Referred to as “The Bootleg Capital Of Ohio,” New Straitsville was founded in 1870 by the New Straitsville Mining Company. Ten years later, its population exceeded 4,000. Unlike San Toy, the town was filled mostly with people of English decent. In 1884, the unions and the company clashed over wages and work in the coal mines of New Straitsville stopped. A group of radical union members, angry over the long strike, put timbers in bank cars, soaked them with oil, set them afire and rolled into the mine. When the fire was discovered days later, it was uncontrollable. It is said the fire covered 241 acres under three counties and damaged the local coal industry for years. The fires have continued to burn ever since. Some have brewed instant coffee in the hot water from the wells, and heated school lunches in steam rising from cracks in the highways. Fifty million dollars worth of coal lost, by 1880 estimates. Today, the town is one of those well-worn communities that struggles, to keep up with the fast pace of technology. But the regions industrial present is fast disappearing. Submitted by Henry Chenoweth.