Mendota Rails to Trails Project
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
In the late 1800's a rail line was built from the main line at Bristol, VA to the coal country in SW VA. The first leg ran from Bristol to Mendota, on to Gate City then north to the coal mines. The line was abandoned in the early 80's. An effort was made to convert to a trail but it failed due to adjacent land owner opposition. Some years ago the city of Bristol acquired the RR right of way and proposed a trail. Local opposition was robust and the effort was abandoned.
In the mean time the coal mines of SW VA were closing and the local economy was collapsing. A lawyer in St. Paul VA. Frank Kilgore, had a vision of reviving the economy with outdoor recreation. To that end he created a conservation organization, Mountain Heritage. Agreement was made with the city of Bristol to transfer RR ownership to Mountain Heritage if a mile of trail could be opened in one year. A useless mile was opened from Mendota south, ending at a dilapidated 273 foot bridge across the Holston River. This achievement met the transfer requirement and Mountain Heritage now owned the RR right of way, much to the consternation of adjacent land owners that had used this land for decades.
Local opposition was intense. The Bristol end faced a dilapidated bridge only a short ways north. To get the project off the ground my wife and I agreed to fund restoration of Trestle #1.
Every obstacle was thrown at construction. Absurd requirements were invented to stop the bridge, but we pressed on. At excessive expense the bridge was finished which opened a 4 mile trail north to a dead end, a tall highly damaged very expensive to repair bridge at Benhams, VA, a tantalizing short distance from a dandy trail head.
Two years passed as the group tried to secure funding for this bridge. in the mean time Mountain Heritage passed ownership of the trail to a group just focused on the trail, Mendota Trail Conservancy. Focused, this group secured funding for this key bridge and the dominoes began to fall. A private donor stepped in and agreed to fund the next bridge north and my wife and I rejoined the group and agreed to fund the 1st bridge south from Mendota. With funding secured for the bridge over the Holston River, two more donors soon agreed to fund the next two bridges which will take the trail to another dandy trail head.
The State of VA was so impressed by the local funding support that they provided a $350,000 grant to do a series of bridges through the spectacular Wolf Run Gorge. We will begin these bridges next month, leaving only 5 short bridges and two hostile land owners remaining to repurpose.
Through reengineering, efficient construction techniques, shaking down suppliers, and volunteer labor we have cut the price of restoring a bridge by half or more. If there is interest in this part of the story I could put it together later.
