The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1911-08-09
Largest Coal
Production.
Virginia Breaks Record In
1910 With Output of Over
Six and Half Mil
lion Tons.

4Output Oh Ine Otate iii lHlu was
q 6 ,507 1897 short tons, with a spot
svalue of So, S77,486, according
Ito Edward w. Parker, coal
$statisticinn of the United States
theological Survey.
Virginia established two new
records in the statistics of her
coal production in 1910; first, in
! the quantity of coal produced
&c, 5O7, 1897 short tons), and sec.
ond, in the amount and per
centage of increase over the
preceding year. The production
in 1909, 52,2l7 short tons, had
exceeded all previous records,
but this was beaten in 1910 hy
the unprecedented increase of
1851 tons, nearly 81 per
cent. The value increased
$l,G2G, 400, or 3s per cent. from
Si,251, 1856 to 50, S77, 1876. Al
though little if any of the Vir-
ginia product was shipped to
the West TO make up the defici.
ency caused by the prolonged
strike in the midst of the Mis-
sissippi Valley States, the
shortage in those States was
the indirect cause of the re.
markable increase in Virginia's
tonnage. The strike in the
Middle West naturally created
an unusual demand upon the
conl mines of West Virginia,
and a large part of the produc-
tion of that State, customarily
sent To the seaboard, was divert
ed to the temporarily more
profitable markets in the West.
This demand in turn gave op
portunity for II larger outlet to
the seaboard for Virginia Goals.
an opportunity of which the
Virginia coal men were not
slow to take advantage.
Good Per Capita Output by the Miners.
Virginia stands well up
among the States in the guam.
tity of coal produced for each
man employed. In 1910 the
number of men employed was
1924, who worked an average
of 24l days. The average pro
duction per man was 500 tons
for the year, and 3 70 tons for
each day. Both of these aver.
ages are better than those
shown in the majority of the
coal producing States. Most of
the miners in the State work 10
hours a day. OF the 1924 men
employed in 1910, $40 worked
10 hours and 1,02l worked .
hours, Only one mine was re-
ported as working hours.
To Virginia belongs the dis
tlnction of having produced the
first bituminous coal mined in
the United States. This initial
output, however, was not de-
rived from that portion OF the
state which now gives Virginia
some prominence as a producer
OF coal, but was obtained from
what is generally known as the
Richmond basin, small area
near the city of Richmond.
Early Discovery Of Coat.
The existence of coal in the
Richmond basin was known as
early as 100, though mining
ana not begin until the later
part of the century. In 1889
shipments were made to some
OF the Northern States. In 1922,
according to Mr.sR. C.. Taylor,
III his Statistics of Coal" the
production amounted to sd, 900
short tons. For nearly n cen
lury the Richmond basin main
tanned some prominence as a
coal producer, but when, in
1889, the Pocahontas district
was opened up, and especially
when, soon afterward, the New
RIVER field, in West Virginia,
was developed the mines in the
Elchmond basin was put at u
disadvantage and operations in
Them were for number of
Years practically suspended.
The mining of coal in South
Western Virginia, whence the
present production chiefly
comes, began with the compile.
uon of the New River division