BISHOP, WV
Evidently this was one of the last coal camps to be built in the Pocahontas Coalfield (in 1930). Bishop, in which half the camp is in McDowell County, WV and half is in Tazewell County, Va, was opened by the Pocahontas Fuel Corporation.
It was their No. 33 and No. 34 mines, and they also mined a 7-foot section of the Pocahontas 3 seam here as No. 35 mine. In the 1950s Consolidation Coal Co. (Consol) absorbed Pocahontas Fuel Co., an thus the Bishop mines.
Shortly thereafter, Consol sold the houses. In 1961 the Bishop coal mines became a joint venture between Consol and Inland Steel Co. of East Chicago, Indiana. This combined effort was named Bishop Coal Co. This operation,
which included Mines No. 33, 34, 36, and 37, operated until 1984. In the 1980s most of the large Pocahontas Coalfield mines closed down, and the Bishop mining complex sat quietly rusting away. This was the situation until
the coal boom of 2000-2010 occured. In 2001 Bluestone Coal permitted new mining operations at Bishop, and demolished the old prep plant. In the 2010s the new mine and prep plant opened. However, when I passed through Bishop
in October 2022, the prep plant was dead quiet, despite it being a boom year for met coal.
2022 visit to Bishop
From a Bluefield Daily Telegraph article dated September 4, 1931 titled, "WORK ON BISHOP
ROAD PROGRESSES" -
The new mining town of Bishop,
in an isolated part of Tazewell County,
will be linked to the outside
world with a hard-surfaced highway
within the next two months, contractors on the project announced
yesterday.
Construction of the four and one-half
mile link between Adria and
Bishop was started the first of August
by Robert Lambert and William
McCall, Richlands, whose bid of
$35,300 was the lowest of a dozen
submitted for the work.
With a force of upwards of a hundred
men at work, the contractors
are pushing the hard-surfacing so
that the highway will be completed
and ready for traffic by the time bad
weather sets in. Only local labor is
being employed.
The road into the mining camp,
the "baby" operation of the Pocahontas Fuel Company, is a part of
state route 112 and the road from
Tazewell to Adria was completed
some time ago.
Heretofore, Bishop and the Crocketts Cove section of Tazewell County
has been virtually marooned during
the winter, there being no hardsurfaced road into that part of the
county.
Bill Hall Jr. writes, "I remember these places from years ago. I worked for Consol during college in the early 1980s. One year I was in the lab in Pocahontas and sampled from many of the mines/tipples.
Some I don't remember well, as I only worked on that site for a day or so. Others, like Turkey Gap, Crane Creek, etc. I do remember well. Other summers I worked at Bishop in the scale house, Amonate in the scale house, and
one summer at Buchanan on the tipple. I actually loaded the very first unit train out of Buchanan in 1984 or 1985.
My father was the final superintendent at the Pageton prep plant. They were running truck coal at that time. He also was a shift foreman on the plant at Jenkinjones, and ran a special plant at Jenkinjones that combined coal fines with oil to make coal pellets (oil agglomeration plant) in the 1980s. After Jenkinjones he was at Bishop for a while on the tipple, then Pageton. When Pageton shut down, he was transferred to Amonate and was the tipple superintendent there until he retired in the late 1990s."
Sources:
Email from Schust, Alex. re: Bishop, WV, 3 Dec. 2022.
Schust, Alex P. Billion Dollar Coalfield: West Virginias McDowell County and the Industrialization of America. Two Mule Pub., 2010.
Nov. 2001 image by author
Bishop, VA - a coal camp constructed by the Pocahontas Fuel Company in 1930. Half of Bishop is in Virginia and half is in West Virginia.
Nov. 2001 image by author
It is obvious that Bishop was a major mining camp because all of the houses are this large, and the sidewalks are a nice touch, too.
Nov. 2001 image by author
The remains of the Bishop preparation plant. This was a Chance cone plant built by Fairmont Machinery in 1954.
Nov. 2001 image by author
Another view of the rusting Bishop coal plant.
Nov. 2001 image by author
Miscellaneous conveyors and ruins.
Nov. 2001 image by author
This has been identified as the slope portal to Bishop No. 36 of Jacobs Fork Mains.
Apr. 2005 image by author
This sign from the Bishop mine was on display at the Pocahontas Exhibition Mine.
Aug. 1946 from "A Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry" via the National Archives
Miners leaving the mantrip at the end of their shift at Bishop.
Aug. 1946 from "A Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry" via the National Archives
Although America had entered the Nuclear Age by 1946, blacksmiths still manned their forge at Bishop.
Aug. 1946 from "A Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry" via the National Archives
An electric trip motor is being serviced in the Bishop machine shop. Note the shop floor made from
wood blocks.
Aug. 1946 from "A Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry" via the National Archives
I don't know what it paid, but working in the supply house was probably one of the better jobs at the Bishop mines.
Over two decades after I first documented the coal camp at Bishop, I returned on a warm Autumn Saturday afternoon.
Oct. 2022 image by author
I found Bishop to still be mostly inhabited, although a little worse for the wear in some places.
Oct. 2022 image by author
Since Bishop was constructed near the end of the coal camp era, evidence of reforms in company housing and "model"
company towns are evident. Not only are the single family houses of an especially nice quality for a company town, Pocahontas Fuel alternated the two house designs to break up the
monotony.
Oct. 2022 image by author
I photographed this abandoned company house because it shows the original building materials. Even the paint may be original. Unfortunately,
the orignal two pane - over - two pane windows are gone.
Oct. 2022 image by author
Remaining Pocahontas Fuel Co. structures near where Mine No. 34 was located. The buildings were probably the repair shop/parts warehouse and mine office/bathhouse/lamphouse.
Oct. 2022 image by author
The building on the left was probably the Mine 34 office and bathhouse. The building on the right, with the sawtooth roof, was probably the machine shop and supply house.
Oct. 2022 image by author
Pocahontas Fuel Co. limestone sign on the machine shop.
Oct. 2022 image by author
Apparently, the machine shop wasn't built until 1942.
Oct. 2022 image by author
Detail of the mine office / bathhouse.
Oct. 2022 image by author
Bringing the kudzu vine from Japan to America turned out to be a terrible idea.
Oct. 2022 image by author