19. Isolated Vulcan
Vulcan, WV, was described thus in a 1972 book: “Their biggest problem was that the state had forgotten to build a road into the community. Although state maps showed a road into Vulcan, it was nowhere to be found. The only way people could get in and out was to drive up the Kentucky side and walk across a swinging bridge, which was too narrow for a vehicle. The bridge had been built by the coal company years before and was on the verge of collapse; although there were boards missing, the children had to walk across it to catch the school bus on the Kentucky side…”
Lack of a road was a serious hardship. On their way to and from school, Vulcan’s children had to crawl under parked railroad coal cars – which often blocked the community’s sole bridge. One child lost a leg doing that. There was a side road that ran through Vulcan. However, it belonged to a railroad that placed it off-limits, and vigorously prosecuted those who used it for trespass.