"McDowell County, West Virginia"

                        by Dr. Thomas C. Hatcher, President
                        McDowell County Historical Society
                        PO Box 369
                        War, WV 24892
                        304-875-2841 Home
                        304-436-8441 Office Phone     
                        Fax 304-436-6393
                        e-mail: hatcher @sat.net

   McDowell County, West Virginia was created by the Virginia Assembly on
February 20, 1858, five years before WV became a state.  The County was 
carved entirely from Tazewell County, Virginia, and its early history is 
rooted in the traditions of the English, Scotch-Irish, and German settlers 
who first came to the region.  In 1859, two thirds of the land of McDowell 
County was still held by the Commonwealth of Virginia. There were but 282 
citizens living in the mountainous regions of the County at that time. 
Assessments for all the buildings in the county amounted to only $3,240, 
with only $654.38 collected in taxes that year.

   McDowell County lies entirely within the Appalachian mountains, with its 
highest elevation reaching 3,400 feet and its lowest being 875 feet at the 
western end of the county. Approximately 80% of McDowell County’s land has 
more than a 60 degree elevation. There is little flat land for farming or 
industry.  Most of the land and mineral rights is still owned by the coal 
companies that came in the late 1800's and early 1900's to mine coal. 
   
   When the State of West Virginia was formed on June 20, 1963, McDowell 
County was included as the southern-most county.  The county remains serene,
 peaceful, and was relatively unoccupied by citizens until the Norfolk and 
Western Railroad entered the county in 1888 near Elkhorn.  By 1892, the 
railroad spanned the county and by the early 1900's, rail lines had been 
constructed to most areas of the county where coal mining was in progress. 

   Jordan Nelson had discovered coal near Pocahontas in Tazewell County in 
the 1860's, not knowing that the Pocahontas seam which he had discovered 
extended into McDowell County and was worth millions.  He later disposed of 
his rather extensive land holdings for $3 per acre.  By the 1970's the 
entrepreneurs of the United States were aware of the coal and lumber 
reserves in McDowell County and began buying up the land. 

   By the early 1900's coal and timber production was in progress at a rapid
rate.  Coal company owners were importing immigrants from Hungary, 
Czechlovakia, Yugoslavia, Italy, Greece, Poland, and other countries, and 
African Americans from the South, many from Alabama, to work in the mines 
which had formed along the N & W Railroad.  By the 1940's McDowell County 
was a leading coal producing county, and by the mid-1950's, the County had 
reached the status of being the largest coal producing county in the world. 
Population peaked about 1960 when approximately 100,000 people lived in the 
county. 

   The 1960's and 1970's brought mine mechanization and a lesser demand for 
McDowell County coal, which has a high sulphur content.  Mines began to fade
and with it-the population.  In 1997, the county has about 30,000 citizens 
and only small truck mines in operation.  The once powerful coal operators 
have closed their large mines and have left the area to smaller, contract 
mine operators, who are still mining a considerable amount of coal, but with
many fewer employees, most of whom are non-UAW members. 

   The overall economic picture of McDowell County is now about to change 
for the better compared with its declining state of the thirty years between
1960-90.  Authorities and commissioners are working toward economic 
viability ion order to hold our young people in the area.  Two major four 
lane highways are planned for the near future--the Coalfields Expressway 
from Beckley to Grundy, VA, and I-73/74 which is to parallel U. S. Rt. 52 
from west to east.  Both of these highways will bring greater economic 
development. 
   
   The citizens of McDowell County have a mountain pride that makes “us” 
extremely proud of calling McDowell County “home”.  The majority of citizens
feel that it is only a matter of time until McDowell’s future will have the 
potential of our past.  The citizens who live here do not want to live 
elsewhere.  Brighter years are just above the horizon. 

Submitted by Dr. Thomas C. Hatcher <hatcher@sat.net>

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