Stonega Coke and Coal Company

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.

From the description of Records, 1902-1974. (Hagley Museum & Library). WorldCat record id: 122459330