They were pissed at their river Levisa Fork for breaking banks every year and flooding their city.
They butchered a mountain and created a kilometer-long and 400-meters-wide channel, called the Pikeville Cut-Through.
The effort earned him the title of the man who moved a mountain.
William C. Hambley, a Pikeville native, was a medical doctor before he become involved in politics.
I would have sat by the tracks everyday after school to watch the trains rumble by.
I would have flattened countless nickles.
But Hambley cared more for his hometown than for himself.
He also detested the dirty coal cars that ran through the middle of Pikeville.
Soon after, Pikeville underwent rapid economic development.
Today its a flourishing center for commerce and the leading financial and industrial center of the Appalachian region.
Photo credit: summitpost.org
Photo credit: visitpikeville.com
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Photo credit: Wikimedia
Sources:Tourpikecounty/Kaintuckeean/Appalachian Magazine
