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ECCLES
Allegedly named after the book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible, Eccles was the site of a terrible disaster when the No. 5 & No. 6 mine exploded on April 28, 1914 and killed 183
(mostly foreign-born) miners. At that time it was operated by New River Collaries, Inc., but by the 1930s the Crab Orchard Improvement, Co. had taken over. For a period of time Eastern Associated mined there and in the 1970s Westmoreland was still operating Eccles No. 5 in a spacious 8-foot of Beckley Seam.
They also were in the Sewell seam in the No. 6 mine. Westmoreland kept the company store open until the late 1970s.
In 2007 a new coal mine and prep plant opened at the edge of Eccles. Mining in Pocahontas No. 4 seam, this operation is still working in 2020.
A circa 1950 view of the large coal processing plant at Eccles.
This picture shows the tipple that was at Eccles No. 6 in 1970.
Many of the large coal companies featured their own baseball teams. Shown here is the Eccles Admirals in 1949. Other coalfields baseball teams included ones at Slab Fork,
Kopperston, Montcoal, and the Raleigh "Black Knights". Among African-American teams were the Raleigh Clippers and the Slab Fork Indians.
Where the preparation plant was. In the background is a reclaim tunnel.
Another view of the ruins of the tipple.
Some of the company-built homes in Eccles.
These coal camp houses are still extant along Route 3. There are some other ones up on
the hill in "Allentown.".
What was once a gigantic gob pile has been mostly reclaimed.
This sheave on the mountain above the gob pile was the upper end of the aerial tramway.
This settling pond site, at the back of the Eccles No. 5 mine several miles away in Sweenysburg, shows just how far back the mine went. Before the mine flooded, I remember coming through Sweenysburg with my dad and
seeing a fanhouse on top of an airshaft at this site. This was in the mid 1980s and there was probably still mining going on.
Bill sends in this picture of coal miners at Eccles. He is assuming that it was the No. 5 day shift. His grandfather, R.D. Holt is circled in red. He had
no light on his hard hat because he worked as an engineer and operated the hoist.
Another picture of hard working miners at Eccles.
Headstone in St. Francis de Sales cemetery in Beckley of a coal miner who died in the Eccles mine disaster. His name was
John Demedow, and the headstone notes that he "died by explosion."
Next to Mr. Demedow's headstone lies the body of
John Krajnik, probably a Polish immigrant, who died on the same day, probably in the same coal mine explosion.
Image of the latest prep plant being constructed at the edge of Eccles. The coal reserves were preserved
by the implosion of the steel and met coal industry in the early 1980s.
Image courtesy of P. Wayne Lilly
Image courtesy of Dennis Lester
Image courtesy of P. Wayne Lilly
April 2001 image by author
December 2004 image by author
April 2001 image by author
November 2004 image by author
December 2004 image by author
February 2005 image by author
August 2001 image by author
April 2001 image by author
1945 image courtesy of Bill Holt
Image courtesy of Bill Holt
2020 image by author
2020 image by author
Oct. 2007 image by author