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Preferred Citation

[Description and date of item], [Box/folder number], Smokeless Coal Operators Association Records, A&M 1830, West Virginia and Regional History Center, West Virginia University Libraries, Morgantown, West Virginia.

Scope and Contents

Production statistics and extracts from the historical files of the Smokeless Operators Association (until 1958 the Pocahontas Operators Association) showing the history of coal mining in the Pocahontas field and production, sales, and distribution statistics for the years 1930 and 1933-1961. There are weekly, monthly, and yearly reports on net tons produced, hours, worked, and tonnage lost because of labor problems, mine disability, or lack of market. There are lists of the coal companies operating in the Pocahontas district during these years. Some files include reports on net production by grade.

The historical files cover the early history of Pocahontas, Va., the Pocahontas Coal Company, the Lynchburg Coal & Coke Company, the membership and activities of the Pocahontas Operators Association, the Southern Coal Producer's Association (1953, 1957), the Turkey Gap Coal & Coke Company, The Ennis Coal Company, Aileen Coal Company, Buckeye Coal & Coke Company, Norfolk and Western Railway Company, and the Pocahontas Fuel Company. There is a brief history of the coal industry in West Virginia, 1800-1951, a contract between coal producers and the railroads, 1886, 1895, a copy of a miner's pay statement, United Mine Workers contracts and working agreements (1919, 1924) and a schedule of the rate of pay in the Pocahontas district, June 1, 1931.

Individuals referred to include W.A. Bishop, C.P. Blair, Mrs. Gordon L. Cox, W.E.E. Koepler, John J. Lincoln, Roland C. Luther, William D. Ord W. L. Osborne, Princess Pocahontas, W.C. Stephenson.

Places include Bluefield, Pocahontas, Va., Snowville, Va., Norfolk, Va., Landgraff, W. Va., Welck, and various coal towns in the region.

Related Material

1564, 1830

Separated Material

Two maps separated to the map collection:

1. Muskingham, Scioto, and Big Beaver Rivers, 1787; Facsimile of map in Crevecoeur's "Letters d'un Culivateur Americain" (Paris 1787) consisting of sketch- maps, based on information given by White Eyes and White Mingo, Indian Chiefs.

2. Pocahontas Coal Field and Adjacent Territory... Norfolk and Western Railway Company, 1902

Subjects and Indexing Terms

• Aileen Coal Company
• Bluefield (W. Va.)
• Buckeye Coal and Coke Company
• Coal mining - coal companies.
• Coal mining - coal operators associations.
• Coal mining.
• Ennis Coal Company
• Landgraff, W.Va.
• Lynchburg Coal and Coke Company
• Norfolk and Western Railroad.
• Norfolk, V.A.
• Pocahontas Coal Company
• Pocahontas County (W. Va.)
• Pocahontas Fuel Company
• Pocahontas Operators Association
• Pocahontas V.a.
• Smokeless Coal Operators Association
• Snowville, V.A.
• Southern Coal Producers Association
• Southern Coal Producers Association
• Turkey Gap Coal and Coke Company
• Unions.
• United Mine Workers of America