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CLOVER FORK TRIP FROM HARLANFollowing is a great guide to Southeastern KY's Railroads;
Guide to Appalachian Coal Hauling Railroads
http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/app_coal.html
Information on this page was extracted from;
http://www.spikesys.com/Trains/App_coal/apcl_2e.html
and printed with permission of Robert Vaughn, RDV2@aol.com
NOTE: For those of us who haven't traveled the Harlan
to Evarts road in a while this is a great reminder.
CLOVER FORK BRANCH
The Clover Fork Branch departs the CV at Milepost WM242.1 through a wye, crosses
both Martins Fork Branch(river) and US421, passes through downtown Harlan, then
follows the Clover Fork of the Cumberland River for 29 miles to Glenbrook. KY38
will follow the tracks all the way from Harlan to Glenbrook, however, with the
above mentioned floodwall construction, I'm not sure how KY38 will intersect
US421. Look for the sign is all I can say until the construction is completed.
Just outside of Harlan, KY38 will pass by what looks like a concrete covered
hillside and high fence. This is where the southern portals of the mile-long
river redirection project tunnels are located. About a mile past here on the
right, at the town of Kitts, is a sawmill and woodchip plant that took the place
of an older tipple. Woodchips have replaced coal as the "Kitts" siding's only
output and you will always find several oversized, highside hoppers spotted
there.4 miles from US421 is the turbulent and infamous community of Brookside. The
Brookside Prep Plant is currently owned and operated by Manalapan Mining Company
and ships coal on the 72 car "Brookside" siding. Originally built by the
Eastover Mining Company to supply coal to their corporate owner, North Carolina
based Duke Power Company, this plant became the focal point for a bloody 1970's
coal strike. At the end of this report, I'll cover some of the trouble that was
associated with the deadly strike. This older plant is yet another grey and
green painted facility almost identical to the Grays Knob plant on the CV
mainline. It sits higher up on the hillside, surrounded by coal stockpiles and
conveyors in all directions. The best views will come from pulling into the
softball field parking lot located right in front of the plant and walking
around to the back side of the bleachers. The green painted offices at the gate
were the site of most of the violence during the early '70's. Brookside has been
featured in two television broadcast that are now available on video. The first,
"Harlan County, USA", is a documentary of the coal strike & general living
conditions in the area and was filmed on location. Several early morning shots
of L&N Alco mine run engines in action and footage from inside a deep mine make
this worth watching. The second, "Roses Are For The Rich", stars Lisa Hartman
Black and is a fictional account of a coal miners wife seeking revenge for her
husband's death in a mine explosion. Although the prep plant and railroads in
the movie resemble those at Brookside, they were most likely filmed somewhere in
the West. Typical Hollywood!From the crossing at Brookside, continue for 1 3/4 miles to the community of
Verda. You'll be looking for KY1601 which turns right at Verda and follows Jones
Creek up to the community of Ten Spot and several idle deep mines. To see the
loader, park at the gas station that sits on the north side of the KY1601
crossing and walk across the tracks. The facility is located just behind the
houses and garages to the east. Houses line the Verda siding and people walk up
and down these side tracks to get home due to a lack of roads. Just watch for
trains on the main branchline! This is a small tipple, consisting of
truck-dumps, crusher, screens, conveyors for ground storage and a single track
coal chute. Hoppers loaded on the 84 car capacity "Verda" siding require 24
hours to completely fill a unit train. This facility has been owned by
Bonanza(Bon) Trucking Co, Appalachian Colliers Incorporated and more recently
the Tennessee Consolidated Coal Company, itself operated by the A.T. Massey Coal
Company which is a subsidiary of Fluor Corporation. Get all that? Under
Tennessee Consolidated, coal was shipped over CSX to Jasper, TN (near
Chattanooga) where it had been transloaded into barges for movement on the
Tennessee River to steam customers. As of March '95, the Verda Tipple sits idle
and in good condition. At one time, a spur crossed the Clover Fork (River) and
ran over to a large, 5-track tipple just a few hundred feet to the west of the
1601 crossing. This original Verda Tipple is long gone.Continue on KY38 for a mile and a half until the road crosses the tracks at the
town of Evarts. After crossing the tracks, make note of the road that turns left
and parallels the tracks. We'll come back here in a moment. For now, stay on
KY38 as it enters town. KY215 will turn right at one of Evarts' two red- lights,
just look for the sign. Turn right on KY215 and go 3 blocks until you see a
high, red & white, metal-siding type fence on your right. This fence hides the
small coal processing plant owned by Cloverfork Mining and Excavation, Inc.
Pulling into the church parking lot on your left will give a good view back
behind the fence at the truck-dumps or turn on the dirt road just before the
fence and drive back to the rail crossing. Don't worry, this is a public road
and will give a good view of the actual loader. By this time, you will also have
noticed the very large, wooden Yocum Creek Tipple on the opposite side of the
tracks. Although abandoned years ago by the Yocum Creek Coal Company and
overgrown with weeds, this tipple is in fairly good condition for it's age and
is in perfect position for photographs. The active siding which serves the
Cloverfork loader is known as "Lewis" or "Kenvir #3" by some and is the
remaining part of the old Yocum Creek Branch. The Yocum Creek Branch had
extended up Yocum Creek for about 5 miles serving tipples all along the way.
Today, trackage has been removed past the first crossing at Redbud, about a 1/2
mile from the two surviving tipples. Believe me, there's nothing RR related from
Redbud to the old end-of-the-line at Dizney, so don't waste your time.Now go back to the RR crossing on KY38 and turn right on the road I mentioned at
the beginning of the last paragraph. This road will follow the tracks and pass
the old Evarts Depot. The depot is a large structure which had also served as
the freight house during the passenger era days of yesteryear. Today, it's
quickly falling into a state of disrepair and could already be beyond saving. On
your left is the aging Evarts Yard, which had been 5-6 tracks wide and used for
hopper storage.About 3/4 of a mile from where we left KY38 is a road to the left which crosses
the tracks and leads up Bailey's Creek. This will be the 3rd or 4th turn to the
left and the only road (County road CR5119A but unmarked) which actually extends
up a holler. All the other roads lead into residential areas. Located at the end
of the tracks had been the Bailey's Creek Portal of Eastover Mining Company's
Number 3 Mine. The L&N's Bailey's Creek Spur served not only Eastover's Jack #1
Tipple, but also the smaller Jack #2 Tipple owned and operated by the Coal
Corporation of America. Only the Jack #2 Tipple remains today, mostly hidden in
the thick underbrush. Coal had been trucked to a bin on the hillside and a short
conveyor leads directly to the twin-track chutes with no storage capability. The
guard shack and gates for the Eastover operation, along with a large company
sign, are still in place preventing further exploration.Go back to KY38 and continue the way we were going before we visited Evarts. The
next facility is a short 1 3/4 miles from the crossing at Evarts and will be the
Combined Coal Corporation prep plant and flood-loading facility near Short Town.
This had been the very active Tom's Coal Company just a few years ago, shipping
coal mined from the 4-5 foot-thick "Creech" and "Darby" seams nearby. From the
bridge looking into the properties, the blue, 150 TPH prep plant will be on your
right with a steel- framed, single track coal loader a few feet away. Conveyors
will cross from the plant over to a stacking tube on your left. Looking down
past the ground storage area is a newer, blue & red flood-loader which replaced
the small, low-capacity loader at the prep plant and now spans the 100 car long
"Dartmont #1" siding. These loaders were not being used on my March '95 trip,
and the plant itself looks abandoned.Stay on KY38 for just over 2 miles and you'll pass by an old yellow painted
loader near the town of Gano (a.k.a Lejunior). This small loader, which looks
like it might have been one of the first steel structures in Harlan County, sits
just behind someone's trailer, yet is clearly visible from the road. I'm working
on identifing this one and presently have no idea who owned it, even the person
that lives in the trailer says it's been idle since he can remember.About a mile from here, at the town of Highsplint, is one of the larger capacity
(1,200 TPH) coal processing facilities in Eastern Kentucky. The HILO Tipple,
named for the towns of HIghsplint and LOuellen, sits out-of-sight about a 1/2
mile up Seagraves Creek on what had been county road CR5123, and is served by
CSX's Seagraves Spur. This plant had originally been owned by Eastover Mining
Company before being acquired by Manalapan Mining Company and also saw some of
the same violence that the 1970's strike brought. Old miners claim there had
been two tripod-mounted machine guns hidden on either side of the valley which
randomly fired upon the picket lines. Eastover had called this the Highsplint
Prep Plant and moved huge volumes from here to Duke Power plants in the
Carolinias. Manalapan now holds long term contracts with TVA, suppling coal to
both the Bull Run and Kingston Plants near Oak Ridge and Knoxville, TN. I have
never had trouble gaining access back to the mines as long as I tried during the
week. On weekends, the guard will not allow anyone to go past the gate alongside
KY38.Back on KY38, it's about 2 miles to Louellen and 3 1/2 miles to Closplint. Just
beyond Closplint, you should see mining structures located high on the hillside
to the left and a nice stone company sign for the Karst-Robbins Coal Company. At
this site had been the 33 car "Brenda" siding passing under the Brenda Tipple.
The tipple has been removed and all that remains is the newer coal processing
equipment serving a deep mine to the left and the abandoned wooden structures
surrounding an older, sealed deep mine just below it. The new mine operates in a
coal seam that's about 90 feet higher in elevation than the sealed mine and
ships it's coal by truck back to the HILO facility. This is the last RR related
spot until we get to the end of the line about 9 miles from here. On the way
will be several deep mines and related surface support structures on the left
side of the road so keep your eyes open. The Clover Fork Branch has had many
tipples operating along it's tracks that are now gone without a trace. Some of
these that I have not already mentioned were located at Kildav, Shields,
Ridgeway, Louellen, Slope Hollow (Which sported it's own spur up Fugitt Creek
just past Louellen and the small lake on the left), Closplint and Clover-Darby.
Some of the older topographical maps from the 1950's, if you can find them, are
useful for spotting these tipple's exact locations. University libraries are
very good starting places to look. The University of Kentucky archives maps from
as far back as the 1920's in the Geological Survey Library and has a copy
machine to reproduce them.About 9 miles from the old Brenda Tipple location is the community known as
Glenbrook and the Jericol Mining Company's Glenbrook Prep Plant. Now this really
is a big structure, having been expanded many times in the past. If you are
familiar with model railroading, the New River Mining kit from Walthers
resembles this plant on a smaller scale. Now before anyone corrects me, I said
it "resembles" it. The kit is a model of the Edna Mine in Colorado. It would
take about 3 of the kits to come close to the actual physical size of the
Glenbrook Tipple. In the past, some tipples used long conveyors, exiting from
the side of the plant directly over the tracks and supported by a gantry crane,
to fill hoppers. The Glenbrook Plant was one of 'em and the crane still exist
today, albeit unused. Plant upgrades have included a flood-loader, wash plant
expansions, concrete storage silos, and ground storage stacking tubes. Conveyors
run up the side of Black Mountain in several spots and terminate at drift mine
openings at different elevations taping the various seams. These are long
conveyors as you are at the base of the highest mountain peak in Kentucky at
4,139 feet above sea-level. During last year, 5 of these underground mines
supplied the Glenbrook Tipple with approximately 882,948 tons of coal. These
were Creech #1 & #2, Darby, Refuse Hollow and Wallins, all but one being named
after the coal seam in-which they operated. There has been some rumors that the
processing facility may be idled due to low demand during the summer, however,
as of the first of June, it was still going strong. KY38 will climb up and over
Little Black Mountain and end up in Keokee, VA. A good fact to know when we
visit the old Interstate RR lines in the future. As KY38 climbs uphill past the
prep plant, look to the left and you can see the mountains of refuse that has
been cleaned from the raw, mined material. Looking at the size of these "gob
piles" and knowing that at least twice as much coal has been removed from the
seams, should make you wonder why Eastern Kentucky doesn't just fall in and
disappear.HAGAN'S SWITCHBACK AND BIG STONE GAP
To get to Hagan's Switchback, we could follow KY38 over the mountain. KY38
becomes VA624 at the state line and descends the south side of the mountain to
the town of Keokee, Va. At Keokee, take VA606 for 11 miles to an intersection
with US421 at Pocket, turn left and go about 2 miles to the intersection with
US58 at Pennington Gap. If you are going to explore the Interstate RR lines and
enjoy the twistingest (is this a word) road in the east, then this is the way to
go. A much smoother ride will come from taking US421 south from Harlan, cross
the mountain, pass through Pocket and gain access to US58 at the town of
Pennington Gap. From here go west on US58 for about 20 miles until you get to
the community of Smiley and an intersection with VA621. Smiley, by the way, was
named for the L&N's chief engineer in charge of building Hagans Tunnel. Follow
VA621 as it parallels the lower tail tracks of the switchback until you get to
the crossing. Continuing straight will take you to the top of the hill and the
upper tail track while turning right at the first road will let you cross the
tracks just in front of the southern tunnel portal and then climb uphill to
parallel the CV mainline as it heads east toward Big Stone Gap. This parallel
road is VA621 and will closely follow the CV for about 15 miles until it turns
south to meet US58. VA621 leaves much to be desired in the form of a road and
should be followed only if you are dead set on seeing every inch of the
railroad. I recommend getting back on US58 and driving down to Big Stone Gap
where you will most likely see CSX trains waiting on clearance from the NS
dispatcher to gain access to the line into Frisco TN. Just follow US58 to BSG
where the tracks are easy to spot on the north bank of the Powell River. CSX has
built a new connector bridge here to link up with the NS line on the opposite
side of Wallen's Ridge. When US58 intersects the 4-lane, US23, turn south again
and you can chase both CSX and NS trains as they follow the interstate through
Virginia for miles.And that's it for CSX's ex-L&N Cumberland Valley Subdivision. Topographical maps
for the areas covered are: Harlan, Rose Hill(VA), Hubbard Springs(VA),
Pennington Gap(VA), Keokee(VA), Big Stone Gap(VA), Evarts, Nolansburg, Louellen,
and Benham. As I've stated above, the next Volume will cover CSX's ex-L&N
Eastern Kentucky Subdivision and will also be composed of several parts due to
the number of sites. Although it's not been started yet, we should be able to
cover all of the trackage from Winchester down to Hazard in the first post.The following section has been included for those people who have asked for more
history behind some of the old mining towns in Kentucky. I have also included
the words to a favorite ballad that is well know in the state if no where else.
Let me know if you enjoy this short historical tale of a strike torn community.BROOKSIDE MINE STRIKE OF 1974
Let me preface this section with a statement concerning my views on both parties
involved in the following story. I do not and will not take sides with either
the United Mine Workers, the Bituminous Coal Operators Association or other
independent coal operators. I do have many friends & relatives on both sides and
have heard their biased opinions for years. Having been in many no-win debates,
I now find it far better to keep a lid on my personal opinions. I will, on the
other hand, fully respect all picket lines and would never attempt to cross one.
In fact, if there is a strike in progress, I highly recommend you stay as far
from the coalfields as possible, those trains will be there tomorrow. With that
said, here are the events of the 1973-1974 strike between the Eastover Mining
Company and the UMW miners at the Brookside Mine as taken from local papers,
television reports, and several people who lived it.The trouble actually began back in 1972 during election year competition for the
presidency of the United Mine Workers' Union. Current president, W.A. "Tony"
Boyle, who union members accused of being in bed with coal operators, had his
challenger, Joseph "Jock" Yablonski, his wife and a young daughter, murdered on
January 4th, 1972 while they slept in their Washington, PA home. The December
elections put Yablonski's replacement challenger, Arnold Miller, at the helm of
the nation-wide union, defeating still unconvicted Tony Boyle. Boyle was later
arrested, much to his surprise, on September 6, 1973, then tried and convicted
of masterminding the murder plot on April 11, 1974. Promising to give miners a
new voice, Arnold Miller sparked a trend of union support throughout the coal
industry. During the summer of 1973, wishing to improve their quality of life,
the workers at the Duke Power owned Eastover Coal Company's Brookside Mine and
Prep Plant voted to join the union. Eastover's upper-management refused to sign
the contract and the men walked off the job on strike. They were quickly
followed by others at the Eastover mine near Louellen. The 11 month strike was
one of the most reported on events in Kentucky history and showed just how far
Duke's corporate head, Carl Horn and Eastover's president, Norman Yarborogh
would go to break the workers will. Since this was the peak of the '70's energy
crisis and thus the coal boom, Duke Power had to keep receiving coal from these
company owned mines and brought in replacement, non-union miners who would not
respect the picket lines. Seeing these men taking over their jobs naturally
angered the strikers and the violence began. During the first few weeks, the
state police were used to control the situation, which often landed several
miners in the Harlan County jail. The local judge, whose last name was Hogg and
a coal operator himself, (no relation to the Duke's of Hazard) would always side
with the coal company and was accused of being paid off by Eastover. In a
flashback to the mine wars of the '20's and '30's, Eastover's mine foreman,
Basil Collins, soon began a campaign of terror that included the use of machine
guns and arson. He was shown on national television several times, gun in hand
or hidden behind his back, forcing his way past the picket lines to get his
"scab" workforce into the mines. All the while, Judge Hogg refused to issue any
warrants for persons working with Eastover, regardless of what they did or the
number of witnesses which stepped forward. With these "untouchable" men working
the mine, Eastover developed a war of attrition, hoping the striking workers
would simply give up. The daily gauntlet and picket line troubles only seemed to
bond the strikers tighter together. The miners even traveled to New York City
during the ninth month of the strike to picket Wall Street and come face-to-
face with Horn during a Duke Power shareholders meeting. Horn still refused to
sign a contract, even after embarrassing presentations in front of the
upperclass stockowners revealed the deplorable conditions of the company owned
homes that families were forced to live in. In a show of support, miners from
several states converged on the tiny town of Harlan to rally and parade up and
down the main-street while Norman Yarborogh sat at the Eastover office without a
care in the world. After everyone had left, the miners were still in the same
shape they were in before, only a little bit broker. During these last months,
the now-desperate wives and children of the miners had joined the picket lines.
With the men's will to strike almost broken and many wanting to give up, their
wives held motivating meetings, gave speeches and stayed on the picket lines all
night long. Many times they were arrested, shot at, attacked with baseball bats
and hit by cars. Up to this point, the mines had remained open, using Basil
Collin's out-of-state miners and the L&N's refusal to suspend service. One day,
late in August '74, the women undertook a bold act and blocked the main road &
tracks leading to the mine with an old car and themselves, refusing to move even
after Harlan Sheriff Billy G. Williams threatened to bring in the state police.
One of the women presented an arrest warrant for Collins that had been obtained
in a nearby county and the mass demanded his incarceration on harassment and
several terroristic threatening charges. Williams then stated he was "off duty"
and refused to work without pay. Claiming they would pay him for his time, the
women took up a collection, which amounted to $7.00, and presented it to the
Sheriff telling him he was now on the clock for an hour. Williams reluctantly
told Collins he was under arrest and offered to let him drive himself to jail.
With this, the long, backed-up line of scabs turned their cars around and left.
Eastover's production dropped to zero for the first time since just after the
strike began. Later that night, Bill Bruner, one of Collins' "gun thugs"
approached the picket lines and, while attempting to enter Eastover property,
got into an argument with 19 year old Lawerence Jones. Jones received a shotgun
blast to the head which widowed his 16 year-old-wife and left his newborn
daughter without a father. The word spread quickly and soon every miner in
Harlan County started looking for weapons with the intentions of killing anyone
remotely associated with Eastover. Knowing he now had a price on his head and
fearing more bloodshed, Carl Horn agreed to sign the contract the next day while
union organizers pleaded with the men to hold back for 24 hours. The high priced
victory was short lived. Three months after returning to work, the UMW's
national contract expired. Under President Arnold Millers' leadership, the
miners or "rank and file union members" now had, for the first time, the right
to vote on and ratify new contracts. In an attempt to deal with the UMW, coal
operators had formed their own "type" of union, known as the Bituminous Coal
Operators Association or "BCOA". On November 12, 1974, the UMW and BCOA failed
to reach an agreement and over 120,000 miners nationwide walked off the job in
protest of coal company abuses of their grievance procedures. This time the
strike remained bloodless and a tentative contract was approved 3 weeks later
opening the mines and reactivating the railroad haulers in time for Christmas.
This strike basically shut the L&N down, and I can remember long lines of grey
and yellow engines stored in Corbin's West Yard. I really wish I had been
interested in photography during this period!Strikes continue to occur today and can be almost as violent as the Brookside
tragedy. In 1993, the UMWA declared a strike against selected BCOA members
accusing them of "double breasting" or shifting production from unionized mines
to non-union subsidiaries. Eddie York, a non-union contract worker for Arch of
West Virginia, was shot to death on July 22nd as he passed a picket line at the
Orion mine near Man. Seven UMW members have since be sentenced to serve 120 days
for rock throwing in a plea bargain that has indicted a picket line captain for
the actual shooting. Strikes in the coalfields always bring about a flood of
ballads and songs to tell of the hardships being encountered. One of the local
favorites, written by Florence Reece during the 1930 strike and modified for the
Eastover strike, is called "Which Side Are You On?" Imagine these words being
sung slowly and slightly off key, by an old woman who has seen too much death
and violence during her hard life. Unfortunately, I have never figured out who
D.H. Blair was.Come all you poor workers,
Good news to you I'll tell.
How the good old Union,
Has come in here to dwell.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
If you go to Harlan County,
There is no neutral ground.
You'll either be a Union man,
Or a thug for D.H. Blair.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
They say in North Carolina,
Duke Power runs the show.
Carl Horn would like,
To break the Strike,
But the miners tell him no.
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?
Going up to New York City,
We've got to spread the news.
Been fighting hard,
For many months,
And we're not about to loose!
Which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?
Kentucky's Greatest Generation
added 9-30-2000Carl H. Dodd
added 10-2-2000Ken's Kenvir Update
Pictures added 6-10-2000Kelly Martin Page
Added 6-10-2000KENVIR Pictures at PHOTOPOINT.COM
Vivian "Smith" Laney Picture Page
Modified 6-9-2000Bill and Judy Smith's Picture page
Joe Ann "Reynolds" Alley's Picture Page
Gertie's Ky Explorer Sept. Article
Evarts Alumni Registry
added 7- 4 -2000BLACK MOUNTAIN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Web Page
Official Wallins Creek Homepage
added 10-5-2000Harlan County Stories of Old
added 10-5-2000The Bloody 20's in Harlan County
added 10-5-2000Danny Kirk's Pictures of Kentucky
added 9-15-2000Harlan County/Kenvir Pictures
added 6-26-2000Internet Hoaxes and Rumors
Please read before forwarding that next Virus warning.Modern Coal Operation pictures
Added 8-3-2000History of Coal
added 10-2-2000County Coal Production- 1998
added 10-2-2000A Trip Up Clover Fork
added 10-2-2000The Great Prayer
Added 6-16-2000The Kentucky Explorer Magazine
Our Harlan County KY Page
added 10-10-2000Labor Strikes in the Coal Industry
Another account of Bloody Harlan, nice pictures.Stroll Down Musical Memory Lane
added 9-19-2000Appalachian Coal Mining and Union Songs
Getting Older When ---
added 7-27-2000
