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*1879 merged into Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad. Not found on any maps of the 1890s up to 1900. Assume to be abandoned by 1900. The towns identified below are "best guess" and could be totally wrong. In the early 1870s, a massive deposit of copper was discovered in Ashe County, North Carolina and mining operations were quickly established to acquire this valuable find. The town of Ore Knob was established and had a Post Office in 1874, but there were no decent roads with which to transport the copper out of the fairly remote mountainous region. A new railroad was certainly the answer, and it was rapidly built and was operational around 1875. There are many references to the Mt. Airy & Ore Knob Railroad, primarily since it was merged into the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad in 1897. However, none of the maps currently available show its actual route. The route described below is entirely based upon when "new" towns sprang up between Ashe County and Mt. Airy, North Carolina - an educated guess that these towns only rose up thanks to a new railroad through the region, and that the towns indicated follow a rather-decent path that perhaps a quickly-constructed railroad might take. This railroad apparently did not last long after the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad acquired it in 1879. Either it was considered too expensive to upgrade and/or maintain, or it was never intended to be permanent. It does not show up on any maps between 1860 and 1900. So, why did the Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley Railroad purchase it in the first place? Only history knows. |
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Towns on Route: Mount Airy Caddells Creek (1877) > White Plains (1877) Dobson Judesville > Kapps Mill (1878) Good Spring (1878) Cherry Lane Glade Creek Sparta (1879) Laurel Springs Ore Knob (1874) > Transon (1937) |
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© 2007 - J.D. Lewis - PO Box 1188 - Little River, SC 29566 - All Rights Reserved