MAIDSVILLE, WV
North American Coal Co. opened a coal mine at Maidsville in 1915. They operated it until 1924. From 1923
until 1938 the Edna Gas Coal Co. operated the Edna Mine at Maidsville. Evidently, by the 1950's, Christopher Coal Co. (or
someone else) demolished most of Maidsville, and a large modern mine Named Humphrey No. 7 Mine was opened by Christopher at
Maidsville in 1956. This was a successful coal mine, producing 2 or 3 million tons of coal per year. Humphrey
became one of the many Pittsburgh seam longwall mines that stretched from Fairmont, WV to Monongahela, PA. By the mid-
1970's Christopher Coal Co.'s mines were acquired by Consolidation Coal Co. and, initially, were called Consol's Christopher
Divison. Consol continued to successfully mine coal at Humphrey No. 7, producing over 3.5 million tons in 1987. If I
remember correctly, the Humphrey No. 7 mine was scheduled for closure in 1998, but Humphrey employees submitted a plan to
Consolidation Coal management to continue production for a few more years with room-and-pillar mining only. The plan was
approved, and Humphrey No. 7 produced coal until December 2002, ending nearly 90 years of coal mining at Maidsville.
This is a little something I saved from the Humphrey prep plant regarding their Deister Tables:
Old topo map showing the Maidsville
coal camp, which seems to have been spread out into many sections along the Monongahela River (shown in blue). (Image from USGS Morgantown Quadrangle, 1:62500 scale, 1933)
Google Street View image
These are what I believe to be
the few remaining company houses in Maidsville. The rest of the community is comprised of later houses and mobile homes.
Google Street View image
These too were probably coal
camp homes.
2002 image by Ray Mercado
Ray took this photo of a mine motor exiting the Humphrey Mine portal in the summer of 2002. This was one of the last bituminous coal mines
in America to still use rail haulage to bring the coal out of the mine (Consol's Shoemaker mine may have been the last).
Dec. 2002 image by author
The sun goes down (literally and figuratively) on the Humphrey Mine in December 2002 three days before it closed for good. The lights on the refuse conveyor and the plant have already been turned on for the evening.
This was one of the last sand media plants in the nation. There were two Chance cones at Humphrey.
Dec. 2002 image by author
The guard actually let me and my
wife drive right up to the plant to get a closer photo. We talked to him about how Humphrey would be closing in a few days.
Oct. 2003 image by author
This photo, taken nearly a year later, shows the Humphrey coal processing plant still standing. A closer look at the picture reveals a white crane on the
ground beside the plant, gutting the plant of it's equipment to use elsewhere.
Nov. 2004 image by author
But a little over a year later a coal train passes a mostly demolished Humphry coal processing facility.
Oct. 2003 image by author
A turnover car dumper like this one at the Humphrey No. 7 mine was becoming a rare find.
Oct. 2003 image by author
View of Humphrey No. 7 prep plant and barge loadout taken from up on the silo not long after the mine closed. In the
background is the Monongahela River. From here almost to Pittsburgh were many mines dumping coal into barges - Humphrey, Robena, Dillworth,
Maple Creek, etc. All are gone now.
Miners on the mantrip at Maidsville. This was not really
a good mantrip, just miners sitting in underground coal cars.
Another picture of a mantrip at shift change
at Maidsville. The Edna Mine may have been in its last days at this time.
Sep. 1938 image by Marion Post Wolcott, Library of Congress
Miners and their dinner buckets at
shift change. Ms. Post probably took these pictures at the same time she was also photographing mining towns at nearby Pursglove
and Chaplin.
Sep. 1938 image by Marion Post Wolcott, Library of Congress
Maidsville miners waiting for the mantrip.
Sep. 1938 image by Marion Post Wolcott, Library of Congress
Coal miners going to and fro during a shift change.
Sep. 1938 image by Marion Post Wolcott, Library of Congress
Miners walking past a burning gob pile at Maidsville.
Sep. 1938 image by Marion Post Wolcott, Library of Congress
The Maidsville gob pile was especially smoky on this
day. These burning gob piles aka slate dumps were once common in parts of West Virginia, but the last one I ever remember seeing was
in 1992 in Whitesville, W.Va.
