Railroads as Important to Coal  

The Clear Fork Rail Trail began as a Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) railway servicing Jarrold’s Valley. The C&O, established in 1868, was a major player in shaping post-Civil War industry. Where the Baltimore & Ohio Rail had largely neglected Southern West Virginia during its construction, the C&O sought to fill the gap in service, particularly as rich coal deposits were found in many Southern parts of the state. C&O followed pre-established routes, utilized by indigenous tribes moving through the canyon and stagecoach paths.¹⁷¹ Laying track for C&O was very dangerous and paid very little. Most work crews consisted mainly of recent immigrants and recently emancipated Black Americans.¹⁷² 

C&O laid the track for the Clear Fork Rail Trail between 1916 and 1917.¹⁷³ C&O had two central functions in the early 20th century: to export coal and to import miners. Because of C&O’s ability to connect previously isolated West Virginia communities to population centers such as Charleston, the coal industry began to rapidly expand in Southern West Virginia. Rich and untapped coal fields were now accessible by a major rail network, ushering in a boom of miners and their families. 

The Clear Fork Rail Trail was originally constructed as a C&O line serving Jarrold’s Valley near Whitesville. The railway acted as an important junction for the Coal River coalfield, linking the Valley to Sproul and St. Albans. Jarrold’s Valley connected the C&O to Hazy Creek and Ameagle, serving mines producing for the Oglebay & Norton Coal Co, Eagle Coal & Dock Co, Glogora Coal Co, and Armco Steel.¹⁷⁴ When the railroads connected Southern West Virginia to the coal industry, the need for housing and other community necessities became apparent. This led to the rise of company towns in the Southern West Virginia Coal Feilds that would go on to define many aspects of social and family life in the region. When the railroads arrived, much of West Virginia was undeveloped wilderness. In order to accommodate their workforce, coal companies began to build towns where houses were built cheaply and quickly, and where all services were run by the company. 

Due to the relative isolation and self-sufficiency of these communities, the miners who lived and worked in these coal towns established their own cultures and ways of life. The influx of minority communities, including black Americans and recent immigrants, usually from Southern and Eastern Europe, also shaped the landscape of coal company towns. Coal operators hoped that the populations of white American miners would feel dissonance from their non-Appalachian counterparts. Many coal towns were segregated, with districts for black miners, for Eastern European miners, and for “native” Appalachian miners. Coal companies thought this separation would curb unionization, hoping Appalachian miners would refuse to stand in solidarity with black miners and immigrant workers. These racial tensions were often exacerbated for the benefit of the coal companies.¹⁷⁵ Still, black Americans and immigrants continued to work in the mines to provide better lives for themselves and their families. West Virginia had the highest population of black miners in the nation, and black laborers seeking to escape systemic oppression in both the North and South came to West Virginia where they could be paid the same wage as white miners. These minority communities were deeply resilient and often established their own sub-communities to maintain their cultural traditions and practices in new spaces.