ANAWALT, WV - GARY NO. 12 MINING COMPLEX
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U. S. Coal & Coke Company, Gary No.12 mine: by Buddy French
U. S. Coal & Coke Company began building its Gary No.12 mining complex at Anawalt, West Virginia in 1909. The coal lease was a relatively small one at 453 acres. The coal measured eight feet, three inches in height and was in the world-famous Pocahontas No.3 coal seam, an excellent metallurgical grade coal for the steel mills. According to production records, the No.12 mine first began shipping coal in 1912. In 1924, the mine was idled and remained shut down until it was reopened in 1943. On September 15, 1947, the No.12 coal tipple was destroyed by fire and the mine did not resume production until December. Records show that the No.12 mine was worked out and shut down on January 11, 1949. In 1945, a new No.12 northside mine was opened on the opposite mountainside and was in the Pocahontas No.3 coal seam. The northside mine was also a small coal lease that bordered with the Crozer Coal & Coke Company coal lease. Gary No.12 production halted in 1952 when the coal seam was worked out.
Anawalt is coal mining community in McDowell County, West Virginia, United States. At one time it was known as Jeanette. It is named in honor of James White Anawalt, who was then manager of Union Supply Company, a subsidiary of the United States Steel Company. The population was 186 at the 2020 census.[ Coal mining was the town's chief industr
Anawalt is a coal mining community in McDowell County, West Virginia.
Annawalt was once known as
Jeanette, but was renamed in honor of James White Anawalt, the manager of Union Supply Company. Coal mining was the town's main industry.
Anawalt, (West Virginia), an unincorporated community in McDowell County on Indian Creek, a tributary of the upper Tug Fork River, was named in honor of Colonel Angus Anawalt, manager of Union Supply Co., a subsidiary of the United States Steel Corp., which operated coal mines in the area. Like many towns in McDowell County, the dramatic decline in coal mining over the last half-century has resulted in a steep decline in population.
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Clyde Young at Gary #12, Anawalt, WV - June, 1945 - from Ken Bowen.
















Gary No. 12 Mine Crew, June 1945.
Left to right - Leonard Richardson, Mr. Curry, Harry Graham, Everett Wyatt, Clifford Kinzer, unknown, Al Harmon. Elmer Richardson, Coy Richardson, Perry Lewis, Lewis King, and Joe Pac. - Photo. provided by Ken Bowen.


Gary # 12, Anawalt, June 1945, the first cut of coal being made.
Left to right - Hary Graham, Perry Lewis, and Lewis King - Photo. provided by Ken Bowen.

Clyde Young at Gary #12, Anawalt, WV - June, 1945 - Photo. provided by Ken Bowen.

Enhanced Anawalt Mine photographs provided by: Buddy French  |

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