Kanawha and Michigan Railroad bridge across the mouth of the Gauley River. The Gauley River and the New River converge at Gauley Bridge and form the Kanawha River. The Willis W. Vail Glass Slide Collection is one of three significant collections of mine-related photography aggregated in the George and Melody Bragg New River Coal Fields Photographic Collections housed in Archives & Special Collections in Radford University's McConnell Library. Employed primarily as a surveyor in the years 1890-1896, Willis W. Vail (1868-1951) documented through photography the towns and scenery of the New River Gorge mining companies, especially in Raleigh, Fayette, and McDowell Counties.