The coal mining communities, or coal towns of McDowell County, West Virginia were situated to exploit the area's rich coal seams. Many of these towns were located in deep ravines that afforded direct access to the coal through the hillsides, allowing mined coal to be dropped or conveyed downhill to railway lines at the valley floor. Many of these encampments were set up as company towns, and when their mines closed, the towns vanished. McDowell County covers much of the Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield and a small portion of the Williamson Coalfield.
Flat Top-Pocahontas Coalfield
Algoma Anawalt Asco (abandoned) Ashland Bartley Berwind Big Four Bishop Bradshaw Capels Caretta Carswell Cherokee Crumpler Cucumber Davy Eckman (abandoned) Eight (abandoned) Elbert Elkhorn English Excelsior Filbert Gary Gilliam Hartwell currently called Vallscreek Havaco Hemphill Jed Jenkinjones Keystone Kimball Landgraff Leckie Maitland Maybeury Mohegan (abandoned) Northfork Pageton Powhatan Premier Ream Superior Switchback Thorpe Twin Branch Venus Vivian War Warriormine Welch Wilcoe Yukon (abandoned)
Williamson Coalfield
Iaeger Litwar Panther
References