Historic Natural Resources

                                                                                   Coal

Coal is West Virginia's leading industry. Coal is found in 53 counties of West Virginia. McDowell county has produced more coal than any other county in West Virginia. In West Virginia 99% of generated electricity comes from coal. The coal pay roal is over $2 billion per year.  The Pocahontas bituminous coal field has been continuously since it opened in 1892.  It is estimated that two million tons of recoverable coal remain in the field.  The outside walls of the Coal House in Williamson.  It was built in 1933 during the Great Depression. http://www.wvminesafety.org/wvcoalfacts.htm

 On May 21, 1895 there was a mine explosion in Fairmont, West Virginia. At 12:30 o' clock in the afternoon a Pole carelessly ignited a can of powder in mine No. 4 of the Monongah Coal and Coke company and a terrific explosion followed. The accident occured in the main air course leading to mine No. 2, about 500 feet from the mouth of mine No. 4, and the smoke was thus driven through different parts of the mine suffocating four miners. Quite a number of others were seriously but not fatally affected by the smoke. The names of the deaths are:   C. L. Bertcher- an old man who left a large family.

William Shaver- 16 years old

LukeDunlop

http://www.gendisasters.com

The Sago Mine disaster was a coal mine explosion that occured on January 2, 2006.  The mine is near the Upshur County seat of Buckhannon.  The explosion trapped 13 for nearly two days.  Only one miner survived. It was the worst mining disater in the United States since the Jim Walter Resources Mine Disaster in Alabama on September 23, 2001.  It killed 13 people.  The worst disaster in West Virginia since a 1968 incident that killed 78 people. The disaster recieved extensive news coverage in the media worldwide.  The New York Times was false when they stated that 12 miners had survived when only one survived.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2006_Sago_Mine_disaster