West Virginia Blue
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GILBERT — Eric Burgess realized early there was no future in the boom and bust cycles of West Virginia’s coal industry. Instead, the coal-truck-driver-turned-entrepreneur is pinning his success on miles of all-terrain vehicle trails that crisscross the state’s southern coalfields.
“I’m going for the guy with the Denali, pulling four or six ATVs, looking to get dirty but stay in a place he is used to,” says Burgess, who is set to start construction on a 30-suite hotel in this town of about 400 residents.
The trails are part of the Hatfield-McCoy system, a network of 550 miles of off-road trails for four-wheelers and motorcycles that was named after two infamous families who carried on a 12-year feud in the region. The idea behind the trail system was to attract tourists and increase business opportunities to nine economically depressed counties where coal and timber once reigned.
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