Engine coal question

[NW Mailing List]

All,

When one responds to a Mailing List item, please given your name.  This forum is for the benefit of all and only by identifying the author of the comments makes this a more valid forum.

Best,

Bud Jeffries
N&WHS Board of Directors
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org 
  Sent: Friday, July 20, 2012 2:03 PM
  Subject: Re: Engine coal question


  Regarding the engine coal question raised earlier and the post from  Bruce in Blacksburg regarding the Empire Mine:


  I feel fairly certain that the Empire Mine and the Altoona Mine were two different mines located on slightly different areas of Little Walker Mountain.  Every source I've found indicates that it was the Altonna Coal & Iron Company that constructed the narrow-gauge railroad leading from the Virginia & Tennessee RR at Martin's Station (present-day Pulaski) to the mine site known as the "Altoona mine" in 1878.  A source from 1886 mentions the Belle Hamilton as being another mine operating near the Altoona mine and a 2003 source indicates that the Belle Hamilton mine was also known as the Empire mine. 


  Re: the (only) coal mined in Pulaski and Montgomery counties was anthracite


  I think in-general it's true that in terms of large-scale, commercial production of coal (particularly post-1900)  that the region was primarily known as a producer of semi-anthracite/anthracite coal.  But I believe there was also production of soft-coal done during the pre- and post-Civil War periods that shouldn't be ignored, even though production was likely limited and consumption mostly local.


  Multiple sources indicate both semi-bituminous and anthracite was found in the region. One account from the Altoona Mine that states that both soft and hand coal were found at the site and specific mention was made that the soft coal was used in furnaces for the manufacture of salt (at Saltville) while the hard coal was used by the furnaces of the Bertha Zinc Company. 


  To avoid sending 1000+ words to the mailing list: I put a page online with all my notes (that I could quickly find) on the Altoona mining operation, along with a 1856 V&T map showing the "Altoona Coal Field" and several "coal pits" in the area, together with links to the books that served as sources of information on the subject at:  http://wvrailroads.net/index.php/Altoona_Coal_%26_Iron_Company


  J. P. Lesley wrote an account concerning the coal fields found along the route of the V&T that was published in the 7th Annual Report of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. If someone has access to that report it might reveal some insight into the subject of coal along the V&T.










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