Greenbrier County, West Virginia - 160th Anniversary Booklet - Part 23 *********************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. *********************************************************************** Historical Booklet - Greenbrier County 160th Anniversary - 1778-1938 Published 1938 Transcribed by Lori Samples THE BLACK DIAMOND EMPIRE OF GREENBRIER Among the group of fields producing high grades smokeless coald from the Southern West Virginia area, the Greenbrier Coal Mining field is the youngest. It is located principally in Greenbrier, Nicholas and Fayette. The first real attempt at developments was made during the winter of 1920, and the first rail shipment followed in 1921, except some tonnage of record since 1907. Each year the coal produced from this district had met with increasing favor as the large industrial users of coal and the domestic consumers have become acquainted with its particular merit. The greater portion of the tonnage that is mined in this district come from the Sewell Seam, with some development in the Beckley, Fire Creek, and Pocahontas Seams. The Sewell, being the most accessible, has been more extensively mined than the others; however, they too, will be developed as rapidly as the market expands, since they are all high-class smokeless coals comparable to the best. In the thirteen years since 1921, when the first rail shipment was made over the Greenbrier and Eastern Railway, the production per annum has increased from fifty-two thousand tons mined in the first year to approximately two and one half million tons as a maximum yearly tonnage. This large tonnage has been absorbed partly at tidewater, where it was trans-shipped either for export to foreign countries, for bunker coal, or for coastwise trade; partly in large industrial steam plants; partly by the railroads for fuel; and the balance by the domestic markets demanding highest quality from the Mississippi River to the Atlantic Seaboard. GREENBRIER COAL is synonymous with high quality smokeless coal. In British Thermal Units it averages approximately fifteen thousand to the pound of fuel, while the average ash content is about three and one half per cent. Truly this shows the real value and merit in this coal and why the consumer has demanded such large tonnages in the past. This uniformity in heating content and likewise the small variance in the ash content has been recognized by discriminating purchasers. In 1926 the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, realizing the enormous tonnage available, purchased the Greenbrier and Eastern Railroad together with others and followed these purchases by making improvements and extensions. Later, the C & O and the N. Y. C. formed a joint company called the Nicholas, Fayette and Greenbrier Railroad, which absorbed all the rail facilities in this area besides building thirty three miles of new line. Today, this coal moves out by direct connections to the Chesapeake and Ohio, the New York Central and the Virginian Railroads, which distribute it throughout the eastern United States in ever-decreasing time of transit. There are at present eleven companies in this territory known as Commercial Mines producing coal for shipment by rail, namely: Bellwood Coal Company, Clear Creek Coal Company, Greenbrier Smokeless Coal Company, Greenbrier Fire Creek Coal Company, Imperial Smokeless Coal Company, Johnstown Coal and Coke Company, Leckie Smokeless Coal Company, Low Ash Smokeless Fuel Company, Margarette Coal Corporation, New River and Pocahontas Consolidated Coal Company, and Raine Lumber and Coal Company. Eight of these are working the Sewell Seam, and three are working lower seams, presumably the Fire Creek. The preparation of stoker coal, the newest innovation in the industry, is receiving the attention of this district, with the newest facilities and proper handling. There is a district organization under the name of the Greenbrier Smokeless Coal Operators Association, which had been active in coordinating mining activities and solving the problems affecting their welfare, since the year 1922. The mining companies, being for the most part large producers, have very modern towns with fine schools, well built houses and churches. The school facilities include high school buildings, as well equipped as money and science can provide. These advantages impress a community with a morale that bespeaks satisfaction and contentment. They are difficult to supply in many instances, but the mining communities are most fortunate which enjoy them, for the reason that htey add to human happiness. These commercial operators at the present time employ in and around their mines 2,267 employees, which represents a population of approximately 10,000. In 1936, the companies in this field produced 2,051,382 tons. In 1937 the tonnage was 2,083,809. The best production year was 1930, when 2,185,173 tons were mined. The average production over 17 years has been nearly 2,000,000 tons. the total mined-out tonnage from 1920 to December 1, 1937, is approximately 32,000,000 tons. The State Department of Mines say we had original reserves of 2,175,000,000 tons. There seems little danger of this generation ever getting cold for lack of fuel! NEXT: THE HISTORY OF OIL AND GAS