Algoma is a former coal company town in McDowell County, West Virginia, situated adjacent to the town of Northfork. While it is no longer an active mining community, its history is preserved in its most notable landmark, the Algoma Coal and Coke Company Store. The community is located in the rugged mountains of the Pocahontas Coalfield region.
Algoma, West Virginia was developed by the Algoma Coal & Coke Company in 1891, with mining operations beginning with the opening of the Piney Mine along Buzzard Branch of the North Fork of Elkhorn Creek in the Pocahontas No. 3 seam. The coal, sold under the trade name "The Great Algoma," was ideal for use in steelmaking and for domestic heating. The town and company name was an Anglicized corruption of Algonquin and goma meaning Algonquin waters.
A small company store and office building was erected but it was soon replaced with a larger 2½-story facility was in 1894. Another mine was opened in 1896 at Norfolk known as the Algoma Coaling Station for the purpose of providing coal for the Norfolk & Western Railway locomotives. In 1897, the company added 175 coke ovens to convert coal into coke for steelmaking 3 which expanded to 225 ovens and operated until 1919. They averaged a fixed carbon content of 92.5% after a coking time of 72 hour
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 AN EXTENSIVE HISTORY OF ALGOMA,WV COAL MINING
 A FACINATING TRUE TRUCK DRIVER STORY
PHOTOGRAPHS PROVIDED BY: BUDDY FRENCH
ALGOMA, WV COAL MINING - PAGE 2 OF 2
ALGOMA, WV COAL MINING INDEX
ALGOMA , WV PHOTOGRAPHS - FROM ANOTHER SITE
ADDITIONAL COAL MINING OMMUNITIES INDEX
MASTER INDEX FILE
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