Vulcan is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Mingo County Mingo County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,568. Its county seat and largest city is Williamson. Created in 1895, Mingo is West Virginia's newest county, named for the historic Iroq ...

, West Virginia, United States. Vulcan is located along the

Tug Fork The Tug Fork is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 13, 2011 in southwestern West Virginia, southwestern Virginia, and eastern ...

across from the state of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

. The community was named after

Vulcan Vulcan may refer to: Mythology * Vulcan (mythology), the god of fire, volcanoes, metalworking, and the forge in Roman mythology Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * Vulcan (''Star Trek''), name of a fictional race and their home p ...

, the god of fire in Roman mythology. Vulcan received international attention when they requested aid from the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

to replace a collapsed bridge, the only legal entrance and exit into the community. Vulcan was originally settled as a coal-mining community in the early 20th century, but by 1968 the coal supply had been exhausted and the town experienced significant depopulation.

Bridge

Vulcan lacked a road connection to the rest of West Virginia and relied on a swinging bridge across the Tug Fork to

Kentucky Route 194 Kentucky Route 194 (KY 194) is an state highway in Kentucky that runs from Kentucky Route 1428 east of Emma to Virginia State Route 697 at the Virginia state line south of Argo via Woods, Kimper, Phyllis, Phelps, Freeburn, Majestic, and ...

. The bridge was too narrow for vehicular traffic and had deteriorated by the early 1970s with missing boards. In 1974–75, the bridge had completely collapsed due to wood rot, and the mayor of Vulcan had unsuccessfully lobbied both the state and federal government to replace it. Because of a lack of action the self-appointed mayor of Vulcan, John Robinette, in 1977 requested foreign aid from the

and

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

to replace the town's bridge. Soviet journalist Iona Andronov visited Vulcan on December 17, 1977, to meet with Robinette and survey the problem. Within an hour of his visit, reporters were told that the state would replace the bridge. The

West Virginia Legislature The West Virginia Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of West Virginia. A bicameral legislative body, the legislature is split between the upper Senate and the lower House of Delegates. It was established under Article VI o ...

provided $1.3 million in funding to replace the bridge which opened in 1980.

References

Unincorporated communities in Mingo County, West Virginia Unincorporated communities in West Virginia Coal towns in West Virginia Soviet Union–United States relations Cold War history of the United States Cold War history of the Soviet Union Diplomatic incidents Carter administration controversies {{MingoCountyWV-geo-stub