The Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield consists of all of eastern Mercer County, McDowell County upstream of Iaeger, and Pinnacle Creek in Wyoming County. This field was mainly the domain of the Norfolk & Western Railway. The main line of the Virginian passed through the eastern part of the field also. N&S owns all of it today. They still maintain a large garage for their engines in Bluefield. Mining began in the 1880s around Bramwell (and nearby Pocahontas, VA), and really accelerated when the N & W built their "Ohio Division" from Bluefield to Kenova in the 1890s. A blue million European immigrants and Blacks from the Deep South came to the area to work in the mines. U.S. Steel was a major player in this field until the 1980s. After that, things went downhill fast. In 1950, McDowell County had a population of about 100,000 people. In 2000 there are 27,000 people.
History of coal mining. History of West Virginia. History of Kanawha County West Virginia. History of Fayette County
West Virginia. History of Raleigh County. History of Wyoming County. History
of McDowell Couinty. History of Beckley WV. Pocahontas Coal Seam. Historic Pictures. Historic Photographs.
Historic books. Historic Maps. Bluefield History. Beckley history publications. History. Polish immigrants. Slovak immigrants. Italian immigrants.
West Virginia immigrants. Appalachian music. Appalachian culture.
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McDOWELL CO. MISC.