History of Mingo County’s Creation

Created by an act of state legislation in 1895, which carved out part of Logan County, Mingo County was the last county in the state formed. Its founding was related to a legal protest by a moon-shiner who claimed that the Logan County Court that found him guilty did not have jurisdiction over his case, arguing, instead, Lincoln County held jurisdiction. Subsequently a land survey was taken; the defendant was correct. Charges were then refiled in the Lincoln County court. Although the moon-shiner was ultimately found guilty of his crime, the state legislature, aware of the situation, determined that Logan County was too large for the expeditious administration of justice. They decided to create a new county named after the earliest known inhabitants the Mingo Indians.

Logan, the most famous of the Mingo Indian chiefs, was considered friendly and cooperative by most settlers in the region – until his family was massacred on April 30, 1774. Several versions of the massacre circulated on the frontier. Lord Dunmore blamed a settler named Daniel Greathouse while Logan, called Tah-gah-jute by his people, blamed Michael Cresap, a Maryland soldier and land speculator who was building cabins along the Ohio River as a means of securing land. Following the massacre, Logan allied his tribe with the British and went on a warpath, leading four deadly raids on the Virginia and Pennsylvania frontiers. These raids were the first battles, among them the Battle of Point Pleasant, in what would become known as Lord Dunmore’s War.

Williamson, the county seat, was incorporated in 1892. Most historians believe that Williamson was named in honor of Wallace J. Williamson. He owned the land where Williamson now stands, earned a fortune in real estate investments in the area, and founded the city’s first bank and hotel. Others claim that the city was named for Wallace’s father Benjamin F. Williamson, who owned most of the land in the region before dividing it among his sons. The ton grew rapidly once the railroad connected into the town, as the population spiked from just 688 in 1900 to 6,819 in 1920, and then jumped again to 9,410 in 1930.

N&W Railway

The Norfolk & Western Railway maintained a unique operation of modest proportion, achieving recognition beyond contemporary railroads of similar size. N&W found success in two manners: technological success and mergers and acquisitions.

Before 1964 N&W was a coal hauler known for its excellent financial performance, operating, arguably, the finest fleet of steam locomotive power at the head of heavy coal trains. What was record tonnage on other railways became routine for its trains. The increased capacity of N&W’s trains was triggered by, first, dieselization and, then, by the merger with Virginian Railway in the late 1950s.

1964 saw N&W lease, merge, or purchase several other railroads, expanding its operation and becoming a major Midwestern carrier. It operated routes from Norfolk, VA and Buffalo, NY to Chicago, IL and St. Louis and Kansas City, MO.

Then on June 1, 1982, N&W and the Southern Railway became subsidiaries of Norfolk Southern Corporation, a newly formed holding company. Finally, on September 1, 1998 Norfolk & Western's corporate existence ended as it merged into Norfolk Southern Corporation.

Hatfield and McCoy

Matewan, WV, in Mingo County, has intrigued visitors and inspired folklore for over one hundred years. In the 1880s the feud between the Hatfields and McCoys raged near Matewan. Forty years later, continuing the air of Matewan, the town hosted a historical, fatal conflict between mine workers and coal operators, which involved a member of the Hatfield clan.

The Hatfield and McCoy Feud began on Election Day, August 7, 1882, as three sons of Randolph McCoy in Pike County, KY brutally stabbed and shot Ellison Hatfield, brother of Devil Anse Hatfield. Ellison, subsequently, was carried across the Tug Fork River and died at the Anderson Ferrell House. Upon Ellison’s death Devil Anse executed the three McCoys across the Tug in Kentucky, near present-day Matewan.

No one knows what triggered the murder of Ellison, but these tragic events brought notoriety to the Tug Fork Valley, making national headlines and creating a violent image of Appalachian West Virginia and Kentucky. Kentucky bounty hunters made raids into West Virginia to capture the Hatfields during the 1880s, and the Hatfields retaliated in 1888 by attacking the McCoy homestead in Kentucky, killing a son and daughter and seriously wounding Randolph’s wife. By 1890 the killings had ended, but the feud continued to be sensationalized by journalists for years to come.

Battle of Matewan

A young John L. Lewis had just taken office as President of the United Mine Workers of America when, in January of 1920, he announced the campaign in Bluefield, West Virginia: the UMWA would organize coal miners in the southern Appalachians. Lewis knew coal operators would resist to the bitter end; that did not matter. The miners wanted to organize, and the UMWA had to have their memberships. Even coal operators from the Midwest favored the unionizing drive, which might reduce the competitive edge the Southern Appalachian coal mine operators enjoyed with non-union miners. Miners along the Tug Fork were ready, as many had long wanted to join unionize. Those at Burnwell, a town three miles from Matewan, sent a delegation to the UMWA offices in Charleston, WV, returning with a charter for a local union. The drive had begun, and it quickly grew.

The coal operators resisted as strongly as expected: when a miner joined the union he was immediately fired. If he lived in a company-owned home – as most did – he was told to move out. If he refused, gun-bearing Baldwin-Felts "detectives" evicted him and his family, setting his furniture out on the road. Despite those grave pressures, miners by the hundreds along the Tug Fork joined the union. By May 15, 1920, three thousand Tug Fork miners had joined.

Nowhere was union activity greater that spring than in Matewan. There the police chief, Sid Hatfield, a former miner, and Mayor C. Testerman openly cooperated with the drive and protected the miners holding organized meetings in town.

Despite efforts by Chief Hatfield to keep the Baldwin-Felts detectives away from Matewan, they came. On May 19, 1920, thirteen detectives, including Baldwin-Felts president Thomas Felts and younger brothers Albert and Lee, arrived in Matewan to evict unionized mining families from their homes in the Stone Mountain Mine camp.

Nothing angered miners more than "thugs" (i.e. Baldwin-Felts detectives) forcing women and little children from their homes at gunpoint. Word of the evictions spread quickly. Angry miners from Matewan and the surrounding area grabbed guns and rushed to the town as the detectives evicted six more families in dismal rainy weather. Chief Hatfield led a group of miners to the Stone Mountain camp, attempting to stop the evictions; but the Felts brothers refused his plea. When the detectives returned to Matewan after all the evictions Chief Hatfield, backed by armed miners, sought to arrest Al Felts for conducting the evictions without proper Matewan authority. As he and Mayor Testerman glared at Al Felts and the other detectives outside the railroad depot, someone fired a shot, and the battle began.

It lasted about a minute with hundreds of shots fired. Al Felts and Testerman fell in the first volley. When it was over, seven detectives, including both Al and Lee Felts, Mayor Testerman, and two miners were dead or dying.

The battle made Sid Hatfield a folk hero for miners throughout the nation. Fifteen months later, the Baldwin-Felts detectives retaliated by killing Hatfield on the McDowell County courthouse steps at Welch. The brutal murder touched off an armed rebellion of 10,000 West Virginia coal miners in the largest insurrection this country has had since the Civil War, helping trigger improvements in America’s labor market.

Dingess Tunnel

The railroad tunnel at Dingess and thirty-three other bridges on Twelve Pole creek are more than 100 years old, once serving the Twelve Pole line of the Norfolk & Western Railway between Lenore and Wayne.

The unusual thing about these structures: all are still in use and are part of county Route 3/5.

On Sept. 25, 1892, the first train moved over the Ohio Extension at the Dingess Tunnel. The tunnel and The Twelve Pole line it serviced were integral to the N&W’s success, as it was part of the main line before being abandoned.

Shortly after the abandonment of the Twelve Pole line between Lenore and Wayne, two forces of workmen began removing the track, ties, and accessory facilities. Silence soon reigned in the rugged mountains overlooking the area. Gone were the whistles of locomotives and the rumble of cars which had been heard for forty years. Nothing but long, winding bed of cinders, a few decayed ties, several steel bridges, and two tunnels remained.

However, due to the generosity of N&W, the Twelve Pole line’s roadbed between Missouri Branch and Lowney was converted into highway. Existing steel bridges were utilized for the new road after widening and flooring, while all of the other railway bridges and culverts were left in the line.