BUCHANAN COALFIELD
This boundaries of this coalfield are the boundaries of Buchanan County, Virginia, which is sandwiched between McDowell County, W.Va. and Pike County, Ky. in the heart of Appalachia. It has no navigable rivers, and was served by
the N&W (now N-S) Railway. This coalfield started producing late - in 1931 - and is still shipping some fine smokeless coal.
Oakwood, Virginia coal camp. The small cinderblock structure was probably a coal house, where the coal company delivered
coal to their tenants.
Undated (but obviously very old) photo of the tipple of Oakwood Smokeless Coal Co.
Probably the company store of Oakwood Smokeless Coal. This firm constructed the coal camp at Oakwood, Va. (a portion of which still exists) in 1936.
Abandoned Jewell Smokeless Coal Co. prep plant.
Red Jacket Coal Company's Keen Mountain coal camp as it looked when it was newer. This was one of the last coal company towns
to be constructed in the nation in 1937. Red Jacket, a subsidiary of Ritter Lumber Co., was later absorbed into Island Creek Coal Co. (And Island Creek Coal almost constructed the last coal town at the late date of 1980-81 in Buchanan County. It was to be called Buchanshire, but never got past the planning stages.)
In 1938 an explosion at the recently opened Keen Mountain coal mine resulted in the death of
45 miners. Island Creek continued mining at Keen Mountain until it closed down the last one, Beattrice Mine, in the late 1980s.
These might be the nicest coal company houses I have ever seen. They may have been reserved for management, because there are smaller
homes closer to the site where the preparation plant used to be. (The only remains of the mines that I saw on that day were a 1960s or 70s vintage shop building and stacking conveyor.)
I can tell that this was the company store because it is a carbon copy of the (now demolished) store that Red Jacket (or Island Creek) built at Coal Mountain, WV.
Mouth of the original Keen Mountain coal mine.
Island Creek also owned this currently idle preparation plant, located near Vansant. Note the head frame for the skip hoist, indicating a shaft mine. I also saw a manway shaft out of view of the photograph. This operation, named the Virginia Pocahontas Mine No. 1, might have sent its coal to the Jewell Coal and Coke
ovens down the creek.
Another view of the idled Pocahontas No. 1 coal preparation facility. Note the old locomotive being overgrown.
The coke works of Jewell Coal and Coke (now Sun Coke) near Vansant, VA. This is the only remaining coke works IN THE COALFIELDS that
I am aware of, though they used to be numerous in the beehive coke era. All other active coke works are located outside of the coalfields, usually
in the Rust Belt.
This tipple is next to the coke works, and there is an even larger preparation plant on the other side of the coke works.
The same view many years before.
And again during the last days of steam railroading in 1959. The train is taking on water for its steam engine.
Contrast the large Island Creek preparation plant shown above with this small, abandoned loadout near Maxie, VA.
At the old company town of Harman, VA the coal company left their "Dictator" logo on this wall to preserve their memory.
Probably coal company houses and company store at Harman, Virginia.
Norfolk-Southern's Weller train yard.
This vintage photo of the aerial tramway at Roseann, VA is courtesy of D.L. Coleman, who was a mining
engineer for Leckie Smokeless Coal Co. - the company that operated the Roseann mine. In the center of this picture is the tipple - down in the bottom of the valley, with rail cars lined up behind it.
Another view of the tram that used to be at Roseann. Though the mine was owned by Leckie at the
time this photograph was taken, it was actually constructed by Panther Coal Co.
Sad condition of the company store at Roseann, Va.
Prep plant and shaft head frame near Grundy, Va.
Abandoned coal camp houses in Jewell Valley, VA, which was constructed in 1935-36. About Jewell Valley Mark Van Dyke writes, "In 1994 I remember riding through there at night with my dad, and so many houses being up and down the side of the road. The old clubhouse was still there, everything. Not a soul lived in that holler. I was the scariest thing I believe I have ever seen."
Many will remember the Jewell Valley mines being operated by Jewell Smokeless Coal Co. Later Island Creek Coal assumed ownership of the property, and they kept the company
store opened until the 1980s - very late for a coal company store.
The block structure in front of the abandoned home was a "coal house." This was where the coal company truck would stop and deposit coal for two houses for them
to use in their homes. There is one last occupied house in Jewell Valley now.
Jewell Smokeless Coal Co. opened the Jewell Valley mines and town around 1931. And
I still saw strip mines in the surrounding mountains on this day.
Where once a row of two-story coal company homes stood, now there are only chimneys. Although mostly abandoned, Jewell Ridge coal camp was mostly intact until the 1990s. An
unconfirmed rumor states that one night some teenagers in Richlands, Va. were talking about how haunted Jewell Valley must be, and they drove up there and set most of the houses on fire.
Old coal tipple near Grundy.
Mark Van Dyke shares his knowledge about the Buchanan Coalfield:
"Jewell Valley was a model coal town built by George L. Carter, founder and owner of the mighty
Clinchfield Coal Co., Which was later absorbed by Pittston. Pittston also owned Seabord Coal Co. on the
Jewell Ridge side of Tazewell Co. The old tipple that you said was owned by Jewell Smokeless was actually
owned by Clinchfield, who owned Dante. Mining operations were shut down in the early 60's but the town remained
at least until the late 70's, and the company store was ran until at least 1973, because my grandmother was a home
health nurse and talks about eating there from time to time.
This county is still rich with coal, because Norfolk and Southern didn't give us train service until 1931. So that
is a big reason that we still have large reserves.This coal field was unique because unlike most coal fields, it was mostly
contract mined. The big four were Jewell Smokeless, United, Harman, and Knox Creek, and also Permac and Clinchfield
contracted coal out. The seams mined were the Red Ash, Hagy, Widow Kennedy, Splashdam, and Jawbone, just to name a few.
All of the coal was met grade coal except the Hagy seam, and the Splashdam and Widow Kennedy is world class coal.
These contract mines were independently owned, non-union, mostly low seam mining, commonly referred to as dogholes.
It was rumored that at one time Buchanan County had more millionaires than any other county in Virginia.
Jim Mcglothlin owner of United Coal Co. and Woodrow Mcglothlin (now deceased) were one of the richest father and son teams in Virginia.
Deep under Buchanan county, though, lurks one of the, if not the, best seams in the world, the almighty Pocahontas 3 seam. When I say under, I mean 1500 feet under. Island Creek
used to have their Virginia Pocahontas operations, 1-6, but the last mine, VP 8 which was VP 5 and 6 cut together closed down in 2005. Consol owns the largest mine in Virginia, Their Buchanan Mine, which produced 5 million tons in 2006.
United Coal Co. was started in the early 1970's during the energy crunch, when the price of coal skyrocketed. They had few company mines, but actually contracted almost all of their coal out, which was 'truck mined,' which means that the coal
was mined and hauled to the prep plants by trucks. At that time there were no laws on bed tarps or anything to protect people from coal rolling off of the beds of the trucks. Every road in Buchanan County was literally black in the 1970's and early '80's. United
Coal bought out many many companies in VA.,KY., and WV. and in the late '80's and early '90's was one of the largest around. In 1996 United sold to Massey. By that time they had accquired Knox Creek Coal, and Harman Mining, and Massey Sold the Harman Mining and Buchanan County Reserves to Rapoca Energy, a Buchanan County based company. They kept Knox Creek and operate
their Tiller Mine just across the mountain on Shortt's Gap. In 2006 United Coal Co. was reborn, using the Wellmore Energy name. Coal is still truck mined by United on the western end of the county.
Island Creek Coal Co. bought the Red Jacket Coal Co. and built their coal camp at Keen Mountain, and it is the only surviving camp in the county. Their first shaft mine was started in the early '60's, just down the road from the camp, named Beatrice, which is now gone, followed by the Virginia Pocahontas mines. Consol, who bought out Pocahontas fuel, bought out Island Creek in 1993, and operated their Virginia Pocahontas mines, and their own, Buchanan No. 1. Island Creek ran a merchandise store at Vansant VA, up until the early 80's.
Harman mining was a large scale company, The largest in the county in the early days. They mined the Splashdam Seam, which varies from 8 feet, to 3 feet in thickness. Most is 3 feet. Wellmore's Apollo mine is still running, and it was a Harman mine, 1AA. The mine has been running since 1972, if I am not mistaken. Harman mine 1A lasted from the early 30's until the late 90's when it was shut down."
Sources:
Schust, Alex (2016, January-March). A Short History of Coal Mining on the Buchanan/Levisa/Dismal Creek Branches. Norfolk and Western Historical Society - Talk Among Friends, p. 10 - 33.
Norfolk and Western Historical Society (2006). N&W Coal and Coke Operations (As of March 1, 1936) , Vol. 12.
Van Dyke, Mark. “Info on Buchanan Coal Field.” Received by Chris DellaMea, 2 July 2008.
May 2006 image by author
Image by Adams, courtesy of Dave
Image by Adams, courtesy of Dave
Circa 2000 image by others
(Aug. 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
May 2006 image by author
May 2006 image by author
May 2006 image by author
2003 image courtesy of Ed Talbott
Image by others
May 2006 image by author
May 2006 image by author
May 2006 image by author
May 2006 image by author
Image by Adams, courtesy of Dave
August 1959 image by Bill Gordon
Nov. 2006 image by author
Nov. 2006 image by author
Google Street View image
Nov. 2006 image by author
Image by D.L. Coleman
Image by D.L. Coleman
2009 image courtesy of "Longgone"
Nov. 2006 image by author
Jan. 2017 image by author
Jan. 2017 image by author
Jan. 2017 image by author
Jan. 2017 image by author
In this 2002 aerial view of Jewell Valley, many of the houses have been torn down, but their foundations remain.
Image courtesy whatnot987
September 1959 image by Bill Gordon
