Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1902-08-08
ROMANTIC STORY OF
COAL FIELD DISCOVERY
Brief History of the Finding of the Vein and
Its Tracing by the Late Major Jed
hOtChkiSS.
Outline of the Interesting Career of the
Man Who Located the Field.

The story Of the Pocahontas Flat To
q coal discovery is as romantic story a
4 could be told, fully equaling that @
4 the anthracite near Mauch Chunk, Pa
! Frederick E. Saward In the Manufac
s turers' Record.
In 1878 the late Major Jed, Hotcb
kiss, civil engineer, of Staunton, Va.
was employed to examine and repor
ON the timber tract of 500. 900 acre,
known as the WILSON, Gerry Nichola.
grant by the state of Virginia in 1875
This grant covered part of the coun
Ties OF Mercer, Mcdowell and Wyom
ing, embracing the waters of Bluestone
river, Il tributary of the New river, oil
the great Kanawha, the waters of Elk.
horn, of Big Sandy and the head waters
OF the Guyandotte river. This entire
territory was gone over for the timber
property rights alone. At that time
very little was known of the mineral
values of what is known as the Great
Flat Top coal field. On Laurel creek
Jourdan Nelson, one of the pioneer
settlers OF that section, lived. Mr..
N elson was blacksmith, and had out
cropped bed of coal for use in his
shop. 1t showed thickness of thir-
| teen feet between bed and floor rock,
Interested in such an Unexpected dis
covery, the continuity of the bed was
tracted by Major Hotchkiss down the
valley OF Bluestone river it outcrop-
ped On the various tributaries of the
latter, which takes their sourcessin the
Great Flat Top range and flow in
south-easterly direction to Bluestone
river. including Mill. Simmons, Flip
ping, Crane, Widemouth, Rich, and
Camp creeks. and following the out
crop via McCagre's Ridge, leading to
the headwaters of the Guyandotte riv
er. The crop line was followed by way
of the pinnacle fork of the latter to |
where the coal goes to cover under the |
Guyandotte waters at the junction of
the Pinnacle fork with the main
stream
To trace further the extent of this
coal bed the watershed between Guy
andotte and the Big Sandy waters was
passed and ElkhOrn was reached at the
mouth of Browns creek, short lis.
'ance below the present site of WEIGH,
'he present county seat of Mcdowell
county. The valley of the Elkhorn
vas traversed and the bed examined {
vt Nelson's and followed, as had been {
hoWn, to Camp creek, was discovered {
.boye the cover of Elkhorn at the 6
mouth of Bottoms creek, now the
ocation Of the Bottom Creek Coal and '
'oke Company. The Elkhorn was fol- f
owed to its head from the Great L
lat Top mountain and the coal was | 2
utcropped on the various tributaries ]
nd its continuity was we'll establish
d.
There was not shovel or spade: the
had to be done with mar.
ow hoe used by the natives for dig y
ing the roots of ginseng, then the U
lost important industry in the entire il
ection. For shovel a seasoned whitel il
ak board, sharpened, with a handle (
lade from the body of the board, serv- "
i the purpose for moving the loose a
laterial overlying the coal. In that p
'ay the entire area, comprising the v
eadwaters of the Guyandotte, the al
lkhorn, North Folk or Tug river, the n
asst side of Bluestone river, including Il
s tributary streams flowing from the +
reat Flat Top mountain, Mill, Sim
IONS creek, Crane creek, Flippingt
reek. Widemouth, Rich and Camp!
reeks, was examined, embracing an h
rea of 4oO square miles. all of which W
underlaid with the Great Flat Top b
)als above water levels of the streams. ot
NO one was ever more enthusiastic q
yer the mineral resources of the Vir- p,
MAS than was the late Major Hotch. as
lss. New Yorker by birth, he wan u
cred on foot, for the pleasure of the
ip, to the valley of Virginia in the re
tie fifties. He was q tutor at Staun Fl
II, and afterward civil engineer of r.
,te. He espoused the southern cause th
the outbreak of the civil war, and ia
as on StOnewall Jackson's staff for 20
any campaigns, and then On that of
se. He made the maps for General hi
ee's Pennsylvania campaign, ending M
Gettysburg, as he himself has in tb
rmed the writer. After the war heE
d nothing but his profession, and m,
at was of little value until the epi- ba
lie of the coal discovery on Flat Top.
> said for week he had slept under An
g stars, with his saddle bags for pill INF
v, while on his trip, but his old cam ws
igning days in the army of Virginia ~
t him in shape to endure anything FIN
e privation of such character. All
e fortunes which has been dug out
this territory owe their initiatives
him, and he died In comparative ',
verify few years ago, but a grand do
IN to know.