A Coal Camp Chronicle: Rememberin' My Raisin'

The coalfields of southern West Virginia were opened to the outside world in the late 1880 s with the building of the Coaldale Tunnel on the Norfolk and Western Railroad, near Maybeury, West Virginia. This tunnel allowed access to southern West Virginia s timber and coal resources, and the railroad was the main mode of transportation for the rugged area for many years. Hemphill is one of many coal camps located in McDowell County, West Virginia s southernmost county. It is like most other coal camps in that the houses were built by the coal companies and were separated into groups determined by a man s job in the mines small basic houses with no plumbing for laborers, larger houses with plumbing for bosses or other salaried employees, with the largest, fanciest house for the mine superintendent. The residents also lived in certain areas of the coal camp, according to their ethnicity, with African American or Italian miners occupying only certain sections of the coal camp. There were company stores, carpenter shops, fire houses, churches, beer joints, and, of course, a post office. Hemphill was like most West Virginia coal camps in many ways, but it was also a unique community. Most coal camps were owned and controlled by one coal company. Hemphill was actually composed of three camps that lined the Tug River just about one mile from Welch, the county seat. The mines in Warwick Hollow and Orkney Hollow were owned by the New River Pocahontas Coal Company, and the Shaft Bottom camp was owned by the Kingston Pocahontas Coal Company (later known as the Semet Solvay Coal Company.) The coal companies owned the land, the houses, the roads, and the stores. As long as the mines were open, miners paid a few dollars rent each month, and the properties were painted, repaired, and otherwise maintained by the coal companies. Most houses in Hemphill were wooden structures built around 1920, but by 1960 the three mines in Hemphill had shut down , mainly due to mechanization of the mines and high cost of coal production. When the mines closed, the houses were sold to individuals at very reasonable prices, usually about five hundred dollars per room. Some shrewd businessmen bought several houses and resold them at a profit. With maintenance in the hands of individual owners, some of the houses became untidy, even dirty, while others were maintained immaculately. When the coal companies relinquished ownership of their Hemphill properties, the Orkney Hollow area became the area for Welch s trash dump, a popular place for townsfolk from Welch to come for target practice, shooting at the many rats inhabiting the dump. This added to Hemphill s less than desirable reputation as a residential area. To understand how things in McDowell County (and Hemphill), West Virginia, might appear to outsiders, this story is told of a young teacher who first arrived in Welch in the late 1930 s: I got on the passenger train in Bluefield. As the train left the station, it began a downhill descent and continued downhill until it stopped in Welch. Along the way, beside the railroad tracks arch-shaped brick coke ovens were belching smoke, flames, and fumes, as they heated raw coal into a charcoal-like substance called coke . I felt as if I had truly descended into hell.