Historic Coal Mines Blount County скачать в хорошем качестве

Historic Coal Mines Blount County

Coal in Blount County, Alabama has a rich history and dates back to post Civil War years with the completion of the South & North Alabama Railroad (L&N) that ran north through Birmingham to Decatur, Alabama. The original rail route leaving Birmingham swung through some of the Birmingham Districts earliest coal mining operations in and around present day Warrior. By the early 1890's the Birmingham Mineral Railroad (A Louisville & Nashville Railroad Division) had completed a rail line from Birmingham to Oneonta, Alabama. In later years this line called Huntsville Branch No.2 Line would be further extended to Altoona and onward to Attalla and Gadsden. With the completion of these rail and branch lines many mining companies were formed to begin valuable coal mining operations. L&N and its rail divisions pretty much provided had exclusive rail service in Blount County. By 1910 L&N's South & North Alabama's rail line north of Birmingham had become so overburdened with increased freight service along the line that it only offered a single rail line. Add to which the mountainous terrain and steep grades also caused many problems as to how much freight and weight a single locomotive could even pull so many loaded rail cars. L&N's engineers and surveyors eventually marked out a new route with double track rail lines that also called for the construction of two new tunnels. This huge expensive project took many years to complete but once finished changed the whole dynamic of rail transportation through Blount County. With this new route a new coal mine near Trafford was built called Thermal. Thermal is unique in that part of the mine is in Jefferson County but the bulk of underground mining took place in Blount County. So it can be argued that it represents a coal mine in Blount County. Altoona in Etowah County had the majority of their coal mining operations also take place in Blount County. Major coal mining in Blount County ceased by the early 1960's though there were many local coal mines operating strip mines that utilized transportation by large trucks. PLEASE NOTE that the Blount & Hayden Tunnels are still in active daily use and operated by CSX Railroad. Special thanks to Mr. J.Stewart for his invaluable historical assistance with this project