Modoc, West Virginia was located just off Rt.10 and 7.75 miles north of Mataoka.  The Modoc Coal Mining Company was founded by William H. Thomas of Bramwell.  He took out a lease for 1,340 acres of coal in the Pocahontas No.3 coal seam on the right fork of the former N&W Widemouth Branch on April 8, 1914.  Thomas was busy building a new coal tipple and community when he signed an agreement with the N&W to construct a railroad siding to his tipple on July 21, 1914 and coal shipments began in early 1915.  For unknown reasons, the Modoc Coal Mining Company was short-lived.  William Thomas dissolved his company on May 14, 1916 and sold his Modoc coal mining operation to the Turkey Gap Coal & Coke Company at Wenonah on May 27, 1916.  The mine continued operating under the Modoc name until 1932.  Its coal lease was on the opposite side of the mountain adjacent to the Turkey Gap mine at Wenonah.  By 1938, the Modoc mine had been joined with the Turkey Gap mine and the Modoc tipple was no longer needed since its coal was now being dumped through the Turkey Gap tipple at Wenonah.  Coal was still being mined from the original Modoc lease when records indicate Consolidation Coal Company shut down its Turkey Gap mine at Wenonah in 1983.

This is the last of the coal mine operations on the right fork of the N&W's Widemouth Branch.  The Modoc mine and community were the lesser known on the Widemouth Branch.

Many thanks to Alex Schust and his book "Bluestone - Norfolk & Western Branch Line" that gives in-depth details on all the mining operations on the N&W Widemouth Branch.          

Modoc Coal Company tipple and community housing -1918.