FLAT TOP - POCAHONTAS COALFIELD
MISCELLANEOUS SCENES FROM McDOWELL COUNTY
"The landscape record of mining infrastructure is expressed subtly by numerous relict features. Sealed
mine entrances, like the entry opened at Deerfield in 1945, make a tacit statement from the past. At Maybeury, only the
concrete piers of the railroad trestle remain, standing as stark monuments to a past era of
economic activity. Across the region, stoneworks of foundations and retaining walls crafted by
immigrant Italian masons exist as ubiquitous markers indentifying abandoned mine entries and
tramways. Sue Newton, a Keystone resident, observed that today people look unkindly on McDowell
County and its hard times and forget that for a long time it brought a lot of money and jobs to West
Virginia. It also is easy to forget the area's lengthy contribution to national industrial
expansion." From "A Southern West Virginia Mining Community Revisited" by Tyrel G. Moore. (Southeastern Geographer, 1998)
Becky Lusk Hendrick grew up in the Elkridge neighborhood of Northfork. We are fortunate that she has shared some of her memories of growing up there:
August 1944 image courtesy VT ImageBase, housed and operated by Digital Library and Archives, University Libraries; scanning by Digital Imaging, Learning Technologies, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
These men in Eastern Coal Sales's coal mine at Premier, WV are bringing a trip of loaded cars to the headhouse or tipple.
Feb. 1991 State Historic Preservation Office image
This tipple at Premier belonged to Royalty Smokeless Coal Co.
Nov. 1999 image by author
Coal tipple at Bartley, W.Va.
1940's image from "A Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry" via the National Archives
This lady is packing her husband's dinner bucket before he goes to his shift at the mine. Photo taken at Pando Coal Company's Mohegan coal camp. Not long after this photo
was taken, Pando closed the Mohegan mine. An earlier (1924-1931) operator of the Mohegan mine was Monarch Smokeless Coal Co.
April 2006 image by author
Ruins of the Peerless Coal and Coke Company store in Vivian, WV. Peerless mined coal here off and on from 1898 until the 1950's. But there was another
company operating simultaneously at Vivian: Bottom Creek Coal & Coke Co. Bottom Creek's mine was open from 1898 until 1926.
April 2006 image
A closer view of the company store in Vivian. Its a shame that some people chose to damage the structure instead of preserving it as a community center - a lost opporunity to create a source of pride and heritage for the community.
Nov. 2001 image by author
Coal camp of Coalwood, domain of the Carter Coal Co. and, later, Olga Coal Co.. The No. 2 mine was a drift into the Sewell seam, as was the Nora mine, and the No. 1 was a shaft down into Pocahontas No. 4. For
more Coalwood click here.
Jan. 2017 image by author
The coal town of Six, WV is down the road from Coalwood. This was another Carter Coal Co. mine and camp.
Image courtesy of Val
Val contributes this 1915 photo and writes, "Must have been a Sunday, too dressed up too work, shoes shined. Elbert E. Newman 23 on left. His brother AJ Newman 33 on the right. Boy in middle Rupert Burton Davis 14, Elbert's brother-in-law all from Carroll Co. VA.
Elbert's brother Samuel's body was found on a burning slag pit in 1905 at 'Six' in Carreta, WV. The mines were part of the young men of VA's early days, and for some not their life long profession. These 3 all came from Virginia farming families. All returned to Virginia. Elbert went on to be a carpenter/building contractor, Rupert a wagon builder, and AJ a train engineer." Val credits
the photo to Elbert Newman's daughter, Thelma Ardythe Newman.
Nov. 1999 image by author
Last vestiges of Yukon Pocahontas Coal Company's coal camp at Yukon, WV.
Nov. 2000 image by author
Venilated tunnel near Elkhorn, WV is appropriately named the Elkhorn Tunnel. It
is over 7000 feet long, and replaced an earlier Elkhorn Tunnel from an earlier alignment of the N&W Railway. Built in 1949-50 by the Sturm & Dillard Construction Company from Ohio, the tunnel still sports the
ventilation fans for steam trains, which was turned off for the last time in 1961.
Nov. 1999 image by author
Dilapidated tipple as viewed from across Dry Fork
Oct. 2005 image by author
A closer view of the same tipple shows it's wood framed construction.
Oct. 2005 image by author
Detail of a collapsing bin on the tipple along Dry Fork. Despite efforts of the Coal Heritage Authority to save it, the
structure has been razed.
May 2003 image courtesy of John Sadowski
An old McNally washer and other equipment in the same tipple.
April 2006 image by author
This little coal town on the outskirts of
Anawalt was known as O'Toole, and also Lila. Some of the people living in these houses might have also worked in Southern Pocahontas Coal
Company's Laura Jean Mine.
Mar. 2017 image by author
A sturdy old store building in Anawalt.
Nov. 2000 image by author
Downtown Northfork, where companies such as Fortune Hunter Coal Co. and Elk Ridge Coal Co. have mined. Northfork
is not a coal camp, but rather a commercial center for the surrounding coal towns. Howver, there were coal company houses at the edges of town.
Feb. 2017 image by author
Looking at Northfork today, it boggles the mind that there
was once a Cadillac dealership there.
1940's image from "A Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry" via the National Archives
Downtown Northfork in its heyday. Note the overhead structure
suspending wires for electric trains; the streamliner coming down the track; and the railroad right up to
the stores' front doors.
Image courtesy of the West Virginia State Archives
Ancient post card of a tipple at Northfork, WV. This was the Elkridge mine, and a few remants of the Elkridge coal camp still exist
between Northfork and Algoma.
Mar. 2022 image by author
Remains of Elk Ridge beehive coke ovens in a back yard on the edge of Northfork. Elk Ridge Coal & Coke operated these ovens from 1894 until 1919.
April 2014 image by author
Large management level houses built by Arlington Coal & Coke Co. near McDowell, WV.
April 2014 image by author
A little country church in McDowell. This community was not only
in McDowell County, but was also named McDowell.
Feb. 2017 image by author
Classes at this old school in Eckman, W.Va. are no longer in session.
Image contributed by Buddy French
Coke ovens in blast at Eckman during the 1920s. These were some of the last coke ovens to be burning
in McDowell County. They went cold in 1928.
Google Street View image
A few of the remaining coal company-built homes in Twin Branch, WV. Many people have seen the photo of boarded up houses at Twin Branch from when
Henry Ford operated the Twin Branch mines. Rather than let his coal company, Fordson Coal Company, let the UMWA union in, he closed the mine and boarded up the company houses. (Henry Ford also owned mines in Nuttallburg, WV and
Stone, KY) Later the Twin Branch mines were operated by Bigelow and Brooks Collieries Company.
2001 image by others
Coal mining in McDowell County continues into the 21st Century, although at a reduced scale. Here's a shot of the train loading at the Virginia Crews mine.
Apr. 2006 image by author
Downtown Leckie, WV, where Col. Leckie's West Virginia Pocahontas Coal Co. operated the mine.
Feb. 2005 image by author
Red brick company-built houses in Kingston-Pocahontas Coal Company's
Hemphill coal camp. This is one of the few coal camps I have found in Southern West Virginia that has brick company houses.
Nov. 1999 image by author
The preparation plant at Beartown, WV was built by Island Creek Coal Company in 1951. It has been demolished since this picture was taken.
Feb. 2018 image by author
There are still these structures remaining from the Beartown prep plant, though.
Apr. 2006 image by author
An old tipple, probably dating from the 1940s or 1950s, is between Pageton and Gary. It was probably built by Nassau Coal Co., which opened a nearby mine in 1948 and operated it until 1966.
Sept. 1996 WV SHPO image
Old underground coal car sitting around on the hill above the Nassau tipple.
1940's image from "A Medical Survey of the Bituminous Coal Industry" via the National Archives
No one was mowing the lawns around these coal company houses at Exeter in the 40's. Perhaps the
mine was closed by then, the company had stopped maintaining the town, and the woman on the porch and boy
in the road were just hanging on.
April 2014 image by author
Rolfe, WV coal camp.
Image by Bob Bellamy
A few remaining coal company homes at English, W.Va.
Image courtesy of Alan "Cathead" Johnston
Cucumber, W.Va.
Image courtesy of Alan "Cathead" Johnston
Former offices of the Pulaski Iron Co. at Eckman, W.Va. Pulaski
Iron mined coal in McDowell County from 1897 to 1945.
Jan. 2017 image by author
Amonate prep plant that cleaned the coal for Consolidation Coal Company's Mine No. 31.
Jan. 2017 image by author
Another view of the Amonate coal processing complex. The Amonate coal camp is just over the state line in Virginia.
Feb. 2018 image by author
Jed, W.Va. is between Welch and Gary. Jed Coal & Coke Co. started the coal mine in 1906-07. On March 26, 1912 an explosion in the Jed
mine killed 83 workers.
2002 image by David Grubb
Tipple ruins at Havaco, W.Va.
Nov. 2018 image by author
Davy, West virginia was once an important place.
Oct. 2022 image by author
Management level company houses at Excelsior, WV. Excelsior Pocahontas Coal Co. mined the War Creek coal seam here from 1911 to 1931.
Nov. 2024 image by author
Here is the last remnant of the Tidewater coal camp. Tidewater Coal and Coke Co. opened the Tidewater mine in Pocahontas No. 3 coal in 1892. They
also operated beehive coke ovens, and a local resident of the area told me that there were still remains of them. However, after much searching, I never found them. Various companies operated the Tidewater
mine in later years, such as King Coal Co., Koppers Company, and Houston Collieries Co. Tidewater mine closed in 1931. The back end of the mineral rights lease became part of the Carswell mine
on the other side of the mountain after that.
Nov. 2024 image by author
An underground explosion in the Tidewater mine on July 5, 1905 killed nine men - all immigrants from Italy. A few months later, on November 4, 1905, another explosion in the mine killed seven men and two mules.
Most of my family came from Wyoming County. My mom's family came from Grayson County, Va. When I was first born, we lived in Crumpler, which is at the end of Northfork Hollow. Then we lived in Keystone for a while, along the railroad yard in a railroad house. And then we moved to Elkridge, which is just as you start up Northfork Hollow. I had a great grandfather that worked for United Pocahontas Coal Co. in Crumpler, a great grandfather that worked in United Pocahontas at Algoma. My dad worked at Algoma, and my grandfathers worked, one at Crumpler and one at Algoma. At the company store in Algoma, you could buy anything there. They had clothes. They had household appliances. They had groceries. Just anything you could think of. They had a butcher shop. By that point we didn't have scrip, so they put the cost on our credit account. They put it on your family's account and then they would just take it out of my dad's paycheck. My father died of black lung. He died of pulmonary fibrosis, which is what you get from black lung. But my dad loved mining. He loved working for that company. He didn't know anything different. For three generations he worked there. We moved to Elkridge when I was six, and I lived there until I graduated and got married. In our neighborhood, because our basketball team won eight straight championships in basketball, there was a basketball hoop everywhere. So, we played a lot of basketball. We played kick the can. We rode our bikes up and down the alleys. We learned a lot from the immigrant families. I feel like we were a melting pot of all nationalities, and we learned a lot from those people. And the sad thing for me is, that as they married out of their culture, some of those traditions have gotten lost. And I always admired the different cultures. All of our neighbors were Italian. My mother was really good. She didn't graduate from college, but she did work at the bank in the bookkeeping department. She would help balance their checkbooks, and she did their taxes for them, and she didn't charge them any money for that. In turn, they would make a lot of good food for us. I have one little story that's my last memory of being in Elkridge. Whenever I was growing up, if your shoes needed repair, a lot of Italian people came to this country, and they repaired shoes. Mr. Areno repaired our shoes many times growing up. He had a shoe shop in Northfork. As people stopped getting many repairs on their shoes, he moved his equipment to the back of H&M Shoes in Bluefield. But he still lived there in Elkridge. When his wife passed away, he didn't have anybody there to take care of his daughter. So, he moved all of the equipment back into the basement of his house. And I was getting ready to visit my grandmother in Bluefield, and my mother-in-law had a pair of shoes that she needed some repairs done to. And she asked me if I would drop them off with Mr. Areno whenever I was on my way to Bluefield, and to tell him that she would pick them up the next time she came through. Well, when I knocked on the door with my two small children, he had us come in. I realized that it was not going to be a drop off and then leave. He wanted some company. So, he called upstairs and had his daughter bring down some pizzelles, because his wife would always make those. By this time , maybe he or his daughter made them. He gave my kids pizzelles, and he gave me one, of course. He started sewing the shoes, and I said, "My mother-in-law's going to pick these up." And he said, "No, no, no, you're going to wait for them." So, he finished them, and then he wouldn't let me pay him. And I can remember him saying, which was so much like I remembered from the Italians - I said, "Mr. Areno I hate not to pay you." He said, "You're not supposed to hate it. You're supposed to love it." When I graduated from high school in 1975, we still had all of our neighbors with what we would call "broken English." But I could understand them because I had been around them all of my life.