C. R. Boyd, South West Virginia Resources (1881)
Credits:
Researcher: Vincent T. Brooks
Graphic Design: Melissa Q. Rosen
Acknowledgments: Robert R. Linkous
Tazewell County Public Library
C. Stuart McGehee, Eastern Regional Coal Archives
Pierre Courtois & Mark Fagerburg, LVA
In his diary on July 18, 1709, William Byrd of Westover remarked, "Tom
returned from Falling Creek and brought me word all was well there and
that the coaler found the coal mine very good and sufficient to furnish
several generations." Coal has long been a significant part of Virginia's
economy. From 1750, when coal was first shipped from Richmond to
Philadelphia, Virginia’s coal attracted wider markets. With the opening of
the coalfields in Southwest Virginia late in the 1800s, Virginia coal
fueled coke ovens supplying the steel industry. By 1948 Virginia was
producing almost 20 million tons of bituminous coal a year and ranked
seventh in coal-producing states.
The Coal Fields | Life in the Coal Camps | Company Towns
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