Pocahontas Coalfield, which is also known as the Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield, is located in
Mercer County/
McDowell County,
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
and
Tazewell County,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
.
The earliest mining of coal in the coalfield was in
Pocahontas, Virginia in 1883 at
Pocahontas Mine No. 1, now on the
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
.
The
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when dead ...
seams—Pocahontas No. 3, No. 4, No. 6, and No. 11—are some of the best coal to be found in the world, and are rated at 15,000
Btu
The British thermal unit (BTU or Btu) is a unit of heat; it is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. It is also part of the United States customary units. The modern SI ...
/
lb (35
MJ/kg).
This operation, replete with beehive coke ovens, eventually spawned the
Pocahontas Fuel Company, which operated mines in
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth are ...
at
Boissevain and
Amonate, and in
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...
at
Jenkinjones,
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
, and
Itmann.
History
Later Pocahontas Fuel Company (formerly Pocahontas Consolidated) was absorbed into Consolidation Coal Company, which still mines coal at
Amonate.
The mines at Pocahontas were able to ship coal when the
Norfolk & Western Railway
The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precisio ...
bought the
New River Railroad and extended a branch line there. As this
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
was extended westward through Mercer and McDowell Counties the coalfield expanded with it. By the mid-1880s the
Bramwell area was booming with mines at
Coopers and
Freeman
Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to:
* a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm
* Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies
* Free ...
.
Coal mines continued to open through the 1890s as the Norfolk & Western Railroad laid track along Elkhorn Creek and eventually reached
Welch. Some of these coal mines/coal camps included
Maybeury,
Elkhorn,
Upland, and
Keystone.
The coals of the Pocahontas coalfield developed a good reputation, and by 1903,
U.S. Steel
United States Steel Corporation, more commonly known as U.S. Steel, is an American integrated steel producer headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with production operations primarily in the United States of America and in several countrie ...
had set up a subsidiary named U.S. Coal and Coke to mine coal in central McDowell County. The operations centered around
Gary, with numbered coal mines/camps surrounding the central
coal town of Gary like
coal town suburbs.
Wilcoe was Gary No. 1,
Ream was Gary No. 6,
Elbert was Gary No.8, and
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
was Gary No. 10 and
Thorpe was No.11. At first the coal was baked in
beehive coke ovens at the mine site and shipped to the steel mills as coke (much as U.S. Steel had done in the
Connellsville coalfield in
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Mary ...
). After 1918 the coal was shipped by rail to the massive coke works at
Clairton. The captive mines of U.S. Steel in the Gary area continued to thrive until the 1980s, when they were closed and Gary began an economic decline.
The Pocahontas Coalfield continued to thrive through two world wars. The United Mine Workers union gained a foothold in the coalfield after the 1930s.
African-Americans
African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...
from the south flooded the coalfield in search of a better way of life, and to this day McDowell County has the highest percentage of African-American population of any West Virginia county. Immigrants from
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croat ...
,
Italy, and
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
settled in the coal camps and contributed to the remarkable ethnic diversity of the area. Echoes of this diversity are still evident today.
In the mid–20th century mines thrived at
Capels,
Caretta
The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when fully ...
,
Coalwood, and
Berwind. On January 10, 1940, the Bartley No. 1 Mine explosion killed 91 miners, and subsequently,
Havaco No. 9 mine explosion on January 15, 1956 claimed the lives of 15 coal miners.
Extraction of the low-volatile coal continued unabated through the energy boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since 1990 this coalfield has been on the decline and outmigration has robbed the area of 75% of its population. (In 1950 McDowell County had a population of approximately 100,000 people, which was reduced to about 22,000 people in the 2010 census.
) Yet today there are a few medium to small surface and deep mines still operating.
Coal camps
Some of the names of the coal camps, also called
coal towns, associated with the Pocahontas Coalfield are:
*
Algoma
*
Amonate
*
Anawalt
*
Bartley
*
Berwind
*
Big Four
*
Big Vein
*
Bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...
*
Boissevain
*
Bramwell
*
Capels
*
Caretta
The loggerhead sea turtle (''Caretta caretta'') is a species of oceanic turtle distributed throughout the world. It is a marine reptile, belonging to the family Cheloniidae. The average loggerhead measures around in carapace length when fully ...
*
Coalwood
*
Coopers
*
Cucumber
Cucumber (''Cucumis sativus'') is a widely-cultivated creeping vine plant in the Cucurbitaceae family that bears usually cylindrical fruits, which are used as culinary vegetables.[Eight
8 is a number, numeral, and glyph.
8 or eight may also refer to:
Years
* AD 8, the eighth year of the AD era
* 8 BC, the eighth year before the AD era
Art
* The Eight (Ashcan School), a group of twentieth century painters associated with the ...]
*
Elbert
*
Elkhorn
*
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
*
Freeman
Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to:
* a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm
* Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies
* Free ...
*
Gary
*
Havaco
*
Jenkinjones
*
Keystone
*
Maybeury
*
Pageton
*
Pocahontas
Pocahontas (, ; born Amonute, known as Matoaka, 1596 – March 1617) was a Native American woman, belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of ...
*
Premier
Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier.
A premier will normally be a head of gov ...
*
Ream
*
Six
*
Thorpe
*
Upland
*
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
*
Vivian
*
War
War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...
*
Welch
*
Wilcoe
See also
*
Coalfield
A coalfield is an area of certain uniform characteristics where coal is mined. The criteria for determining the approximate boundary of a coalfield are geographical and cultural, in addition to geological. A coalfield often groups the seams of ...
*
Pocahontas, Alberta
*
New River Coalfield The New River Coalfield is located in northeastern Raleigh County and southern Fayette County, West Virginia. Commercial mining of coal began in the 1870s and thrived into the 20th century. The coal in this field is a low volatile coal, known as " ...
*
Winding Gulf Coalfield
The Winding Gulf Coalfield is located in western Raleigh County and eastern Wyoming County, in southern West Virginia. It is named after the Winding Gulf stream, a tributary of the Guyandotte River. In the early 20th century, it was promoted as ...
External links
Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains - Flat Top-Pocahontas Field (of West Virginia)
References
{{coord missing, Virginia
* https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/Mine_Disasters/search_Coal_county.asp?COUNTY=McDowell+County%2C+WV
Coal mining in Appalachia
Coal mining regions in the United States
Mining in West Virginia
Mining in Virginia
Geography of Mercer County, West Virginia
Geography of McDowell County, West Virginia
Geography of Tazewell County, Virginia
National Coal Heritage Area