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COVEL, WV

An August 1921 issue of Coal Review stated, "W.P. Tams, Jr. and associates have purchased the holdings of J.T. Morris, of the Morris Smokeless Coal Company, post office Morco, West Virginia, and have changed the name of the company to the Covel Smokeless Coal Company." So perhaps Covel was orginally Morco. Either that or Morco was never developed beyond being a train stop along the Virginian Railway and undeveloped coal lands. More research is needed. W.P. "Major" Tams, who had other operations nearby at Tams and Hotcoal, must have just decided to bring Covel under the Gulf Smokless Coal Co. banner that his other mines were under, because in the 1920s Covel mine was a part of that firm. According to Norfolk and Western Historical Society research the Covel mine closed in 1937.

March 2020 image by author

The sign on the left says, "Welcome To Covel."

December 2006 image by author

Covel may be best known for its large steel railroad trestle built by the Virginian Railway. That railroad, which transported coal from Southern W.Va. to the ports in the Norfolk area, was an engineering masterpiece.

September 1924 image courtesy Norfolk & Western Historical Society

This vintage view of the trestle from the top shows the rail siding to the left leaving the Virginian main line and descending down into Gooney Otter Hollow where the mine and tipple were located.

October 1961 image by Doug Wingfield

I don't have the patience to wait for hours for a train to come by like the railfanners do for their photos. But I'm glad this guy did. Picture was taken only two years after the Virginian was purchased by Norfolk & Western, and the train has rolling stock from both companies. Slate dump in the background was reclaimed in the 1990s.

March 2020 image by author

In this view you can see that the trestle actually has a curvature to it.

March 2020 image by author

Coal company houses have been altered from their original apperance.

March 2020 image by author

This is another smaller style of coal camp house at Covel.

March 2020 image by author

Looking down the coal camp with the railroad trestle in the background.

March 2020 image by author

A basketball court is on a concrete slab with concrete stairs coming from it. I wonder if this was the foundations for the company store? The Covel Baptist Church is in the background.

March 2020 image by author

Former company houses and the back of the Baptist church.

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The tiny Covel Post Office is only open for a few hours a day.

March 2020 image by author

These were probably formen's houses. They can also be seen in the 1924 trestle picture above.

March 2020 image by author

More management houses on the hill overlooking the Covel coal camp.

March 2020 image by author