Arthur's project failed by 1893. The Cumberland Gap had turned out to be too steep for locomotives and, in order to connect Middlesboro to the Tennessee line, an expensive tunnel needed to be constructed from 1888 to 1889, ultimately necessitating the dissolution of the Powell Valley Railroad and its recapitalization as the Knoxville, Cumberland Gap, & Louisville. Rebuilding from a devastating fire in 1890 used up more capital and time and the poor quality of local ore meant that revenue from Arthur's steel mills was insufficient to weather the Panic of 1893 on Wall Street. Arthur's development of the area finished, the post office was renamed the following year after the already-prevalent local spelling Middlesboro. The Knoxville, Cumberland Pass, & Louisville was bought out by the L&N in 1896. The local newspaper, the Middlesboro Daily News, was established in 1911.