More Brooke County coal mining
Harry writes, "I grew up in the Glendale, McMechen, Wheeling area. Left to joined the
Navy in 76, and haven't returned except for short visits since. But, I know of several old and abandoned mines that are accessible in the area. We did our share of exploring when I was a kid. Moundsville, Glendale, Mcmechen, Benwood, Fulton, Elmsgrove, all had they're own mines, and there are some remains still to be seen."
Consolidation Coal Company's Shoemaker mine in the Panhandle Field, one of the last coal mines in America still using rail haulage out of the mine.
A coal camp named Windsor Heights, Brooke County, Panhandle Coal Field.
Windsor Coal Company was mining coal in Brooke County at least as far back as the 1920s. In later years Windsor Coal Co. was a subsidiary of CONSOL. In this photo part of the old Windsor mine is seen in front of a newer conveyor bringing coal from a recently active part of the
coal mining operations.
Unlike such rail-dependent coalfields as the Winding Gulf Field, the Ohio River provides inexpensive shipment for coal in the Panhandle Field. Here is a conveyor at the Windsor coal mine that used to bring coal down to a barge loadout. Unfortunately, CONSOL closed the exhausted Windsor mine in 2002.
The conveyor and barge loadout were demolished in the fall of 2003.
A vintage picture of the Brooke County coal camp Cliftonville. The Richland Coal Company was the operator of the Cliftonville coal mine. A 1922 battle in Cliftonville between the striking miners and Brooke County deputies resulted in the death of the sherriff and the destruction of the tipple. (Photo from Goldenseal Magazine)
This silo is one of the last pieces of evidence that the Valley Camp Coal Company had a coal mine at Triadelphia, WV, in the Panhandle Coal Field.