OCTOBER, 1959
THE PIEDMONITOR
PAGE FIVE
W
I
MERCER COUNTY AIRPORT built on Hurricane Ridge at an elevation of 2,857 feet, is the high
est commercial port east of the Mississippi.
Station Of The Month
Deep Mines But Tall Hills--
It's Mercer County, W. Va.
THE BLF STAFF works eleven flights a day. Top photo shows
(left to right) Agents Jim Thompson, Jonny Lawrence, Eddie Jones and
Ted Farrington. In the bottom photo are (left to right) Station Manager
Vize Dotson and Agents Adron Woodruff, Kenny Moses and Joe Rob
ertson.
MERCER COUNTY, W. VA.—
High in a land where the com
pany store is not yet a legend,
the hills of two states gaze at
each other across an expanse of
valley.
Down below lie three cities.
Two are called Bluefield; the
other, Princeton.
The people, some 500,000, who
live here are immensely proud
of their towns. They are proud
also of the airport—the highest
commercial port east of the Mis
sissippi—they struggled to build
atop one of the purple-tinted
hills.
Located within a convenient
distance of the three towns, the
Mercer County Airport buzzes
with traffic, for this area is
one of the most aviation-minded
districts to be found.
‘Only Way Out’
One Bluefield resident sum
med up the interest in air travel
this way: “Before air service we
were pretty well stranded. We
had a choice of driving over the
hills or taking the train.
“Not many people like to
drive. The train goes only east
and west. Then, too, there aren’t
any pullman cars now. So we’ve
turned to the air. It’s the only
way out over these hills.”
At Mercer County Airport to
day there are about thirty pri
vate aircraft based. And count
less other private planes land
every day, all in addition to the
commercial air service offered
by Piedmont Airlines on eleven
daily flights.
This interest in flying is not
surprising. The first scheduled
commercial flying in West Vir
ginia started here in 1926 with
the Pocahontas Air Transport
Corporation.
Airport Planned
But when the local citizenry
began plans for a modern air
port, they ran into several ob
stacles. First of all, putting an
airport in the West Virginia hills
was to be no easy task.
Even with the Civil Aeronau
tics Authority’s approval of the
Hurricane Ridge site, things
seemed to stand in the way.
Two months after the ground
breaking in 1951, the road lead
ing up to the airport was block
ed by picketing strikers who
were trying to prevent non
union construction workers go
ing to work.
First Piedmont Flight - ,
Finally the airport was dedi
cated on May 15, 1954, and the
first Piedmont service started
the next day. Just a few weeks
ago an open house at the Mer
cer County port celebrated the
completed terminal building (see
story, page 1).
The intense interest in air
travel—private planes, commer
cial aviation, modern airport—
represents the modern Bluefield-
Princeton, where business and
residential sections speak loud
ly of increasing prosperity.
However, the area is really a
combination of old and new, dec
adent and progressive.
The mining town of Pocahon
tas, centered in the fabulous
smokeless coalfields of the same
name, is a typical example of
contrast.
Company Store Exists
Even though the mining proc
ess has become mechanized, the
company store still exists. But
company houses—batten-b o a r d
structures, all sporting the same
color of paint, stand for the most
part empty. .The miners now
have private homes, neat bunga
lows of their own choosing.
The only exhibition coal mine
in the world ’ is located here.
Built so a car can drive through,
it illustrates m o d^e r n mining
methods such as rock dusting to
minimize gas, modern equip
ment and the five types of coal—
pea, egg, nut, lump, and slag—
mined in the area.
‘Richest Little Town’
An alternate route back from
Pocahontas to the airport runs
by Bromwell, once so-called the
richest little town in America.
Today, the streets are quiet ex
cept for children playing in the
streets with motorized go-carts.
But brownstone homes, fort
ress-like and capped with oxi
dized copper roofs, still stand as
relics from another, bygone, era.
And a small shop displays a
clock with wooden works along
with the brightly-packaged mod
ern products.
I
This is the area and the peo
ple Mercer County Airport serv-
A MODERN COAL LOADER is put to work in a mine near Bluefield-Princeton.
es, that also Piedmont serves.
For Piedmont is the only com
mercial carrier operating in and
out of here.
Besides the 800 to 900 passen
gers boarded here each month,
Piedmont also gets air freight
and air express business from
large local manufacturers such
as Micamold Corporation of Vir
ginia.
Helping to make the Mercer
County Airport a hub of air
activity are Airport Manager C.
W. McGlothlin and FAA person
nel who staff the new Air Traf
fic Communications Station.
Most folks here in the Blue
field-Princeton area like Pied
mont Airlines service. Responsi
ble for much of the good rela
tions with the Mercer County
residents are the station person
nel who go about their work en
thusiastically and seem to have
a sincere love for these West
Virginia hills and their people.