Editing Ansted, West Virginia (section)

===Post-war: railroads, coal mining, Ansted laid out===
Around 1872, the [[Chesapeake & Ohio Railway]] added a new line, on both sides of the narrow [[New River (Kanawha River)|New River]] valley, creating a through route to the [[Ohio]] and [[Mississippi River]]s. The final spike in this portion of the C&O was placed at Hawks Nest Station, just below Ansted, on January 29, 1873.
[[File:David T. Ansted - Дэвид Анстед.jpg|250px|left|thumb|''Dr. [[David T. Ansted]], British [[scientist]] and [[geologist]] (1814–1880)'']]
Also in 1873, the town of Ansted was created and named after British [[scientist]] and [[geologist]], Dr. [[David T. Ansted]] (1814–1880), who in 1853, mapped out the nearby seams of high grade [[bituminous coal]] and once owned the land under the town. Former [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] Colonel [[George W. Imboden]], a wealthy lawyer from [[Augusta County, Virginia]] and brother of Confederate General [[John D. Imboden]] (under whom George Imboden fought with the [[18th Virginia Cavalry]]) laid out the town. Imboden had begun speculating in coal lands in southern West Virginia after the war's end, and attracted British investors. Dr. Ansted, a noted geologist, had been engaged to investigate the region's potential for coal deposits, and his report far exceeded Imboden's best expectations. Ansted and Imboden bought more than a thousand acres (4&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) of coal and timber land on Gauley Mountain between Hawks Nest and the town of Westlake. They organized the Gauley-Kanawha Coal Company, Ltd., in 1872 and in 1873 opened a mine about {{convert|1000|ft|m}} above the river and {{convert|300|ft|m}} below the summit of Gauley Mountain. The company changed its name to Hawks Nest Coal Company, Ltd., in 1875, and was reorganized in bankruptcy in 1889 as the Gauley Mountain Coal Company.

[[File:Hawks Nest.JPG|275px|right|thumb|''A scenic view of the [[New River (West Virginia)|New River Gorge]] from [[Lovers' Leap]] in [[Hawks Nest State Park]], Ansted, West Virginia'']]

Colonel Imboden, who was Ansted's first [[mayor]], helped stimulate the growth of the town's businesses. His second wife, Angie, renamed their family home "[[Contentment (Ansted, West Virginia)|Contentment]]" because she and her family spent many happy hours there. Contentment had been built about 1830 on the [[James River and Kanawha Turnpike]] in the west end of what is now Ansted, and they acquired it in 1872.

Another of the town's more well-known residents was [[William N. Page|William Nelson Page]], (1854–1932). A [[civil engineer]], protégé of Dr. Ansted, and mining manager, Page helped develop West Virginia's rich [[bituminous coal]] fields in the late 19th and early 20th century. Page also was co-founder and builder of the [[Virginian Railway]]. In 1898, on a knoll in the middle of town, Page had a palatial mansion built by Gauley Mountain Coal Company carpenters, where he and his wife [[Emma Gilham Page]] raised their four children. Like Colonel Imboden, William Page also served as Ansted's mayor for 10 years, although his title of "Colonel" was honorific (despite post-war involvement in the West Virginia State Militia). The railroad towns of [[Page, West Virginia|Page]] and [[Pageton, West Virginia|Pageton]] in West Virginia were named for him.