In addition to the Cumberland Gap cutting through the mountains, heading south the next largest break in the mountains is in Campbell County, TN. In the 1890s, two LaFollette brothers arrived in the Big Creek Gap area as it was then known. Upon observing iron deposits, timber stands and abundant coal and water resources located in close proximity, they purchased over 37,000 acres and formed the LaFollette Coal, Iron and Railway Company. To attract workers for their new company, they built the town of LaFollette. As workers flooded into the new town, the population grew from 300 in 1900 to 3000 by 1920.  At its peak, the LaFollette blast furnace was one of the largest in the Southern United States and the LaFollette brothers employed some 1500 people from all backgrounds. Ironically, the business failed during the height of the roaring twenties. By then the small town of LaFollette was already firmly in place.