriend, of J. Goodfriend & Company; E. S. Helburn, Treasurer of the Yellow Creek Coal Company; L. L. Robertson, M. D.; Daniel Cooper Swab, Vice-President and Treasurer of the Reliance Coal and Coke Company; C. N. Miller; of Miller Brothers Merchants; Ray Moss, railroad contractor; J. L. Manring, President of the Sterling Coal and Coke Company; C. M. Woodbury, President of Mingo Coal and Coke Company; George W. Albrecht, President of the Pinnacle Printery and Post

Master; John Ralston, President of the Ralston Coal Company; R. C. Ford.

        The Citizens Bank had a capital stock of $25,000 and was organized for business in 1903. The Directors were W. F. Nicholson, J. L. Manring, B. H. Perkins, and A. I. Miller.

        The Middlesborough Pressed Brick Company was organized and incorporated in 1894. The coal, fire-clay, plastic clay and shale of the highest quality are in the hill just in the rear of the plant. The company is composed of J. F. Harkness, President and Treasurer; Will S. Harkness, Secretary. Directors are J. F. Harkness, Andrew Harkness, James Harkness, Will S. Harkness, and Alex Harkness.

        The New South Brewery and Ice Company was located at the foot of Cumberland Mountain beneath the Gap and began business in 1893. In 1904 this brewery was selling annually twenty-five thousand barrels (liquid measure 31 gallons) of their products in the states of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina and throughout the south, and some of their brands of bottled beer went regularly into Cincinnati, Chicago and other northern cities. The officers of the company were Fred W. Wolf, President; Charles H. Schreiber, Vice-President; Steve Hauser, Secretary; and William Wallbrecht, Treasurer and General Manager. Mr. Kumli was their brew master.

         The Dabney-Ould Company was organized in Middlesborough in 1903. The wholesale house handles everything in the way of staple and fancy groceries, druggists' sandries, provisions, hay, grain, feed and flour. E. H. Ould, President of the company, is a resident of Norton, Virginia, and head of the Norton Hardware Company, wholesale hardware dealers of that city. George R. Debney, the Secretary and Treasurer and active manager of the business, is a resident of Middlesborough. The incorporators were E. H. Ould, George R. Debney, and E. W. Morris.

        The New Cumberland Hotel is located at 18th Street and Cumberland Avenue, and has three hundred feet of broad verandahs. It is an up-to-date hotel with a large number of rooms. F. D. Hart, Jr., is proprietor (1904).

F. SOME PRESENT COAL COMPANIES

NOW OPERATING IN COUNTY

        The principal coal companies now operating in the county are-- Kentucky Ridge Coal Company, Crocket, Kentucky, J. Whitfield, Manager;

Coleman Fuel Company, Fields, Kentucky, C. R. Coleman, Manager; Buffalo Coal Company, Sidney, Kentucky, W. N. Chappell, Manager; Bell Coal Company, Little Creek, Kentucky, Byron Whitfield, Manager; Big Jim Coal Company, Blanch, Kentucky, Charles Guthrie, Manager; Straight Creek Coal Company, Cary, Kentucky; Barker Straight Creek Coal Company, Jensen, Kentucky, R. R. Adkins, manager, Pioneer Coal Company, Kettle Island, Kentucky; Kentucky Home Coal Company, Dower, Kentucky, J. M. Pursifull, Manager; Bell Jellico Coal Company, Ruby, Kentucky, Mr. Ellison, Manager; Kentucky Straight Creek Coal Company, Belva, Kentucky, W. L. Lewis, Manager; Southern Mining Company, Insull, Kentucky, F. J. Gilbert, Manager; Kentucky Cardinal Coal Company, Cardinal, Kentucky, Mr. Strauss, Manager; Cairnes Coal Mining Company, Cairnes, Kentucky.