This mining town was owned first by The Virginia Pocahontas Coal Co., later by the Carter Coal Co. and then Consolidation Coal Co. Their No. 254 mine was a slope into the Sewell seam, and No. 261 mine was a shaft down to the War Creek seam. From 1948 Caretta was an Olga Coal Company operation, which was a subsidiary of Youngstown Sheet and Tube Co. Olga finally closed the Caretta coal mines in 1982. However, in the 21st Century there was a somewhat small truck mine coal loader at the lower end of Caretta. And, around 2015, a completely new prep plant replaced the old one, which kind of made me sad.
Image courtesy of Coalwood Historical SocietyView of Caretta from a long time ago.Nov. 2001 image by authorThe preparation plant was idle on this day. Portions of it dated back at least to the 1920s. Unfortunately it has since been demolished.Feb. 2005 image by authorAnother view of the prep plant showing the rotary breaker and the skip hoist. This hoist brought coal to the plant to be processed. There was also a "man hoist" which has a concrete cap installed over a shaft now.Feb. 2005 image by authorDetail of the top of the skip hoist head frame.Feb. 2005 image by authorThe location where the refuse bin discharged into the aerial tramway buggies. The tram cars would then transport the refuse to the slate dump.Nov. 2001 image by authorThese dilapidated buildings, which probably included maintenance and electric shops, were next to the tipple. The building with the smokestack coming out of it appears to have been a steam power plant.Nov. 1999 image by authorAnother photo of the steam plant/tipple complex.Nov. 2001 image by authorThis was the company store in Caretta. At the time of this photo is was a neighborhood store (Coors beer truck on the left), which is no longer the case.Nov. 2001 image by authorThe lower part of the Caretta mining camp.Nov. 2001 image by authorThe upper portion of the coal camp.Nov. 2001 image by authorThese garages were for the miners who owned automobiles.Jan. 2017 image by authorAnother row of coal camp garages at the upper end of Caretta. I guess one individual person owns these now.Jan. 2017 image by authorPerhaps this was a boarding house or "club house."Jan. 2017 image by authorLarger coal company houses simalar to those on the other side of the mountain at Coalwood.Jan. 2017 image by authorThis would have been considered a "model" company town.Jan. 2017 image by authorAnother part of Caretta contains these houses.Jan. 2017 image by authorA little church with a big handicap ramp.Feb. 2018 image by authorMy son and I found all of this old coal mining equipment discarded at the edge of Caretta.Feb. 2018 image by authorAn underground mining shuttle car.Feb. 2018 image by authorLook like parts out of a prep plant.Feb. 2018 image by authorWire rope winch.Jan. 2017 image by authorA new prep plant replaced the old one at Caretta. On this day, however, it looked idle.
