Big Sandy is know far and wide for her rich and prolific coal beds, or seams, and numerous operations are now in progress mining this product to be shipped to citizens in a less fortunate portion of the country; where coal fields are unknown. Of the many mines that are being work in the valley,…

The Building Of Consolidation City Before any Modern City can be built, there is a massive amount of planning and set up in what’s its ulitmate purpose. In this particular story the planning for Consolidation City, it started 144 years ago when a venture seeking engineer by the name of Richard Broas started exploring the…

Hendrix Mine In The Making Artist’s Conception of Hendrix Preparation Plant and Facilities. In order to maintain the required production of Cavalier Coal, Consol is planning to open a new mine on Rockhouse Creek near Deane, Kentucky. This mine will be known as Hendrix Mine named in honor of Arthur Ray Hendrix, first Consol (Ky.)…

The Marshall’s Branch Mine Complex was constructed in 1947. Marshall’s Branch was the first mine portal built away from the town of Jenkins, this was due, partly to part of the contract, where people would ride two or three hours a day which made production cost pretty expensive. The reason for this was to shorten…

Compiled by Roscoe Neal Reed On February 7, 1922, at about 4:30 P.M. an explosion at the Marietta Mine at Ball Fork, Pinson Fork, Kentucky, took the lives of nine coal miners and seriously injured at least one other. The bodies of the dead men were found all huddled together. Although the bodies showed signs…

Headline from Moody’s “ELK HORN FUEL COMPANY Inc. Feb 3, 1913, in W. Va, to acquire and operate 199,479 acres of coal lands in fee and mineral rights in the Elkhorn field of Kentucky, Of this acreage 184,829 acres are in Letcher, Knott, Floyd, Leslie, Magoffin, Pike and Perry Counties, Ky.: the remaining 14,650 acres…

Auger Mining Auger mining is done with a giant machine that operates horizontally as does a brace-and-bit. It bores into the coal seam with bits ranging in size from 2 to 7 feet in diameter, forcing out the coal as a brace-and-bit forces out wood curls when boring into wood.This means of extracting coal is…

Jenkins Division Directors Of The Consolidation Coal Company No. 201 Tipple & Underground Mine 201 Mine Excavation stated last of August, 1911. No. 201 Tramway. October 8,1911 Making Progress on No. 201 Mine portal. October 8, 1911 No. 201 Mine Portal. July 26, 1912 No. 201 Tipple in the distance, Sandy Valley and Elkhorn Railroad…

J. B. ELKHORN COAL COMPANY, Douglas, Hildason, Ky.(Mine No. 2.)Geo. A. Clutts, Superintendent; J. N. Woolum, Mine Foreman. Located on the S. V. & E. Railway. Operating the lower Elkhorn seam, 54 inches. Employing about 65 men. Electric equipment. Visited January 9, 1922. Found in fair condition. This report was taken from a 1922 Kentucky…

USGS TOPO MAP / DORTON 1954 Esco Railroad Siding and Tipple ESCO MINE CAR DISASTER Dec. 5, 1929 2 MEN KILLED, 2 HURT IN MINE INCLINE CRASH _______________ HATTON BURKE, SEEKING JOB, IS VICTIM AS CAR RUNS WILD _______________ TAN BRANHAM DIES AT HOSPITAL HERE _______________ OTHERS JUMP TO SAFETY IN ACCIDENT AT ESCO MINE…

Corrigan / McKinney Steel Company McKinney Steel Co Incorporated, Located on Marrowbone Creek. McKinney Steel Co Incorporated, Located on Marrowbone Creek.

Electric Motor bringing out loaded Mine Cars out of The Borderland Coal Company mines Electric Undercutting Machine being transported to another section of mines Borderland No. 1 Tipple and Washer Plant, with Power House. Showing 4-ton Bucket arriving via Ariel Tram from the mines from the Kentucky side. Both No. 1 Tipple and No. 2…

Photos in Memory of Marvin, Bruce, and Paul Hopkins. Here is a link to an article about an employee who worked for Republic Steel for 32 years: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/02/19/miners-we-are-fighting-for-survival/a1c14874-da07-4468-ba40-1ec7c32a507c/ Here is a link to a piece about an employee of Republic Steel: http://www.potterflats.com/coalmine.html Here is a link to a court case, Republic Steel Corporation versus Adkins:…

Throughout the Early Industrial Appalachian History, oil and natural gas has provided a lot of jobs and income over the last 45 years. The below pictures provide an answer to how they moved the spud drilling rigs throughout Eastern Kentucky including Pike County. Moving of these rigs were very labor intensive for both horse and…

This is a coal tipple located on Ohio Street in East Elkhorn. (above) Employees of Carson By-Products located on Spruce Pine Island later called Carson Island and Ohio Street in East Elkhorn City. Courtesy of Paul Clynton Mullins. (above) Both above images Are courtesy of Elkhorn City Heritage Council.

Mining the Upper Shelby Creek, Elkhorn Creek of the Levisa River, Boone Fork and Rockhouse Fork, North Fork of the Kentucky River tributaries in the early 1970’s. The machine in the picture is a Salem Auger Model-1500. Tackett-Manning Coal Corporation had several mining operations working simultaneously during the coal boom of the 1970’s. The big…

Antebellum coal mining in Pike County was a hit-and-miss proposition, not only for entrepreneurs but for laborers, as well. Sometimes sufficient rainfall allowed the coal to be transported downriver, but dry spells just as often kept the coal boats moored to the riverbank. Even before the formation of Pike County on December 19, 1821, eight-man…

Old Virgie Coal Camp (above)

Bethlehem Plans Big Pike Mine Jenkins, Ky., Oct. 25—The giant Bethlehem Mines Corporation, one of the three largest mining firms in Eastern Kentucky-announced plans here Friday for developing a “multimillion dollar” underground coal mining and preparation plant in southwestern Pike County. The modern plant and mine will be located on a 1,150-acre tract of land…

In 1913 a group of so-called boosters toured eastern Kentucky and stopped in county seats.  These visits just so happened to coincide with the newly booming coal industry in the mountains. Judging from the elevation from which this picture was taken, the photographer was probably standing on the platform or top step of a railroad…