WV Coal Mining

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Background Information - How is coal mined?

As was the case 50 years ago, most coal is produced from two major types of mines-- underground and surface.  But the methods for recovering coal from the earth have undergone drastic changes in the past 25 years, as a consequence of technological advances.

West Virginia Office of Miners' Health, Safety and
Training

WEST VIRGINIA COAL MINING FACTS

In 1742, John Peter Salley took an exploratory trip across the Allegheny Mountains and reported an outcropping of coal along a tributary of the Kanawha River. He and his companions named this tributary the Coal River, and his report became the first reference to coal in what is today West Virginia.

By Johnny M Vergis
Special Thanks to Goldenseal Magazine

Let me take you to my hometown, Edwight, Raleigh County, back in the 1940's when I was growing up there. Let's look down from Turkey Rock on the mountain above town. There are coal miners walking to and from between the bathhouse and the company store, children playing, and womenfolk moving about. What a bustlng place my town is.

The Beginnings of Coal Development
Photo of Early Coal Fleet
From the Semi-Centennial History of West Virginia, by James Callahan, 1913.

Notes on Coal, Oil and Gas Development By the Editor.

The coal mining industry in West Virginia Is still in its infancy. Many pioneer miners, who have watched it grow and expand from very small beginnings, are still living. There was no mining on an extensive scale before the civil war.