U. S. Coal & Coke Company, No. 5 mine at Thorpe
By Buddy French
The U. S. Coal & Coke Company, Gary No.5 mine was assigned 705 acres in the Pocahontas No.3 coal seam and was developed simultaneously with the No.4 mine at Thrope, West Virginia in 1904. The mine's Pocahontas No.3 coal seam averaged six feet ten inches in height and was about one mile southeast of the No.4 mine. The mine portal was located high on the mountainside near the mouth of the hollow where Leslie Creek flows into the Tug Fork River. Therefore, the mining complex was listed as being at Leslie but was actually within the boundaries of Thorpe. Just like the No. 4 mine, the No.5 mine was also had a coking operation with 102 coke ovens but they were shut down in 1919. Remnants of tho se old ovens at Gary No.5 are still visible today just above the railroad track alongside the highway.
( Photographs Provided By: Buddy French. )
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