TRALEE, WV

Tralee, West Virginia

There were originally two coal companies at Tralee: Harty Coal Company and Barkers Creek Coal Company. An official of Barkers Creek Coal and Harty Coal, J.C. Sullivan, was also involved in many other coal mining ventures in the area. Tralee was his hometown back in England. At one time there was a store, theatre, amusement hall, and club house at Tralee.

From 1938 Tralee Colliery was a captive mine of Semet-Solvay division of Allied Chemical. Towards the end of its life - late 1970s early 1980s - it was an operation of the Amigo Smokeless Coal Co. divsion of Pittston Coal Co. Mining was in the famous Pocahontas No. 3 seam.

The other mine at Tralee - on the other side of Barkers Creek - was the Deerfield Mine opened by American Coal Co. in 1945. This mine was acquired by Pocahontas Fuel Co. (after 1958 Consolidation Coal Co.) in 1955. In 1960 the Deerfield tipple closed and coal was taken out through the Itmann side and processed at the Itmann prep plant.

Circa 1989 image by E. Roy Ward via Facebook Tralee tipple / prep plant shown just before demolition began.
1990 WV SHPO image Tralee tipple while it was being dismantled.
1990 WV SHPO image An aerial tramway car.
March 2020 image by author Eventually the Tralee mine went through the entire mountain and popped out on the other side at the Guyandotte River. Here is a sealed up portal.
March 2020 image by author Another sealed up portal nearby.
March 2020 image by author Sign on the portal seal from "Semet-Solvay Division - Allied Chemical & Dye Corporation."
March 2020 image by author Looking behind the portal seal.
March 2020 image by author Only a very few company houses remain at Tralee.
March 2020 image by author From studying old photographs I think these houses were built by Barkers Creek Coal Co.
March 2020 image by author A closer view of one of the coal camp homes.
March 2020 image by author Blocked up portal from the Deerfield Mine - probably a man portal and not the coal portal.
From wvhistoryonview.org A vintage view of the Deerfield tipple. The coal portal comes out of the ground to the right of the plant.
March 2020 image by author The Deerfield tipple site in the 21st Century. It has literally become a deer field.
March 2020 image by author A few of the mine shops from the Deerfield operation remain, such as this one.

Source(s):

Stevenson, Mary Legg. Coal Towns of West Virginia. Quarrier Press, 1998.