Virginia Coal and Iron acquired 52 percent of Westmoreland in 1962. Hutchinson resulted in a situation where E.B Leisenring became the simultaneous president of Stonega Coke and Coal, Virginia Coal and Iron Co. The companies became more closely tied in 1929, when the death of Westmoreland Company President S.P. Wentz of Stonega Coke and Cole became a major shareholder in Westmoreland. Westmoreland’s Virginia story does not begin until 19, when Dr. In 1854, Westmoreland incorporated in Pennsylvania and began mining coal at its Lehigh Mine. Photo credit: Hagley ID, Box/folder number, Westmoreland Coal Company photograph and video collection (Accession 1993.233), Audiovisual Collections and Digital Initiatives Department, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807 Westmoreland Enters the Picture The coal company town of Stonega, Va., in approximately 1930. It was during this early period that many of the recognizable coal and railroad camps in Wise and Lee counties were built, including Stonega and Andover, according to Virginia Coal and Iron Company, a book compiled by E.J. The Interstate Railroad, headquartered in Andover, Va., was also built during this time by Stonega Coke and Coal to haul coal from Stonega to Appalachia.

John Shriver Wentz, the director of Stonega Coke and Coal, began expanding the company, eventually acquiring Keokee Consolidated Coke and Imboden Coke and Coal Company in 1910. held much of the Stonega Coke and Coal stock and was also its landlord. Stonega Coke and Coal was formed as a new corporate business to handle the production of coking coal in 1902. produced coking coal, which is used for steel production. The railway was needed to make the transport of coal economical.įrom 1896 to 1902, Virginia Coal & Iron Co. With the Tinsalia Coal Company also came the South Atlantic and Ohio Railway, which connected the town of Appalachia, Va., to Bristol, Va. In 1881, Hyndman succeeded in selling Tinsalia and additional lands totaling 70,000 acres to Leisenring and his group Virginia Coal & Iron Co. Tinsalia Coal’s Hyndman brought the Virginia holdings to the attention of John Leisenring. Imboden was in charge of acquiring property in Wise County for the Tinsalia Coal Company, and one of his agents acquired most of Olinger’s land, according to Black Mountain, a book by Lawrence J. Hyndman was president of Tinsalia Coal and Iron Company, which formed with help of former Confederate general John Daniel Imboden. Lee County then resold 49,200 acres of the original land grant to John C.

In 1836, Lee County decided to collect unpaid back taxes on heirs of the property of the land grant by repossessing some of the land. The original grant contained a few exclusions including local residents who had claims to the land through “squatter rights.” The land overlapped an area that would come to be known as the Hagan tract. The grant contained over 62,000 acres of land and encompassed most of the coal mining areas around Black Mountain west of what is now the city of Norton. In 1795, just three years after the state of Kentucky was formed and Lee County broke off from Russell County in Virginia, a land grant was given to three men by the names of Fields, Jason and Taylor. A Brief History of Coal in Southwest Virginia The companies’ history includes some of the most powerful companies and people in Southwest Virginia. Understanding the history of these companies contributes an important perspective into what is happening with coal in Central Appalachia. The history of Westmoreland Coal is also connected to another eastern company known as Penn Virginia, which experienced a bankruptcy in 2016. While now largely operating in the western United States, Westmoreland has many historical ties to Southwest Virginia. In October 2018, the oldest coal company in the United States filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Photo credit: Hagley ID, Box/folder number, Westmoreland Coal Company photograph and video collection (Accession 1993.233), Audiovisual Collections and Digital Initiatives Department, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, DE 19807 An addition to the coal tipple in Dunbar, Va., likely in the late 1920s.

Folder factory virginia