Stonega Coke and Coal Company
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Stonega Coke and Coal Company
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Stonega Coke and Coal Company
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Biographical History
The Stonega Coke & Coal Company was a typical large southern Appalacian bituminous coal producer with mines in Virginia and West Virginia.
The Stonega Coke & Coal Company was incorporated in New Jersey on April 19, 1902, and reincorporated in Delaware on May 4, 1910. It was formed for the purpose of operating and further developing the coal properties of the Virginia Coal & Iron Company, which had opened its first mine at Stonega in Wise County, Va., in 1896. The company was controlled by Dr. John Shriver Wentz, a prominent Philadelphia anthracite and bituminous coal operator, who was also president of the Virginia Coal & Iron Company. The two firms had many stockholders and officers in common, and VC&I received a large minority interest in Stonega in 1922 to represent the value of pre-1902 facilities transferred to the new firm.
The Stonega Coke & Coal Company underwent rapid expansion, particularly in the decade beginning in 1915. In 1910 it absorbed the neighboring Keokee Consolidated Coke Company, and in 1923 it purchased the New River Collieries Company of West Virginia from the Guggenheim interests. By 1925 it was operating mines at nine company towns in Virginia and two (Sun and Eccles) in West Virginia. Output peaked in 1929 at 3.25 million tons, a figure that was not exceeded until 1964. At first, Stonega primarily shipped coke to industrial consumers and utilities in the Southeast. The work force consisted of an equal mixture of native whites, blacks from the Cotton South and European immigrants. The last two groups began to leave the region as production collapsed in the Depression.
The Stonega Coke & Coal Company created two local subsidiaries, the Virginia Wholesale Company (1910-1971) to act as a wholesaler supplying the company stores, and the Central Supply Company (1920-date), which deals in mine supplies and construction materials.
In 1929, Stonega was amalgamated but not merged with the Westmoreland Coal Company (Pa.), in which Wentz family had a substantial interest since 1917. The economics thus achieved, coupled with a severe cutback in operations, permitted both companies to weather the Depression and remain competitive by increasing mechanization. Stonega disposed of its West Virginia properties, selling a 51% interest in the Eccles mine to the Chicago, Wilmington & Franklin Coal Company in 1929 and abandoning the Sun Mine in 1932. The Eccles property was sold to Eastern Gas & Fuel Associates in 1946. Both groups of mines were organized by the United Mine Workers in 1933-34.
The Stonega Coke & Coal Company and the Westmoreland Coal Company were merged on April 30, 1964. The successor, Westmoreland Coal Company (Del.) retains Stonega's Delaware charter with the older Westmoreland name.
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External Related CPF
https://viaf.org/viaf/132968952
https://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-nr94017133
https://id.loc.gov/authorities/nr94017133
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African American coal miners
Coal-handling machinery
Coal miners
Coal mines and mining
Coal-mining machinery
Coal preparation
Coke-ovens
Collective bargaining
Company stores
Company towns
Company unions
Employee attitude surveys
First aid in illness and injury
Grievance arbitration
Industrial housing
Industrial relations
Industrial safety
Industrial welfare
Medicine, Industrial
Mine accidents
Mine rescue work
Mine roof control
Sawmills
Scrip
Strikes and lockouts
Strip mining
Wages
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Yellow dog contract
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West Virginia
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Virginia
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Convention Declarations
<conventionDeclaration><citation>VIAF</citation></conventionDeclaration>