SOUTHWESTERN FIELD
Some may call this the Big Stone Gap Coalfield, but my vintage U.S.G.S. map of Virginia coalfields calls this the Southwestern Coalfield. The coal produced here has been world class, and much of it would be classified as metallurgical bituminous coal. Without a doubt, the
dominant company has been Stonega Coke and Coal Company. This outfit was absorbed into Westmoreland Coal Company in the 1960s. Westmoreland went bankrupt and exited the Southwestern Coalfield in 1995.
SOME OF THE LAST COAL COMPANY TOWNS TO BE BUILT IN APPALACHIA
1929-Clearco, WV
1930-Bishop, WV/VA
1938-Kopperston, WV
1940-Burson/Braden, PA
1943-Wharton/Barrett, WV
1947-Keokee, VA (reconstructed)
Recommended literature:
"Coal Camps, Tipples and Mines" by Ed Wolfe (2005, HEW Enterprises)
"A Guide To Historic Coal Towns of the Big Sandy River Valley" by George D. Torok (2004 University of Tennesee Press) - The title is a misnomer, because there is an entire chapter titled "Harlan County and
the Big Stone Gap Coalfields".
Former Keokee Coal and Coke Company store in Keokee, Lee County, VA. The coal company closed the store in 1930, three
years after the last coal mine at Keokee closed. The beehive coke oven plant, probably the only one ever in Lee county, probably also closed at that time. And then most of
the Keokee coal camp was demolished. But what is interesting about the town is the fact that Stonega Coke and Coal rebuilt the Keokee coal camp in 1947 to house the families
of the miners of their newly opened Glenbrook mine. Though Stonega sold most of the homes, as opposed to renting them, they probably represent the last time that an
Appalachian coal company constructed housing for its workers. So Keokee just might be the last Appalachian coal camp.
Duplex housing on "Quality Row" in Stonega, VA. I'm not surprised to see this style
of housing, which is so common to Pennsylvania coal towns, in Virginia. At least some members of the management of Virginia Coal and Iron Company,
the predecessor of Stonega Coke and Coal Co., were from Pennsylvania. (Courtesy of Brian McKnight)
The bosses row in Stonega, called "Park Place".
Company houses in Lower Stonega - the White-Anglo-Saxon-Protestant section of Stonega.
Upper Stonega, the African-American section of the coal camp, has the feel of a ghost town today. Called "Red Row", the houses were probably
built around 1895 when the Stonega coal mines and coal camp were first opened.
This dilapidated bath house is still in existence at Stonega.
Stone foundations from the tipple (left) and the ruins of the machine shop (right) at Stonega. A beehive coke
yard, built in the mid 1890s, used to be located here, but it was destroyed a long time ago. Only the wall that the coke workers stood on remains. This coke works was idled in 1953, a year after
the last coal mine at Stonega was closed. A new coal mine and preparation plant, named the Wentz operation, opened in the 1960s at the edge of Stonega and in 2007 continues to produce. It is truly amazing that, after 110
years of coal mining, the coal reserves have not been exhausted yet.
These red block company houses in Derby, VA represent the last coal town built by Stonega Coke and Coal (not counting their rebuild of Keokee in 1947). Derby was constructed in 1922-
23 and so named because the officials of the company stopped to tour their new town on the way to the Kentucky Derby. The "model" coal camp was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.
A few "coal houses" still exist in Derby. The company would deposit the families' coal into the slots facing the street. The families in turn would pull their coal out of a door on
the side facing the homes. One lifelong resident of the town told me that the teachers at Derby taught the kids the "three r's: reading, 'riting, and the road to Richmond."
The church in Derby is still in existence, but none of the mining complex is. Coal was mined at Derby from 1923 until 1956 in four different mines in the Taggart and Marker seams of coal.
The machine shop at Osaka, VA was orignally located beside the old Osaka tipple. Stonega Coke and Coal opened
the Osaka mine, coke ovens, and coal camp in 1903. The original mines were exhausted in 1927, but a new mine/prep plant named Prescott opened there in the 1950s. Prescott operated until the 1990s. The old
company store was tragically demolished in 1999. The store had been closed by Stonega Coke and Coal in the 1950s. They closed most of their individual company stores at that time and consoliated them into one mega company store,
called the Andover Shopping Center, which was located in the railroad town of Andover, VA. When Westmoreland Coal Co. absorbed Stonega Coke and Coal they continued to operate the Andover Shopping Center until 1977, a very late
date for a coal company to operate a retail store. (Coal companies operated a few retail stores in West Virginia into the 1980s.)
Detail of the machine shop at Osaka.
Company housing at Roda, VA. Another company town of Stonega Coke and Coal Co., Roda opened in 1902-03. Mining of coal at Roda lasted from 1903 thorugh 1957. The mines were reopened in the late 1960s,
and coal was mined until the 1980s. The original Roda operations used two tipples. One of these wooden tipples was still being used in 1982, 80 years after it was constructed!
These homes at Roda were originally the superintendent's home (left) and the company doctor's home (right).
The church that Stonega Coke and Coal built at Roda still stands in 2007. A Methodist church, Stonega would have a minister removed if he didn't meet company approval.
