On November 20, 1968, an explosion occurred in the Consolidation Coal Company’s Number 9 mine in Farmington, WV. Early that morning the explosion caused flames and smoke to pour out of the mine ...

By 1932, ten coal companies were in operation in Greenbrier County, all but two mining from the Sewell seam; the others mining the Fire Creek seam. Another railroad branch line along Clear Creek from ...

By the beginning of the Nineteenth Century, West Virginia's coal was used only by the cross-roads blacksmiths, or by the settler whose cabin stood near an outcropping of coal. In 1810, the people of ...

“There’s almost zero reason to be completely optimistic,” says Ted Boettner, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy. “It’s a disservice to coal-mining ...

To meet the growing demand for coal in the early 20th century, West Virginia companies needed more miners. African Americans mixed with European immigrants and native Appalachians in the mines and ...

has sealed its second-largest metallurgical coal mine after a fire broke out Monday and will likely lose about six months of production from the West Virginia site. The new company owns 11 mines ...

because West Virginia coal is increasingly expensive and difficult to mine, in the face of national and international competition. Just over 12,000 West Virginians still work in the coal industry.

The country's top mine safety expert was part of a panel that appeared Tuesday afternoon in a Senate hearing about the recent explosion that killed 29 West Virginia coal miners in the worst U.S ...