old pictures from the coal fields

[NW Mailing List]

The panoramic pictures were probably taken around 1910.  The pictures in McDowell County are thought to have numbeed over 100.  I have seen pictures of:

Maybeury
Switchback
Upland
Elkhorn
Northfork
Superior
Jenkinjones
Douglas

You will also see a lot of Panoramics of the mine crews posing and often you will see parts of the pictures published. Panoramics were normally produced by independent photography companies.

The panoramics you see on the Elkhorn High School site are from Maybeury, Switchback and Upland.

The Maybeury view was taken between the Maybeury Company store and the high trestle at Maybeury.  The left portion of the picture shows the company store and the right portion the trestle.  The coal mine under the trestle is the Shamokin Coal & Coke Company tipple.

The Switchback view was taken near Ennis and shows the Lick Branch Colliery.  The second view from the left shows the original Lick Branch Store.  After it burned, the brick store was built.  The brick store foundation is still at Switchback.

The Upland view shows the Houston Coal & Coke Company on the left and the Upland Coal & Coke Company on the right. The second picture from the left shows the road going over Elkhorn Mt that comes out near Pageton (WV Route 161).  The last view on the right shows the church at Upland which is still in use today.

You will find parts of the three panoramic views (with an expanded explanation) in my new book, "Billion Dollar Coalfield", which will be available from the NWHS commissary later this summer.

I think the earliest view I use of a mine in McDowell County was the Empire mine at Landgraff in 1893.  I have also included  a number of mining photos which were probably taken for the Bluefield Daily Telegraph Industrial edition of 1896.  In 1896 the only mines in McDowell County were between Maybeury and Kimball and along North Fork Branch. There are earlier photos of the original mine at Pocahontas, VA.

Alex Schust


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: NW Mailing List 
  Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2010 7:21 PM
  Subject: old pictures from the coal fields


  I recently stumbled across a site http://www.elkhornhigh.com/places1.htm containing a couple of panorama shots (divided into multiple frames) of Switchback and Upland in the pre-electification era.  Coke ovens are busy and the area around the mines and tracks are totally stripped of vegitation, so my guess is that they may have been made prior to 1900.  I am hoping some of the Pokey students out there may be able to narrow down the date and exact locations where these great shots were taken.  Also, is anyone aware of such photos of other mines/locations in this area.  I would find it hard to believe that whoever went to the trouble of making these extrordinary landscape photographs would have limited themselves to only these two sets of mining operations when similar photo-ops presented themselves every few hundred feet along the line from Coopers to Vivian or beyond.  Of course as is always our potential bane in attempting this form of time travel, other photos may have been taken, but may now be lost to us.  It seems like I remember seeing such a picture taken at Maybeury in the early years, displayed at our convention a few years back.  Does anyone remember who brought it and/or if they might be willing to allow it to be re-photographed for publication in the Arrow?
  Jim Cochran
  dcochran116 at roadrunner.com



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