Domestic coal onesy-twosy

[NW Mailing List]

For what it's worth, my parents ran 'Akers Coal and Feed' business in Rural
Retreat in the 1945 to 1954 time frame. Mom would buy a full carload from
someone (?) that would then be delivered and parked on the southwest side
track between the Depot and Baumgardner Avenue, and there it would sit
until all the coal had been delivered to small residential and business
customers around the west end of Wythe County. I recall watching them open
up the bottom doors sequentially as needed, and letting the coal spill out
onto the track. They would then load it on a pickup for deliveries of a
hundred pounds or so at a time, so I guess the rail car would be parked
there for months at a time.  I don't know who supplied the coal, but would
like to know so we can include it in our museum information.
The attached photo was taken in 1949 and shows the sidetrack at the bottom,
leading off to the southwest. That sidetrack was later removed.

Frank Akers
THE RURAL RETREAT DEPOT FOUNDATION <http://www.theruralretreatdepot.com/>

Moderator:
http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2017/20170316.Depot%20abt%201949%20from%20southwest.jpg


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*From:* NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
*To:* NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>
*Sent:* Wednesday, March 15, 2017 10:05 AM
*Subject:* RE: Domestic coal onesy-twosy

Old Ben Coal Corporation sold coal from mines in Illinois, West Virginia,
Eastern Kentucky, Western Kentucky, Arkansas and Oklahoma in 1930. In 1946
it had dropped Western Kentucky, Arkansas and Oklahoma mines, but added two
Virginia mines. (Dixiana, Virginia shipping coal from the Taggart No. 5
seam and Patterson, Virginia shipping coal from the Cary Seam on the Dismal
Creek Branch.)

The General Office was in Chicago, but the company had regional sales
offices in St. Louis, Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, Detroit, Cleveland,
Cincinnati, and Norfolk. Many coal brokers also had local offices in
Bluefield, WV

It had its own coal dock at Superior, Wisconsin to serve West Virginia coal
destined for the northwest. This appears to have been a major shipping
point for Glen Rogers Briquets (Briquettes) shipped from Glen Rogers, WV.
It used the N&W, C&O and Virginian Tidewater piers for coast wide shipping.

Attached is an old photograph from the Eastern Regional Coal Archives in
Bluefield, WV showing the Lynchburg Coal & Coke Company at Kyle, WV with an
Old Ben Coal Corporation sign. Lynchburg C&C sold its coal under the trade
name “F.F.V.”

In 1946 Old Ben Coal Corporation brokered coal for 17 different mines.

Alex Schust

Moderator:
 http://www.nwhs.org/mailinglist/2017/20170315.Kyle%20Lynchburg%20Coal%20&%
20Coke%201%20ERCA.jpg

*From:* NW-Mailing-List [mailto:nw-mailing-list- bounces at nwhs.org
<nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org>] *On Behalf Of *NW Mailing List
*Sent:* Tuesday, March 14, 2017 12:07 PM
*To:* nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
*Subject:* Domestic coal onesy-twosy

On 3/14/17 11:45 AM, nw-mailing-list-request at nwhs. org
<nw-mailing-list-request at nwhs.org> wrote:

Message: 3

Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2017 08:26:50 -0400



     Once, nearly every town in the USA and Canada had a dealer or two

receiving carloads of coal. Can any of you explain how the coal was

handled mine to retailer? Were certain mines oriented to this trade?

Were they selling direct to coal yards or did brokers take multi-car

lots and re-sell in regional areas? (Did N&W coal make it to places like

Newfoundland and deliver on narrow gauge trucks?) Has this been covered

in one of the magazine issues?

I can provide one data point. My grandfather sold coal for Old Ben Coal &
Coke, up and down the Valley and into western VA, by the car load to large
users (towns, cities, hospitals, universities, industries, etc.) and by the
car load and bag to retailers. The coal came from Old Ben mines and he
arranged shipping via N&W. It was steam coal to the users specs.

Bill McClure
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