Sometimes more horses would be on this side than on the Hagan side and Orville Howard remembers when he was a small boy, how he used to ride one horse and lead several more to Cawood where someone would meet him. He laughed and said, "I would get a quater a trip and had to walk back." Back in 1882 one of the first "big" livery stables built in Harlan is the one pictured above. S.C. Howard, who owned one of the first general stores, built the stable mainly for feeding his "boaders" horses and to have a place for his stock. t The Howard Drug corner was the site of the big stable. The property was later sold to Rome Skidmore who ran the business for a while before a land company bought it. Men who worked at the shop were kept busy feeding, grooming, and saddling the horses for customers.
Homemade broms were the best to keep the place tidied up. An old settler handy with a knife could whittle a broom in no time from a piece of oak. He shaved the splinters down to the end and tied them with a cord. They made dandy brooms. "I can remember those horses as well as if it were yesterday," said an old timeer. "Beck" was the mule I liked best," one of the fairer sex who sat near by added that most ot the ladies road old 'Granny." She was tame and gentle and a favorite of the women folk. "Brownie' was also a gentle horse they recalled. Will Ward Duffiels liked him so well he finally bought him, they agreed. As they talked of the 'good old days,' memories lingered back to the bustle skirt days.
"We had side saddles for our horses and our skirts nearly dragged the ground" the lady old timer said. They told of an occasion when some ladies from Louisville came to Harlan riding astride. It was amazing how the people looked on and thought they were"a bunch of Indians." Years later another road was built, a dirt road like the Hagan road, but this one led to Hubbard Springs. Only one mountain had to be crossed. The distance was a little nearer to a railroad station. The Hagan road crossed the mountain at Pansy. One of the first buckboards to be brought to Harlan was driven by Ballard Thurston of Louisville. Most of the boys in town followed it to Baxter. Some times they rode to Baxter and walked back home.
Finally the two seated buckboards cam to Harlan and 4 or 5 people could ride in them. Their baggage had to be tied to the sides. The road was a little bumpy and passengers were bounced around considerably. 'Drummers" brought hacks in later with their samples to peddle to the general stores. One of the great timber men of Kentucky, T.J.Asher, wasn't content to let Harlan County be isolated from the rest ot the world. He foresaw the wealth and possibilities to do something about it. He saw how Harlan County could be a region of wealth by linking it with the L and N Railroad. Asher went to the president of the L and N and discussed the possibilility of building a line from Pineville to Harlan. The railroad executive would not agree. He could not be convinced of the development of coal fields here. Some people were content to see harlan remain a remote village approachable by mule only, but not Asher.
He decided to build it himself. He borrowed money and had gone two or three miles with the tract from Wasiota when Milton H. Smith came to see what was going on. He went back to Louisville and wrote"we are going to build your spur lines, put in your side tracks and maintain them and I want you to build that road to Harlan for me and to know how much you are going to charge me." Asher replied, "you will be doing a good deal for us and I hope to do enough for you to make you feel you are fully paid." that was the contract. He built about 26 miles of road and Mr. Smith allowed him to draw drafts on the L and N Co. as he needed it. A total of $2,700,000 was spent and when the job was finished their accounts tallied to the cent. Asher would not take a penny for his work. The first railroad was the W. and B. M. which tapped the rich Harlan coal fields and opened up one of the richest industries in the state. Asher was not content until the road was built from Wasiota, in Bell County to Black Mountain, then Harlan County began to "boom."
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