WILLIAMSON COALFIELD - MISC.
The often-photographed rail yard in Williamson, built by the N&W and now maintained by Norfolk-Southern.
Though coal seems to be the main freight that rolls through the Williamson rail yard, other items, such as the tank cars, are present as well. In the background is a
roundhouse with the obligatory turntable.
This photo was contributed by David, which he describes as, "This house is near Lenore, WV. I pretty sure it was built by the Himler Coal Co. along the original Twelvepole Extension of the N&W. It was the first (?) employee owned coal company. Martin Himler was a Hungarian
immigrant who contacted other Hungarians to participate in establishing an all Hungarian community."
Himler also built the coal mine and coal camp at Himlerville, KY (now Beauty, KY).
Lynn Coal & Coke Co. operated
this coal mine A little ways up the Tug Fork from Matewan, which was one of the first mines to open in the Williamson Coalfield in 1898.
21st Century scene at Rawl Sales and Processing, which appeared to be a relatively tidy operation. At the time of this photo it was an active Massey Energy
mine. However, when I saw it 20 years later it was still standing but idle.
1914 photo showing the coal camp of Borderland, WV in the background, the Tug Fork in the center, and the conveyor crossing the river and going up the mountain to the coal mine headhouse. The coal was mined on the Kentucky side of the Tug Fork, where this photo was taken, and cleaned and loaded onto the train on the West
Virginia side. This was actually Borderland No. 2 mine. Borderland No. 1 mine was about 1/2 miles up the river.
Coal miners at the mouth of one of the Borderland mines. The company mined the Winifrede, Millers Creek, and Thacker seams. Borderland Coal
Company began operations in 1903.
The Borderland tipple when it was discarded and abandoned. At this time a lot of the Borderland coal camp was still in existence, too. Apparently, when US Route 119
was widened all of this was removed.
Delbarton Mining Company's preparation plant can process up to 600 tons per hour of Lower Cedar Grove coal.
Rare red brick coal camp houses at Ragland, WV. The operator was Ragland Coal Co. There are also wood frame company houses at Ragland. The mine
facilities are mostly gone. Chafin elementary school is in total ruins. And a large mountaintop removal mine towered over the whole area at the time of
this photograph.
As far as I know there were only two coal company towns in Wayne County: East Lynn and Stonecoal. All that remains of Stonecoal now
is this unused coal loader (not original). But the coal camp that the Perdue Coal Co. constructed along the Tug Fork is gone with the wind.
Abandoned underground coal mine at East Lynn, WV. This was Wayne County's most well known coal
town. This could have once been part of the East Lynn Coal Company's Dixie Lynn Mine.
The Glen Alum coal camp in ruins. From left to right: company store,
coal tipple, railroad, and either the superintenden's house or maybe a boarding house. The Glen Alum Coal Company closed their last mine in 1951.
David writes, "I'm in the Williamson Field.
In my book, the 'most' historic of the bunch. There is so much history in this neck of the
woods, I won't begin! All the coal camps you mentioned were alive & thriving (at one time).
Stonecoal? That's a magical name! That particular coal co., I believe, was located at Greyeagle
and founded by Fred Shewey's father, one of Buck Harless's buddies (a living legend in these parts). I've never visited Greyeagle ( though I've been by it a million times.
Massey Energy has a loading facility there (VANTAGE), but recently shut it down.
Nolan! It was one of the 1st major operations built here after
the railroad came through! I've got a wonderful book on it with several nice pictures
(it was put out by the company around the turn of the century, I'll dig it out).
Chattaroy! I'm through there several times a week and some of the old houses are still standing
(even though most have been modernized, but a couple are still vintage).
Rawl and Lobata are still there. I guess you saw them when you were at Massey's operation (aka Rawl Sales).
To make a long story short , there are just too many to list, but I'll throw a couple of more names at you with a rich coal heritage:
Thacker, Himler, Naugatuck, Cinderella, Matewan, Ragland, (and this is WV only - I won't even start on Pike Co. Ky, just across the mighty TUG River!!"
1974 Documerica image by Jack Corn courtsy of the National Archives
Sep. 2001 image by author
Dec. 2006 image by author
Image courtesy of David Price
Image courtesy of others
Sep. 2001 image by author
Coal Age image via Google Books
Coal Age image via Google Books
1990 WV SHPO image
Image contributed by anonymous
Mar. 2005 image by author
Google Street View image
Image courtesy Bureau of Land Management
Image by Doug Yarrow
