U. S. Coal & Coke Company, Gary No. 8 Community.
Housing construction for coal miners and their families in the Gary No.8 community began simultaneously with the opening of the Gary No.8 mine at Elbert in 1905. The Gary No.8 community did not have its own post office or company store, and was actually part of Elbert, although folks who lived there generally said they lived at Number Eight rather than Elbert, even though their mailing address was Elbert, West Virginia.
The Gary No.8 community had 21 single family homes and 54 double (duplex) family homes and at its peak population, Gary No.8 had approximately 700 residents living there. It had several colorfully named neighborhoods like Eight Bottom, Pinchback, Tippe Hollow, Straight Eight and Crooked Eight. Your author was born in Crooked Eight in 1944.
A FICTIONAL STORY - "A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A COAL CAMP"