Connecting The Seam

Connecting The Seam. The Dunloup Creek Watershed. , Secondary to only the mines themselves, the railroads were the most significant driver of development in the Dunloup Creek watershed at the outset of the 20th century. A fiercely competitive business, access to the railroad determined the success or failure of a mining operation, as well as the resultant company towns that sprang up along the floodplain of Dunloup Creek and throughout the New River coalfields., Acutely aware of the necessity of the railroads in finding success, Thomas McKell worked to bring the railroads into the mine lands, first connecting his property to the Chesapeake and Ohio (C&O) Railway's mainline by constructing a bridge over the New River in 1889. Later, McKell worked with the C&O to build a branch line extending along Dunloup Creek, passing through his coal-rich lands. In return, McKell promised to build a coke plant capable of processing 1,000 tons of coal daily. Begun in 1892 and completed at MacDonald in 1894, the Loop Creek branch connected dozens of communities along the dense Sewell coal seam. A shrewd businessman, Thomas and, later, his son, William, also established their own line in the 1900s, the Kanawha, Glen Jean and Eastern, connecting their mines to the competing Virginian Railway.