The Big Onion was charcoal burning station that was a flag stop on the railroad. A "flag stop" was not part of the scheduled stops on a line. In rural and remote communities across Canada and the United States, passengers wanting to board the train at such places had to flag the train down to stop it, hence the name "flag stops". Sometimes this would be an actual flag that was hung out to alert the conductor that a stop was needed.
"Big Onion is a flag stop on the Hillsboro branch of the Baltimore & Ohio. Kluck's Crossing is in the southeastern part of Jefferson township and on the Clark township line. This was a charcoal-burning station for a number of years. The ovens were the largest in this part of the state and gave employment to quite a number of men, but this industry has died out and at present Kluck's Crossing is merely a flag stop."
Source: The History Of Clinton County. W. H. BEERS & CO. 1915.
