Nuttallburg Coal Mining Complex and Town Historic District

Last updated

Nuttallburg Coal Mining Complex and Town Historic District
Nuttallburg WV - Mine Conveyor.jpg
USA West Virginia location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationCounty Route 85/2, Fayette County, West Virginia
Nearest city Fayetteville, West Virginia
Coordinates 38°3′0″N81°2′25″W / 38.05000°N 81.04028°W / 38.05000; -81.04028
Built1873
ArchitectRoberts & Schaefer Co.; Fairmont Mining Machinery Co.
NRHP reference No. 07000846 [1]
Added to NRHPAugust 22, 2007

The Nuttallburg Coal Mining Complex and Town Historic District is located near Winona, West Virginia in New River Gorge National Park and Preserve. The townsite is almost directly across from the Kay Moor mine and townsite, now abandoned. Like Kay Moor, the town is built around the railroad line at the bottom of the gorge, with an array of coke ovens and mining structures, as well as a bridge across the New River to South Nuttall. [2]

Nuttallburg was closely associated with the Nuttallburg underground mine, a room and pillar mine that was sealed in 1958. The mine was established to develop the New River Coalfield in 1870 by John Nuttall, who correctly anticipated that the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad would be built through the New River Gorge. When the railroad arrived in 1873 Nuttall had built almost 100 houses, with 80 coke ovens, a variety of mine structures and a coal tipple on a railroad siding.

Flat land by the river was dedicated to railroad and industrial use, leaving houses to seek perches on the hillsides. The town was racially segregated with white workers on the west side of Short Creek and black workers on the east side and between the railroad and the river. Because development stretched along both banks of the river, a pedestrian suspension bridge was built across the river by the Roebling Bridge Company in 1899. [2]

The mines in the area were acquired by the Fordson Coal Company in the 1920s as "captive mines" to supply coal to the Ford Motor Company's River Rouge plant in Dearborn, Michigan. Ford updated many of the mines' facilities at that time. However, Fordson sold the mine to the New River Coal Corporation in 1928, possibly because railroad regulations made coal transport to Michigan too difficult. [2]

Most of the frame structures in Nuttallburg have succumbed to weather or have been salvaged for building materials. The National Park Service acquired the town, mining complex and surrounding area from the Nuttall Estate in 1998 and incorporated it into New River Gorge National River. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brookside, Alabama</span> Town in Alabama, United States

Brookside is a town in north-central Jefferson County, Alabama, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population of the town was 1,363. It is a former mining town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boswell, Pennsylvania</span> Borough in Pennsylvania, United States

Boswell is a borough in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,221 at the 2020 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thurmond, West Virginia</span> Town in West Virginia, United States

Thurmond is a town in Fayette County, West Virginia, United States, on the New River. The population was five at the 2020 census. During the heyday of coal mining in the New River Gorge, Thurmond was a prosperous town with a number of businesses and facilities for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New River Gorge National Park and Preserve</span> American national park and nature preserve

The New River Gorge National Park and Preserve is a unit of the United States National Park Service (NPS) designed to protect and maintain the New River Gorge in southern West Virginia in the Appalachian Mountains. Established in 1978 as a national river and redesignated in 2020, the park and preserve stretches for 53 miles (85 km) from just downstream of Hinton to Hawks Nest State Park near Ansted.

The Birmingham District is a geological area in the vicinity of Birmingham, Alabama, where the raw materials for making steel, limestone, iron ore, and coal are found together in abundance. The district includes Red Mountain, Jones Valley, and the Warrior and Cahaba coal fields in Central Alabama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dawson, New Mexico</span> Ghost town in New Mexico, United States

Dawson is a ghost town in Colfax County, New Mexico, United States. Dawson was the site of two separate coal mining disasters in 1913 and 1923. Dawson is located approximately 17 miles northeast of Cimarron.

Star Junction is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Perry Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, United States. The community is located on Pennsylvania Route 51. At the 2010 census, the population was 616.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Luxor, Pennsylvania</span> Unincorporated community in Pennsylvania, United States

Luxor is an unincorporated community and coal town in Hempfield Township, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elkins Coal and Coke Company Historic District</span> Historic district in West Virginia, United States

The Elkins Coal and Coke Company Historic District is a historic industrial site near the crossroads village of Bretz in Preston County, West Virginia. It is the site of the last major coke manufacturing facility to use beehive ovens, and was a major industrial site in northern West Virginia in the first half of the 20th century. Surviving elements include a row of 140 beehive ovens. The site was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company</span> American steelmaking company

The Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (1852–1952), also known as TCI and the Tennessee Company, was a major American steel manufacturer with interests in coal and iron ore mining and railroad operations. Originally based entirely within Tennessee, it relocated most of its business to Alabama in the late nineteenth century, following protests over its use of free convict labor. With a sizable real estate portfolio, the company owned several Birmingham satellite towns, including Ensley, Fairfield, Docena, Edgewater and Bayview. It also established a coal mining camp it sold to U.S. Steel which developed it into the Westfield, Alabama planned community.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mary Murphy Mine</span>

The Mary Murphy Mine was the principal gold mine of the Chalk Creek mining district of Chaffee County, Colorado, United States, near St. Elmo, Colorado. The Mary Murphy Mine operated continuously from 1870 to 1925, and produced 220 thousand ounces of gold, worth $4.4 million then, plus considerable silver, lead, and zinc. There were two aerial tramways connecting the mine to Romley, Colorado, and the Denver, South Park and Pacific Railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kay Moor, West Virginia</span> United States historic place

Kay Moor, also known as Kaymoor, is the site of an abandoned coal mine, coal-processing plant, and coal town near Fayetteville, West Virginia. The town site is located in the New River Gorge at Kaymoor Bottom (38°03′00″N81°03′17″W). It is linked to the mine portal 560 feet (170 m) above on Sewell Bench (38°02′52″N81°03′58″W) in the wall of the Gorge by conveyors.

The Woodward Iron Company was founded on December 31, 1881, by brothers William and Joseph Woodward. William was the company president and Joseph was the company secretary. The company operated iron and coal mines, quarries and furnaces; these were connected by a private industrial railroad based in Bessemer, Alabama. The company administrative office was located near Woodward Ore Mine #1, south of Paul's Hill in Bessemer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baltimore and Ohio and Related Industries Historic District</span> Historic district in West Virginia, United States

The Baltimore and Ohio Related Industries Historic District comprises a portion of Martinsburg, West Virginia to either side of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad line as it runs through the city. The district includes the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Martinsburg Shops, a National Historic Landmark, and a variety of industrial and commercial concerns that depended on the railroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Standardville, Utah</span> Ghost town in Utah, United States

Standardville is a ghost town in Carbon County, Utah, United States. Standardville was established after coal was discovered in the area in 1912. The layout of the town was so well-planned, it became the "standard" for all mining towns to follow, which resulted in the town name of Standardville. In 1922, a group of striking miners killed a mine guard and wounded two miners before escaping. In 1930, 20 miners were killed in a mine explosion caused by carbon monoxide gas. In 1950, the mine shut down and people began to relocate elsewhere. A couple families remained until the 1970s, after which Standardville was abandoned.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colver Historic District</span> Historic district in Pennsylvania, United States

Colver Historic District is a national historic district located at Barr Township and Cambria Township in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. The district includes 336 contributing buildings, 5 contributing sites, and 3 contributing structures. The district consists of residential areas, coal mining resources, Cambria and Indiana Railroad shop buildings, and a dairy farm associated with the Ebensburg Coal Company's mine and developed between 1911 and 1943. Notable buildings include a variety of brick and frame workers' housing, the Ebensburg Coal Company office building (1914), stone company store (1912), Colver Amusement Company (1912), Colver Hotel (1912), Colver Presbyterian Church (1915), public school (1927), hospital (1914), Roundhouse No. 1 (1918), Roundhouse No. 2 (1920), and main power building (1911).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berwind-White Mine 40 Historic District</span> Historic district in Pennsylvania, United States

Berwind-White Mine 40 Historic District is a national historic district located at Richland Township and Scalp Level in Cambria County, Pennsylvania. The district includes 121 contributing buildings, 2 contributing sites, and 4 contributing structures. The district consists of a mine site and patch community associated with the Berwind-White Coal Mining Company's Eureka Mine No. 40, and developed between 1905 and the 1941. Notable buildings include over 100 two-story, frame miners' double housing, power house, drift openings, cleaning plant, motor barn, fan house, sand tank, railroad repair car shop, and wash house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shoaf Historic District</span> Historic district in Pennsylvania, United States

The Shoaf Historic District is a national historic district that is located in Georges Township, Fayette County, Pennsylvania.

Nuttallburg was an unincorporated community located in Fayette County, West Virginia, named by English pioneer John Nuttall who discovered coal in the area. Nuttallburg had a post office until 1955. It is no longer inhabited and is just outside Winona.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Durango smelter</span>

The San Juan and New York Smelting Company, was a mineral smelter located below Smelter Mountain right in front of Durango, Colorado, operating from 1882 to 1930, processing Coke, Lead, Copper, Silver, and Gold from mines all over La Plata County, San Juan County, and elsewhere in the Southwestern Colorado Region generally serviced by railroad. It was later reinstated during World War II by the U. S. Vanadium Corporation for production of large amounts of Uranium that would be utilized in the Manhattan Project. From 1963 on the smelter sat dormant until the U.S. Department of Energy cleaned up the site from 1985 to 1987 due to concerns regarding toxic mineral tailings/radioactive waste, as well as the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment suing ASARCO or damages to natural resources in 1983. Today the site is now the City of Durango's dog park and also considered a popular local hike.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Rita Walsh (March 2005). "National Register of Historic Places Nomination: Nuttallburg Coal Mining Complex and Town Historic District" (PDF). National Park Service.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Nuttallburg Coal Mining Complex and Town Historic District at Wikimedia Commons

All of the following are filed under north side of New River, 2.7 miles upstream from Fayette Landing, Lookout, Fayette County, WV:

Nuttallburg geologic map Nuttall geologic map.jpg
Nuttallburg geologic map