Ohio River & Charleston – Clinchfield Predecessor

Researched and Chronicled by Scott Jessee and Sandhi Kozsuch

The Ohio River & Charleston Railway (OR&C) was the second try at building a line across the Appalachian Mountains through Southwest Virginia, East Tennessee, and Western North Carolina. After receivership, the Charleston Cincinnati and Chicago Railroad (3Cs) was purchased by Charles Hellier for $550,000 in 1893 and renamed the OR&C. Unlike its predecessor and successor, the OR&C accomplished very little in reaching its goal of building a rail line that could capitalize on the potential of coal and connecting the Appalachian region to new markets.

For legal and political reasons, there were actually four Ohio River & Charleston Railway companies…..one each for Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and for South Carolina. The four were combined in 1894 to form a singular OR&C Railway Company.

Ashland KY to Wilmington NC

Hellier initially retained the goal of building a railroad from Ashland KY to Charleston SC. But, because of political headwinds in South Carolina, he changed his plan to use the Atlantic Ocean port of Wilmington NC. His new plan was to access the port at Wilmington utilizing a connection with the Seaboard Air Line at Bostic NC.

Ohio River & Charleston Railway Map

What was also different about the OR&C when compared to the 3Cs and the Clinchfield, its intended coal sources were the Big Stone Gap area and the region along the Guest River.

(To view map with greater detail, use the zoom feature on your browser)

Minimal Construction and Operation

During the mid-1890s, the OR&C was able to extend the line south of Erwin TN through the Nolichucky/Toe River gorge southward past Huntdale NC. But, the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains was never crossed. Eventually time and money ran out for the OR&C, and like the 3Cs, it was forced into foreclosure.

Divestitures

At some point during the 1890s, the old 3Cs roadbed in Virginia was sold to the South Atlantic & Ohio Railway between Moccasin Gap and Clinchport VA. In the early 1900s, the Southern Railway acquired the SA&O which gave it access to the Virginia coalfields via the Natural Tunnel.

Hellier sold the South Carolina portion of the OR&C south of Marion NC to the South Carolina and Georgia Extension Railroad in 1898, which eventually became part of the Southern Railway in 1902.

Third Time’s A Charm

And finally in 1902, the Tennessee section of the OR&C was sold to George L. Carter, who temporarily named it the South & Western Railway. It eventually became the Carolina Clinchfield & Ohio, and finally just the Clinchfield Railroad.

OR&C Timeline, and its Demise: the Flood of 1901 – by Scott Jessee

In July 1893 Charles Hellier and associates purchased the struggling Three C’s railroad.  OR&C management would need to evaluate its finances, expand the railroad, and establish a customer base. As if the situation was not bad enough, the Three C’s Unaka Springs bridge was washed out in September.

Huntdale Extension

A November 2, 1893 newspaper article discussed the financial plan.  It appears Mr. Hellier and his group were serious about their new railroad and its potential. OR&C’s expansion was the 18.6 mile Huntdale Extension from Chestoa, TN to five miles south of Huntdale, NC.  Construction started in September 1899 and was completed mid year 1900.  This incursion got the OR&C closer to southern outlets and provided revenue from vast lumber operations and potential iron ore and silica mining.

Potential V&SW Partnership with George L. Carter

OR&C explored a partnership with George L. Carter’s Virginia & Southwestern with a branch line to connect OR&C’s Johnson City with the V&SW at Elizabethton or Bluff City, TN. Bristol, VA was V&SW’s coal outlet with Norfolk & Western handling northbound business while south traffic interchanged with the Southern Railway. 

The premise was once OR&C extended into North Carolina, V&SW coal could bypass the Southern Railway by using OR&C’s proposed branch line and extended main line into North Carolina.  This passage would reward V&SW with a longer haul, award OR&C much needed revenue, and bypass the Southern Railway’s Bristol interchange.  The branch lines and this operation never materialized.

The ‘May Tide’ – 1901 Flood

OR&C’s Huntdale Extension was a decent start to complete what the Three C’s had started; however within ten months of its completion, the extension was literally wiped out by the “May Tide”, a 100-year flood on the Nolichucky River. Federal government records at pubs.usgs.gov reported a 24-foot flood stage at Embreeville, TN which is the highest on record.  

Government reports and studies on the May 1901 flood revealed the following:

• “An upturn in farming led to additional cleared land along steep hill sides leading to erosion.
• Previously farmed acreage planted for many years became deeply eroded and abandoned.
• Forest fires burned away undergrowth leading to less absorption during rainy periods.
• Increased and poorly managed logging operations led to excessive runoff.
• Nolichucky River Basin’s long deep gorges with rapid flowing streams is conducive to excessive run off and potential devastating floods.”

After the devastating flood, the OR&C was now struggling more so than ever.  This struggle opened the doors for the next person to complete the mountain railroad; George L. Carter.  

Newspaper Headlines Providing an OR&C Timeline

The following Johnson City Comet articles (unless noted otherwise) provide a timeline of the OR&C’s history which ends soon after the flood of 1901.

SEPT. 7, 1893

The Three C’s bridge over Nola Chucky river was washed out Monday afternoon.  The bridge consisted of two spans and a lot of trestle work.  The river rose rapidly and hundreds of logs came down, lodging against the bridge which gave way and was torn out from shore to shore.  Several car loads of lumber belonging to Robertson & Co. went with it.  This is the second bridge washed out at this point since the Three C’s road was constructed. 

3Cs Acquired by the OR&C

OCTOBER 19, 1893

The Charleston, Cincinnati, & Chicago has been formally transferred to the Ohio River & Charleston Railway.  Charles E. Hellier who is the head of the bondholders committee stated the road will be completed.  With the sale of the Three Cs, a large proportion of its debt is practically cancelled.  Samuel Hunt is to be the temporary general manager.

NOV. 2, 1893

OR&C proposes to acquire by lease the Ohio and Big Sandy division of the C&O from Richardson to Ashland, Kentucky and make a traffic agreement with the ACL which will give the road an entrance to Charleston, SC.  It is estimated that $8,032,500.00 will be required to complete the road, buy necessary equipment, and pay off prior liens.  It is proposed to issue $8,925,000.00 forty year bonds to pay for expenses and another bond offering of  $4,462,500.00

JULY 11, 1895

Work will be commenced on the Ohio River & Charleston Railroad between Johnson City and Marion, N.C. within the next ninety days.  The contract has been let for grading ten miles of the line south from Unaka Springs to a point beyond Wilder’s Forge.  The main object being to reach the rich deposits of Cranberry magnetic iron ore near Wilder’s Forge.  Considerable heavy work was done beyond Unaka Springs before the collapse of the Three C’s Company.

SEPT. 21, 1899

Contractors are on the ground to build the Three C’s Extension.  The contract has been let to J.C. Lipscomb of Gaffney, S.C.  His foreman is now at Unaka Springs and a lot of supplies are expected to arriver over and from Marion to-day.  Other supplies will be shipped from a point in Virginia where Mr. Lipscomb is just completing a contract.  The contract calls for the building of 11 miles of road from the present terminus, a few miles above Unaka Springs to the mouth of Cane River in North Carolina.  The bridge over the Nolachucky River at Unaka Springs will be of wood or stone piers, it being almost impossible to get torn.  On account of the great difficulty in getting rails it is possible that it will be necessary to take up the track from Johnson city to the Watauga River and use those rails for the extension.  The new road will penetrate large forest of hardwood and a rich magnetic iron ore district.  It is estimated that the hauling of the timber alone will amply repay the Company for the investment.

Note:  Engineering News and American Railway Journal estimated the cost including a bridge over the Nolachucky River at Unaka Springs at $200,000.00.  Another $50,000.00 is planned to upgrade the present line between Johnson City and Unaka Springs.

NOV. 30, 1899

OR&C President Samuel Hunt met with V&SW President George L. Carter and made a tour of the OR&C from Johnson City to Erwin.  Their meeting including talks about extending the OR&C to Elizabethton to connect with the V&SW and also building a line from Erwin to Embreeville, giving Virginia Iron Coal & Coke access to their furnaces as Johnson City and Embreeville without using the Southern Railway.

DEC. 28, 1899

Stone is being shipped from Watauga to build the piers of the OR&C RR at Unaka Springs.

MARCH 4, 1900 The Tennessean

The OR&C Extension from Erwin, Tenn to valuable timber lands in North Carolina, eighteen miles in length, will be completed by May 15. 

MAY 3, 1900

A second train has been put on the OR&C.  It will be used temporarily as a “gravel” train but as soon as new line is open will be used to give the road a double daily service.

Huntdale Extension Completed

JULY 12, 1900

The sixteen-mile Ohio River and Charleston Railway extension has been completed and the road will be open for operation Monday morning.  It is built through the heart of the finest timber belt in the state, and already there are a score of saw mills located on the extension. 

AUGUST 30, 1900

There will be an excursion to Huntdale over the OR&C railroad on the 8th of September.  The run will be made to Huntdale and back to Unaka Springs for dinner.  The Odd Fellows of this city will picnic at Huntdale on this day.

OCTOBER 6, 1900

MARCH 7, 1901                    

A.N. Molesworth, superintendent and chief engineer of the O. R. & C. Railway is here (Knoxville, TN) from Johnson City, the headquarters of the road.  He came to consult Superintendent Ewing, of the Southern, in regard to cars for his road, which uses Southern cars for freight shipments altogether.  Superintendent Ewing told him that the Southern was hard up for cars itself and could use 200 more a day on this division and branches if it had them.  However, he promised to furnish the O. R. & C. all the cars possible.  These cars are needed to haul lumber out of Mitchell County, NC and lumber and minerals from Unicoi County, TN.  Mr. Molesworth says that his road, which formerly ran from Johnson City to Erwin, a distance of twenty miles, has now extended the line fifteen miles further into Mitchell County, NC, where a number of mills are cutting lumber.  A new bridge of the Howe truss variety has been put across the Nolachucky River at Unaka Springs said Mr. Molesworth, which was formerly the end of the road, and Mr. A. V.  Deaderick is now constructing a large new hotel at those famous springs.

The Flood of 1901

MAY 23, 1901

The O. R. & C. lost the bridge over the Nolachucky at Unaka Springs.  At Chestoa the large mill of Gen. J. T.  Wilder and the dam were completely wrecked and several thousand feet of lumber belonging to local dealers were floated off.  The Nolachucky River raised forty feet and one report has it that the Nolachucky was fifteen feet higher than the 1867 flood.  At Unaka Springs A. V.  Dederick lost two cottages in which he had stored furniture for his new and commodious caravansary. 

May 24, 1901 (Richmond Dispatch, Richmond Va)

The massive new iron bridge on the Ohio River and Charleston railway at Unaka, TN near the North Carolina line, is a complete loss.  Lumbermen at Unaka have lost thousands of dollars.  The large lumber and pulp plant of General J. T.  Wilder was wiped out, as was also the dam across the river, built to furnish the lumber plants with power.  The Unaka Lumber Company lost many thousand feet of lumber and upwards of 50,000 fine logs.  The new railway town of Huntdale in Western North Carolina at one of the termini of the Ohio River and Charleston railway was completely wrecked by the tide in the Chuckey River.

Photo: The lumber and pulp plant, dam, and power plant built by General John T. Wilder near Erwin. It is reported that the man in the photo is General Wilder. Photo courtesy of the Philip Laws Collection and Scott Jessee.

JUNE 6, 1901

“The bridge just floated off like a great boat loaded, and when it reach Wilder’s dam, it broke it half way down and passed over.  The timbers are scattered from Unaka to my island.  The bridge crews are collecting it from the drifts and most of it can be used again.  I have some good boats to cross the river.”  A. V.  Deaderick Unaka Springs Hotel

JUNE 6, 1901 (Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville NC)

Speaking of the damage done to the O. R. & C. railroad by the recent floods, Division Deputy T.F. Roland said that perhaps half of a 12-mile section of the line had been carried off — roadbed, rails, and all.  Two bridges went down in the rush of waters and rails were twisted as if they were made of tin.  So destructive was the flood on roads of every description that it has been impossible to get into Huntdale even on horseback.

Leonidas Chalmer Glenn’s 1911 United States Geological Survey Professional            Paper No. 72 also described the damage: 

“Through the 12-mile gorge in the Unaka Mountain much of the railway track and roadbed were destroyed, and at present the rails and ties are anchored to the rocks by cables to prevent their loss when the roadbed underneath them goes out.”

JUNE 19, 1901 (Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville NC)

Mr. Elbert Smith of Huntdale and member of the firm of Brawley & Smith lumber dealers, has three mills in the vicinity of Huntdale.  These mills have a combined capacity of 30,000 feet a day.  The recent floods carried off about 100,000 feet of the company’s lumber, but the main loss suffered has been in the interruption to business because of the destruction of the O. R. & C. railroad line between Chestoa and Huntdale, a section of about 18 miles having been washed away.  Mr. Smith feels sure that it will be soon, in spite of the fact that rumor has had it that the line would not be restored.  With the road in its present condition Mr. Smith’s company is practically without a shipping point.  The nearest station is Alexander, and the distance, 36 miles puts it out of question, 36 miles by wagon being a profit-eater.

JULY 25, 1901

President Samuel Hunt reported as a result of that flood, ten miles of our roadbed and two bridges were totally destroyed.  It was decided at a recent meeting of the board of directors of the road to repair this damage as soon as practicable.  I cannot just say how much time will be required to do the work.  Engineers have been over the ground and have made rough estimates of between $75000 and $125000.  The two bridges destroyed were total losses, even the stone piers being washed away.  One was an iron  truss bridge and the other a wooden structure.  The question of when traffic can be resumed is one I cannot answer.  Regular traffic between Johnson City and Chestoa has never been interfered.  The damaged section was a new extension of fifteen miles in length into the mountains, following the Nolachucky River from Chestoa to Huntdale, a little town which sprang up after the road was built.

AUGUST 8, 1901

A.N. Molesworth reported the loss sustained by the company from the recent big flood has been estimated at $100,000.00  All of the damaged road has not been rebuilt.  Our former terminus at Huntdale was washed away.  We hope, however, to start to work at once on rebuilding it as we now run only from Johnson City to Unaka Springs.  The bridge over the Nolachucky River at the latter point was swept away.  Tomorrow we will go to work to put up a temporary bridge there. 

OR&C Rebuilds

AUGUST 15, 1901

O. R. & C. President Samuel Hunt writes to M. H. Weiler, train master:  “I wish you would take occasion to assure everybody that we propose to replace the property between Unaka and Huntdale as soon as possible, and expect to prosecute the work with vigor, commencing in the near future.”

AUGUST 22, 1901

The prospects of getting the O. R. & C. Railway completed to Morganton, NC on the South and the coal fields on the North are growing brighter every day.  The O. R. & C. people have interested Geo. L. Carter, late president of the V. & S. W. and his associates in this line and the money to repair the road and complete it to connections on the north and south is no longer to hunt.  The Carter people, however, have plenty of money, and their large interests in coal lands in Virginia furnish an incentive. 

OCTOBER 31, 1901

Last Friday morning (October 25, 1901) a work train reached Huntdale over the O. R. & C. Railway.  Regular trains will be run to that point in a few days.

NOV. 4, 1901 (The Tennessean, Nashville TN)

The work of repairing and rebuilding the fifteen miles of Ohio River & Charleston Railway track between Unaka Tenn., and Huntdale NC was completed this week.  This part of the line including bridges and trestles was washed away during the flood which visited East Tennessee in May.  A passenger train ran into Huntdale Wednesday last (October 30. 1901).  An extension is also being built above Huntdale for about seven miles.  More than 600 laborers and North Carolina convicts are now at work on the extension.

A Second Flood: 1901/1902

DEC. 19, 1901

In common with a large portion of the country, the mountains of East Tennessee received a heavy rainfall during last Saturday and night.  The Nolachucky had about 18 feet of water and took out a temporary bridge for the O. R. & C. at Hollow Poplar and a section of false work for the same company at the Utaka Springs Bridge.

JANUARY 2, 1902

It began raining again in upper East Tennessee last Saturday and continued through Sunday.  The Nolachucky had about 16 feet of water and the false work for the O. R.& C.’s new bridge at Unaka Springs passed away.

FEBRUARY 27, 1902

The trestle work of the bridge at Unaka Springs washed away and the entire bridge at Hollow Poplar is gone.  Since last May they have lost bridges at an expense of several thousand dollars.

Demise of the OR&C

MARCH 5, 1902 (Asheville Citizen-Times, Asheville NC)

Lumber operations are completely at a standstill said President JA Coleman of the Coleman Lumber Company.  Lumbermen are very much concerned over the condition of the Huntdale and Johnson City railway.  No reports from this branch line have been received and it is believed that the railway has been entirely swept out of existence.

JUNE 12, 1902

On Saturday, June 21st, an excursion will be ran to Unaka Springs and Huntdale, rate of $1.10 and $1.25 for the round trip.

JULY 29, 1902 The Farmer and Mechanic (Raleigh, North Carolina)

The Ohio River and Charleston was recently sold by Samuel Hunt to the South and Western, of which George L. Carter of Bristol, Tenn is president. 

Clinchfield.org Sources and Resources

The following are excellent resources for those of you wanting to explore and learn more about the Clinchfield Railroad. These sources of information also serve as reference and historical materials for Clinchfield.org. Much of the content on the website is verified across multiple sources.

• Association: Carolina Clinchfield Chapter National Railway Historical Society
• Association: Louisville & Nashville Railroad Historical Society
• Association: George L. Carter Railroad Historical Society
• Association: Watauga Valley Railroad Historical Society
• Personal maps, timetables, track charts, and memorabilia
• Archives of Appalachia – ETSU, Johnson City TN
• Book – Drury: ‘The Historical Guide to North American Railroads’
• Book – Goforth: ‘Building the Clinchfield’ and ‘When Steam Ran the Clinchfield’
• Book – Graybeal: ‘The Railroads of Johnson City’
• Book – Helm: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad in the Coal Fields’
• Book – Irwin & Stahl: ‘The Last Empire Builder: The Life of George L. Carter’
• Book – King: ‘Clinchfield Country’
• Book – Marsh: ‘Clinchfield in Color’
• Book – Poole: ‘A History of Railroading in Western North Carolina’
• Book – Poteat & Taylor: ‘The CSX Clinchfield Route in the 21st Century’
• Book – Stevens & Peoples: ‘The Clinchfield No. 1 – Tennessee’s Legendary Steam Engine’
• Book – Way: ‘The Clinchfield Railroad, the Story of a Trade Route Across the Blue Ridge Mountains’
• Magazines – ‘Trains‘ , ‘Classic Trains‘
• Newspaper Articles – Newspapers.com
• Online Article – Scientific American: ‘The Costliest Railroad in America‘
• Online Article – Classic Trains: ‘Remembering the Clinchfield Railroad‘
• Online Article – Railway Age: ‘This Coal Road Is Also A Speedy Bridge Line,’ Sept 1, 1952 edition
• Online Article – ‘Railway Signaling and Communications‘
• Online Article – Flanary: ‘The Quick Service Route, The Clinchfield Railroad‘
• Online Article – Flanary: ‘Men Against Mountains, Running Trains on the Clinchfield‘ October 2001
• Online Video – Ken Marsh on Kingsport area railroads and region’s history Video #1
• Online Video – Ken Marsh on railroads and region’s history Video #2:
• Website – Carolana.com – North Carolina Railroads, South Carolina Railroads
• Website – Johnson’s Depot hosted by StateOfFranklin.net
• Website – RailFanGuides.us for Johnson City and for Erwin
• Website – The Radio Reference Wiki
• Website – SteamLocomotive.com
• Website – VirginiaPlaces.org – Railroad History of Virginia
• Website – Multimodalways.org

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3Cs Websites

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