Cairo & Kanawha

Frederick Lemon discovered a vein of natural asphalt near Macfarlan Creek in 1852. Shortly after the Civil War, the narrow-guage Calico Railroad was completed from Cairo to facilitate mining at the newly created boomtown of Ritchie Mines. After an 1873 explosion, the mines closed. Two decades later, the track was rebuilt as the Cairo and Kanawha Railroad, the asphalt mines reopened, and the rails were extended to Macfarlan. Railroad operations were discontinued in 1929. Ritchie County was named for Thomas Ritchie, a Virginia journalist who strongly supported the western counties of Old Virginia and promoted public schools. The first railroad to Ritchie Mines became known as the Calico Railroad when a local merchant observed that the tracks were no wider than a bolt of calico.

West Virginia · United States