EASTERN TENNESSEE COALFIELDS
I have delineated nine bituminous coalfields in Tennessee:
This was Pruden Coal & Coke Company's coal camp at Pruden, Claiborne County, TN. The Pruden mines opened in 1906. In 1933 Pruden, which was named
for Pruden Coal & Coke's Thomas Pruden, was wrecked by a tornado.
The "powder house" (dynamite magazine) remains from Glenmary Coal & Coke Company's mine that operated
at Glenmary, Scott County, TN from 1885 until 1904. Glenmary was a busy, booming company town, housing families not only of
miners but also of coke oven and lumber/sawmill enterprises. In addition to the powder house, remains of the
beehive coke ovens and a very small number of vintage buildings (homes, churches) remain at Glenmary.
Vestiges of the Eagan coal camp in Claiborne County. The Buffalo Mine at
Eagan was operated by the Campbell Coal Mining Co.
Miners at the Cross Mountain Mine at Coal Creek, Claiborne County, TN. In 1922 there were
285 coal mines in Tennessee. This was at the high point of the Appalachian coal industry, which would crash later in 1922
due to overdevelopment and labor strife, and not fully recover until the 1940's.
Ruins of beehive coke ovens in Tracy City, Grundy County, TN. These are also known as the
Lone Oak coke ovens. Other beehive coke oven remnants that are still existing in Tennessee include the ones at Dunlap and
ovens near Dayton.
The restoration of the company store at Tracy City.
Statue of a coal miner near Tracy City.
Remaining coal company houses in Oneida, Scott County, TN.
Derelict company store in Wilder, Fentress County, TN.
This girl is using the only water source for the Wilder coal camp.
Wilder coal camp was mostly abandoned by the 1960s. Many of the houses had been demolished by the time this photo was taken.
A few more coal company houses in the Wilder - Davidson area remained by the 1980s.
Old, old picture of the Lafollette Coal & Iron Co.'s coke ovens at Lafollette, Campbell County, TN. Lafollette
was the namesake for one of the Tennessee coalfields.
A reader contributed this picture of coke oven ruins near Lafollette as they look now. They were once operated by the
LaFollette Coal, Iron, & Railway Company.
Coal company houses probably built by the Bear Wallow Coal Co. in
the Bear Wallow section of Caryville, Campbell County, TN.
Circa 1922 picture of the Mercantile Coal Co's. aerial
tramway at Brookside, TN.
Here is a letter found by rescuers in the Fraterville Mine in the aftermath
of the Fraterville Mine explosion of 1902. This letter was found with the dead body of a miner who died of suffocation
after writing it. Coal Creek Coal Co. owned the Fraterville mine (in Anderson County). This disaster resulted in the death of 216 miners, and
was the worst coal mine disaster in Tennessee history.
21st Century coal mine near Coal Creek, Tennessee.
Circa 1920 photograph of a coal miner standing in a drift portal
into an 84" seam of coal at Fork Mountain, TN (not sure if Fork Mountain in Campbell Co. or Morgan Co.) The coal seam is not
named, but most coal seams in Tennessee were not this thick. Productive coal beds in Tennessee have included Blue Gem, Bon Air, Brushy Mountain,
Coal Creek, Dean, Pioneer, Red Ash, and Sewanee seams.
Image by others via Google Books
Image from "Scott County, TN Photo Tour and Recommendations"
Google Street View image
Image by others
Image courtesy of Kerri Hudson
Image by Mick Vest
Image by Mick Vest
Image from "Scott County, TN Photo Tour and Recommendations"
1970s image by Jack Corn, courtesty The U.S. National Archives
1942 image from FDR Presidential Library
1960s image by Jack Corn
1990s image by others
Mineral Resources of Tennessee image via Google Books
2014 image courtesy of Caroline Eller
Google Street View image
Image from "The Coal Industry" via Google Books
Image courtesy of MSHA
Google Street View image
Mineral Resources of Tennessee image via Google Books
