It is often stated (incorrectly) that the Loup Creek Branch was built originally as a "logging" or "timber" railroad, with some writers suggesting that this was due to the fact that the owner of the land, T. G. McKell was totally unaware of the vast quantities of coal on his property. Such accounts then go on to claim that it was only after coal was "discovered" along Loup Creek that the branch line began hauling coal. The concept that the Loup Creek Branch was built originally as a "log hauling railroad" is absolutely incorrect and that notion that coal was not "discovered" along Loup Creek until sometime after 1894 is totally absurd!

Copies of the series of letters written between McKell and the President of the C&O Railway, that came to frame the contractual agreement for the building of the branch line railroad, still exist, being preserved as part of a lawsuit filed in U. S. District Court. The letters clearly show that McKell was fully aware of the value of the coal on his land many years prior to the branch line being built. McKell states in his first letter the C&O President that had an "earnest desire to see coal on Dun Loup creek developed," and then goes on to state that in order to develop his coal land, he wished to build (or have built) a coal hauling railroad. Absolutely nowhere in these letters, does McKell makes any mention of developing "timber lands" nor does he mention any plans for a "timber" or "logging" railroad to be built.