The Black Diamond Railroad

From Maysville's  Evening Bulletin, of August 13, 1898 we learn that “Colonel Boone was awarded the contract for the construction and equipment of 250 miles of the Black Diamond Railroad system, double track from Ghent, Ky., on the Ohio River to Jellico Narrows, at $16,500,00. ”

An earlier piece in the Mt. Sterling paper said the railroad would go from Indianapolis, to Port Royal, South Carolina.  It would cross the river at Ghent, head for Cynthiana, Mt. Sterling, Irvine, Barboursville and Jellico, Tennessee.  They developers promised residents along the line that they would see coal prices drop from 90 cents per ton to 45 cents per ton. Like many a planned railroads at this time in American history, planning was waylaid by the actual raising of cash, and that was the end of the Black Diamond Railroad.

see the Maysville Evening Bulletin, August 13, 1898; the Hickman Courier, of November 11, 1898; and the Mt. Sterling Advocate of January 4, 1898.