CHARLES ARNOLD CABELL

The History of West Virginia, Old and New
Published 1923, The American Historical Society, Inc.,
Chicago and New York, Volume III,
pg. 589-590
Kanawha

CHARLES ARNOLD CABELL. The career of Charles Arnold
Cabell of Charleston, one of the foremost coal operators in
the state, is a conspicuous instance of the enduring vitality
and vigor of an old Colonial family, which in practically
every generation has produced men of extraordinary ability
in business and the professions and in politics and public
affairs.

Charles Arnold Cabell was born in Elk District of
Kanawha County in 1870, son of N. B. and Lavina C.
(Wood) Cabell. The annals of Virginia contain reference
to a dozen or more Cabells of special distinction, including
Governor William H. Cabell and also Congressmen, judges,
educators and others. N. B. Cabell was born in Nelson
County, Virginia, and prior to the Civil war came to
Kanawha County and settled at Maiden, entering the salt
business and locating his slaves on the farm of Elk-two-mile
in Elk District.

Charles Arnold Cabell was reared on his father's planta-
tion, acquired a public and private school education at
Charleston, attending the Kanawha Military Institute under
Major Snyder. Practically from the close of his school
days Mr. Cabell has been associated with the coal industry,
in its practical and technical phases as well as in the finan-
cial and business side of the business. He is a well equipped
mine manager, and has opened and operated mines and for
a number of years he and his associates have comprised
one of the largest groups of producers in the state. An
honor and responsibility he enjoys is president of the
Kanawha Coal Operators Association, one of the largest
associations of the kind in the East.

His first active connection with the coal industry was
with the Mount Carbon Coal Company, Limited, an English
syndicate headed by Evan Powell and operating at Powell-
ton on Armstrong Creek in Fayette County. With this
corporation his apprenticeship was served. Subsequently he
joined a combination with John L. Dickinson, J. R. Thomas
and C. A. Scholz, forming the Superior Coal & Lumber Com-
pany. Its mining operations were conducted at the head
of Kelly's Creek. Subsequently the same men organized
the Carbon Coal Company, opening mines at Carbondale on
Smother's Creek, in the extreme western part of Fayette
County. Subsequently all their coal interests north of the
Kanawha River were sold to the Sunday Creek Coal Com-
pany, which was one of the J. P. Morgan interests in New
York. At that time Mr. Scholz left the firm, and Doctor
Boyd of Charleston together with Messrs. Cabell, Dickinson
and Thomas entered a new project on Upper Cabin Creek in
Kanawha County. The present Carbon Fuel Company was
organized in 1900, and Mr. Cabell personally prospected the
present holdings of coal lands during 1900-01. While the
beginning of development was on a somewhat small scale,
progress was rapid in the opening of mines, so that for a
number of years past the Carbon Fuel Company has been
one of the most extensive producers of coal in West Vir-
ginia. The headquarters of the company are at Carbon, and
Mr. Cabell constructed the railroad to that mining center
from Leewood. The company mines are grouped around
Carbon, there being nine operations in three different seams
of coal. One of these is the celebrated Eagle seam, pro-
nounced by authorities the finest by-product coal in the
world. Other veins are the Powellton seam, noted for its
coke making properties, and the Lewiston and Carbon
Splint seams, ranking high in special qualities.

The company has the equipment and in normal times can
produce an average of a million tons of coal per year. On
account of car shortage and other conditions the company's
actual production has run at an average of about 800,000
tons per year. The mining village of Carbon, built and
maintained by the company, is a model mining town, the
company having erected about four hundred houses for the
miners, many of them being of the modern bungalow type,
with conveniences and surroundings that tend to promote a
contented and wholesome attitude on the part of the
operatives.

Mr. Cabell is vice president and active manager of the
Carbon Fuel Company. He has a home in Charleston, also
one at Carbon, and spends practically all his business time
in that mining town. He is a communicant of St. John's
Episcopal Church at Charleston. Mr. Cabell married Miss
Nellie L. Couch. Their three children are Mary Lavina,
Nellie Lynn and Virginia Couch.

Submitted by:  vfcrook@earthlink.net (Valerie Crook)

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