The Big Stone Gap post. [volume] (Big Stone Gap, Wise County, Va.) 1892-1928, 1912-09-04
Remarkable
Bed of Coal
Being Mined on Roaring Fork
by Blackwood Coal &
Coke Company.

Coke Company, whose general
office is at Biackwood, Wise
County, Virginia, are now min
ing remarkable bed of coal
called the "Pardee." This field
ia located in the northwest part
of Wise county, Virginia, and
Southeast part of Letcher.
county, Kentucky, in the Big
Black Mountain range of the
Appalachian system, and is
about twelve miles northeast of
Appalachia, Wise county, Vir-
ginia, the terminal point of the
Virginia * Southwestern Rail
road Company, which is owned
and controlled by the Southern
Railway Company.
The Roaring Fork Railroad
in connection with the Inter
state Railroad is in operation to
the Roaring Fork mine of the
Black wood Coal and Coke Com
pany's plant at Roaring Fork,
Va. The Interstate Railroad
connects at Appalachla with
the Louisville 81 Nashville r.
r., and Mt Norton with the N.
x W., and the Roaring Fork
connects with the l.. & n. at
Blackwood, thus insuring COM
petition and in consequence,
low freight rates. The proper
ty extends to the Poor Fork of
the Cumberland River of Ken
lucky, and is very mountainous
and Is drained in Wise county,
Va, by Pot Camp Fork and
Roaring Fork, which empties
into Boarding Fork of Powells
River. In Letcher county, by
Smiths Creek and Franks Creek
the Poor Fork of the Cumber-
land. The Big Black Noun
tain is the dividing line between
Virginiannd Kentucky, the low
est is about 5000 feet above
tide, but the surrounding sum-
mits reach an elevation as high
as $500 feet above tide. The
property is well timbered and
consists of several kinds of oak
chestnut, birch, poplar, maple,
etc, and the Black wood Coal
aud Coke Company have erect
ed modern and up.to date
eight foot band mill to saw the
timber at Pardee junction, Va.
This mill will turn out approx
mately a nillionfeet per month
The mill machinery was furn-
ished by Clark Bros, of Bel.
mont, N. Y, the log loader be-
ing No. 10 Bernhart, made by
the Marion Steam Shovel Co. i,
Of Marion Ohio. The ~ ton
shay geared locomotive which
brings the logs from the woods
to the mill on lumber cars made
by w. Oliver Mfg. Co. of Knox
vile, Tenn. The section is
particularly valuable, on ac-
count of the fine beds of coal
which il contains, and as the
coal forming the ranges of the
Appalachian Vally were deposi-
ted upon the sea bottom, they
must have originally extended
IN horizontal iayers. AT the
present, however, the beds are
usually not horizontal, but in.
cline at various angles from
where it appears ut the surface.
Inc beds of this property that
ore being developed are the
IIaggart, Pardee, High Splint,
.he beds dipping approximate
y q per cent west. The Tag
CART has been thoroughly pros
pected over all the property,
ana was found in excellent con-
altion b OF h physically and
chemically and is about 4 feet
lhck. The analysis of this coal
shows, Moisture 0.95, Vol. Mat
Ter 37.72, Fixed Corbin 55.9l,
ASH 5.42. This bed is opened
at an elevation of 1858 feet
above tide, and therefore con-
'alns a very large acreage.
The Pardee bed is q phenom-
ehai one, and Prof. j M. Hodge,
1eoiogist of the Kentucky Geo.
logical Survey, pronounced it
a wonderful deposit. II
averages 10 feet 4 inches in
thickness, and the coal is prac.
!lcaiiy clean and free from part.