In 1917, as Spotsylvania County families had brothers, relatives, or friends fighting in Europe and the United States mobilized for the Great War, a year-old rail line on this railroad bed formed part of the county's war effort. This 17½-mile spur line, owned by the Virginia Lead and Zinc Company, began at the Holladay Mine five miles to the north and carried brassy yellow and dark brown ore to the Allah Cooper Mine 7½ miles down the track, where lead and zinc were extracted. The material then traveled the remaining ten miles to Mineral, Virginia, and from there went north on the C&O Railroad to factories, where the lead was most likely used for bullets and the zinc for shell cartridges to support the war in Europe.