Coal and Coal Mining History and Pictures
Coal and Coal Mining Pictures below lead to the rest of the stories on Coal and Coal Mines
Fairmont coal and its history in the Marion County region of West Virginia was touched upon in a speech by West Virginia's Ex-Governor A. B. Fleming* to those attending the winter meeting of the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute, held at Fairmont, West Virginia, on December 4-6, 1911. The address is recorded in The 1911 Proceedings of the West Virginia Coal Mining Institute, and Larry Brian Radka has taken the liberty of adding several annotated photographs to embellish the Govenor's firsthand recollection, which ran as follows: . . .
Booth's Creek empties into the West Fork River at Monongah, West Virginia. “The first white explorer to locate the site of Monongah appears to have been Captain James Booth,” wrote Thomas J. Koon, in a recent article in The Times West Virginian. “He came from Virginia and traveled across the forbidding mountains. Paddling his canoe, he investigated a number of promising sites that appeared to be excellent spots for settlement. He traveled the Tygart Valley River to its junction with the now West Fork River and proceeded up the West Fork until he encountered the first creek [under the arrow] to his left. This creek was later named Booth Creek.” (Also called “Booth’s Creek” and “Booths Creek”) . . .
The Monongah coal mine tragedy inspired the editor of The American Review of Reviews, Albert Shaw to point out in his February 1908 edition the need for improvement in coal-mining conditions in the United States, in the following editorial: . . .
“Safety in Coal Mines” in The Story of Coal is an interesting article worth repeating here before touching on the worst United States coal mine disaster, at Monongah, West Viriginia. This brief article on mine safety, prepared by the editorial staff of the Mentor Associates, for The Mentor magazine in 1918, runs as follows: . . .
“Coal moves the world. The spirit of progress comes from it. Railroads, steamboats borrow from it their wonderful strength. Every machine that is and works has its existence from coal. It makes the earth habitable. It gives the cities their mighty blaze and splendor. It is a treasure, the last gift presented by earth to extravagant man”— Móre Jókai. . . .
Fairmont Coal Company’s roots lie with James Otis Watson (1815—1902). . . .
West Virginia coal and a magnificent West Virginia coal column in particular were reported on in the September 1907 issue of Mines and Minerals. The coal column, among other West Virginia coal exhibits, was on display at the Jamestown Exposition of that same year. Referring to the birds eye view of the Exposition in the illustration below, C. A. Graves tells us: . . .
Sources of Info & Photos on the Web Pages Above
Bonasso, Russell F., Fire in the Hole 2003 (Several photos)
Buckley, Geoffrey L., Extracting Appalachia, Images of the Consolidation Coal Company 1910-1945, 2004 (Many photos)
Burgess, Frances C., The State of West Virginia, Supplement to "New Geography, Book Two" of the Frye-Atwood Geographical Series 1929 (Several photos and maps)
Burrell, George A. & Seibert, Frank M., The Sampling and Examination of Mine Gases and Natural Gas 1913
Callahan, James Morton, Professor of History and Political Science, West Virginia University, Semi-Centennial History of West Virginia 1913 (Many photos, and maps); Genealogical and Personal History of the Upper Monongahela Valley, West Virginia, Under the Editorial Supervision of the Bernard L. Butcher, Volume II, 1912
Conley, Phil, West Virginia Yesterday and Today 1931 (Many photos, and maps)
Dunnington, George A., History and Progress of the County of Marion, West Virginia 1880
Editor, Harper's Weekly, "The Mine Catastrophe in West Virginia," December 28, 1907 issue (Several photographs)
General Offices of the Consolidation Coal Company, Fairmont Coal Company, and Somerset Coal Company, The Coal to Buy and How to Burn It, Being Practical Hints on the Selection of Coal for Present-Day Requirements 1903 (Many photos, and maps)
Hoehling, A. A., Disaster, Major American Catastrophes 1973
Hungerford, Edward, The Story of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad 1827-1927, two volumes 1928
Husband, Joseph, A Year in a Coal-Mine 1911
Kaempffert, Waldemar, Editor, Volume II, A Popular History of American Invention 1924 (Many photos)
Kellogg, Paul U., a 19-page article titled “Monongah” in the January issue of Charities and The Commons 1908 (Several photos)
Mangano, Antonio, "The Effect of Emigration Upon Italy," Charities and The Commons, January 4, 1908 issue (Several photographs)
McAteer, Davitt, U. S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health, Monongah, The Tragic Story of the Worst Industrial Accident in US History 2007 (Several photos)
Mitman, Carl W., Catalogue of the Mechanical Engineering Collection in the United States National Museum 1922 (Many photos)
Nicolls, William Jasper, Above Ground and Below in the George’s Creek Coal Region 1898 (Several photographs)
Rice, George S.; Frazer J. C. W.; Haas Frank; Larsen, Axel; and Scholz, Carl , The Explosibility of Coal Dust 1910 (Several photos)
Rutledge. J. J., The Use and Misuse of Explosives in Coal Mining 1914
Shaw, Albert, magazine editor, “The Greatest Coal Mine Disaster in our History.” the title of his February 1908 review in The American Review of Reviews of Paul U. Kellogg's January 1908 article titled “Monongah” in Charities and The Commons, Vol. XIX, October 1907 through April 1908 (Many photos)
Shawkey, M. P., A. M. PedD., West Virginia, A Book of Geography, History, and Industry 1922 (Many photos, and maps)
Stose, G. W.; Swartz, C. K., Geologic Atlas of the United States, Maryland-West Virginia-Pennsylvania, Folio 179-Field Edition published by the Department of Interior, United States Geological Survey, 1912 (Several maps)
Talman, Charles Fitzhugh, "The Story of Coal" in The Mentor, May 1, 1918 (Several photos)
Textbook, History and Government of West Virginia 1915 (Many illustrations)
White, I. C., State Geologist, West Virginia Geological Survey, Volume Two of 1903 and Volume II (A) Supplementary Coal Report of 1908