Topic: Could one of the mods link to "It's Always With You" article...Chicago TRIBUNE??

[backontrack]

Written by Julia Keller for the aforementioned newspaper in '99...if you haven't read it, you MUST...thanks...

[mu79grad]

I'm not a moderator but here is the article:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-09-05/features/9909050375_1_ohio-river-plane-crash-site

[biggreenarms]

It was a great read. I think I remember reading it when it was first published. Everyone should take the time to read it if you haven't already.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-09-05/features/9909050375_1_ohio-river-plane-crash-site

`It's Always With You'
For Almost 30 Years, The Loss Of 75 People In A Plane Crash Has Loomed Over This West Virginia Town Like A Mountain. But Slowly, Huntington Is Finding Its Way Into The Sun.
September 05, 1999|By Julia Keller. Julia Keller is a Tribune staff writer.

I was born with the sound of a railroad whistle in my ears, the mountains at my back and the river at my feet.

Everyone in Huntington, W.Va., was born that way because the city was captive to those elements. The coal was spooned out of the West Virginia mountains, heaped into railroad cars, then loaded onto barges and pushed down the Ohio River. Huntington, named for railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington, was the spot where the railroad met the river.

If you lived along the Ohio River, as I did, you could stand on the bank and marvel at the great, flat coal barges sliding past like dirty black wafers. At night, their searchlights would sweep the riverbank on each side; there was something thrilling about being frisked by light as you stood on the bank, hoping your mother didn't call you inside too soon.

Things are different in Huntington these days. Because the coalfields are no longer thriving, rail traffic has steadily diminished. In the past three decades, Huntington's population has inched back from about 74,000 to some 55,000.

The river is still there, of course. The river and a memory.