1928 Map of Matewan

About this map

Tug Fork carves a serpentine boundary between West Virginia and Kentucky, serving as the central artery for the coal-driven economy of the late 1920s. This survey, revised just before the turn of the decade, documents the intensive industrial footprint of the Norfolk and Western railroad as it follows the river's path. The landscape is a dense network of mining operations and supporting company towns, from the established Matewan to the operations at Puritan Mines and Thacker Mines.