FIRECO, WV

Fireco, West Virginia

Fireco is located in the upper Piney Creek valley. Douglas Coal Co. and Leckie Fire Creek Coal Co. both opened coal mines at Fireco in late 1916. The portion of the coal camp documented here was the property of Leckie. Leckie Fire Creek mined the Sewell, Pocahontas No. 4, and Fire Creek seams until the mid 1940s. Douglas Coal Company's Fireco mines closed circa 1940. There were other coal mines farther up toward the headwaters of Piney Creek. One of them - Flat Top Colliery Corp. - mined coal all the way until 1982. The Meadows Coal Co. also operated in the neighborhood on a lease in the 1960s.

A 1922 Black Diamond article stated, "Among those operations in the Winding Gulf district that have played an important part in the maintenance and increase of production from that field are two modernly equipped and scientifically developed properties of the Leckie interests known as the Leckie Fire Creek Coal Company and the Douglas Coal Company." One wonders why Leckie set up two different companies at Fireco rather than just name the mines Fireco No. 1 and No. 2.

Image from the John W. Barriger III Collection
Oct. 1998 image by author Fireco Company Store. One older gentleman from this area remembered a few independent "country stores" in the area, but noted that they didn't do nearly as much business as the company stores.
Feb. 2001 image by author Company built houses for the miners.
Feb. 2001 image by author Company built houses for the foremen.
October 2022 image by author An abandoned management level company house being swallowed up by nature.
Circa 1922 Black Diamond image via Google Books This was the Leckie Fire Creek Coal Co. tipple at Fireco.
Image courtesy of J.R. Vied JR emailed in this photo of Fireco back when it was booming. Only a handful of these coal camp houses remain at Fireco. The tipple and incline are in the background.