EUNICE, WV
The C&O Railroad opened the mining town of Eunice, Raleigh County in 1919, where they mined a 5-foot section of the Dorothy seam. Princess Dorothy Coal Co. was the
owner of Eunice from 1936 until the 1950's. Bethlehem Mines Corp. (subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel) later opened deep and surface in the Eagle Seam at Eunice - Mines No. 116, 117, & 118. Their underground haulage at Eunice utilized two locomotive units operated in a tandem and up to 14 coal cars.
A mines departmentBethlehem closed the Eunice mines and company store in 1979.
From an Associated Press article from December 1979:
MINES TO CLOSE - Bethlehem Steel Corp. announced Tuesday that it is
closing five mines and a preparation plant in southern
West Virginia beginning Dec. 28.
The action will put 500 miners out of work, according
to a company spokesman. The operations will be closed indefinitely,
the company said. Bethlehem is also closing a
coal preparation plant and a shop. There are 675 workers on the
payroll at the mines, which are all part of the Kayford-Boone-Nicholas Division,
based in Charleston. But 175 of those will be offered jobs
elsewhere in the division, the company said. The mines affected are No.
111, 113 and 121 at Kayford in Kanawha County and No. 116
and 118 near Eunice in Raleigh County.
The company says the mines are uneconomical to run.
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The Eunice coal camp along Route 3. (May 2001 image by author)
The Eunice company store not long before it was demolished. (Image courtesy of Nancy McIntyre Stepp)
Ruins of the miners' bath house. (Image by Charles T. Bradford)
Coal tipple at Eunice. (Circa 1991 WV SHPO image)
Another view of the tipple. (Circa 1991 WV SHPO image)
SOUTHERN WEST VIRGINIA COALFIELDS