This was originally published on Martha Sparks’ My West Virginia Mountain website and is reprinted here with her permission and our special thanks.
Coal Mine at Rossmore, West Virginia
The coal mine, long closed, yet readily visible from the main highway (Route 44), at Rossmore, West Virginia is among the oldest in the county (ca. 1912).
From the now cut stone covered entrance, visitors can easily share in the dire experiences a coal miner might have seen while crawling into that deep, dark hole.
The Rossmore mine and coal camp, adjacent to the mine, are both named for Mr. J.J. Ross, past owner and general manager of the operation.
J.J. Ross, a West Virginia University graduate, came to Logan in 1910 as general manager for the Logan Mining Company to develop and organize and oversee operations owned by Mr. C. L. Hutchinson.
∼∼∼
Rossmore Photo Gallery
Rossmore 1930s vs. 2014.
Rossmore 1930s vs. 2014.
Rossmore, WV c1922 courtesy of Bill Lamont.
Image 1612.
Rossmore, WV c1922 courtesy of Bill Lamont.
Image 1612.
1930s view of Rossmore courtesy of Larry Rogers.
1930s view of Rossmore courtesy of Larry Rogers.
Rossmore Mine Portal 3-26-2014
Rossmore Mine Portal 3-26-2014
Rossmore Tipple in 1945 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore Tipple in 1945 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Jack Shannon, Rossmore Tipple Foreman courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Jack Shannon, Rossmore Tipple Foreman courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore Tipple Crew courtesy of Brenda L. Birchmeier. If anyone can identify any of these miners, please leave a comment.
Rossmore Tipple Crew courtesy of Brenda L. Birchmeier. If anyone can identify any of these miners, please leave a comment.
Rossmore, WV February 3, 1939 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore, WV February 3, 1939 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore, WV February 3, 1939 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore, WV February 3, 1939 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore, WV February 3, 1939 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore, WV February 3, 1939 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore, WV February 3, 1939 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
Rossmore, WV February 3, 1939 courtesy of Ralph Mcneely.
1950s Rossmore Hill courtesy of Deborah Petroff Hatfield.
1950s Rossmore Hill courtesy of Deborah Petroff Hatfield.
I was born at Micco and we moved to Rossmore. We lived in what was called Rossmore Coal Camp. My Grand-Dad John Abe Maynard and Grand- Ma., Effie Adkins Maynard lived across the river on the hill. I still have a lot of cousins living there. I adopted my Daughter Patricia Jean , a new born baby. from Barbara Jeffery. There was a genetic sickness called Huntington’s disease. My Daughter had it. She learned when she was 18, but she finished School and college. She said they would find a cure before it got her not knowing she had the Juvenile H D. She wanted to be prepared to work, but she never did get to. She went to live in Heaven July 30th. 1916. Barbara disappeared at the age of 23 and was never seen again. She had the Juvenile form of HD as well. There is no doubt someone killed her.
Every time I review older posts I find information that I’d previously overlooked, and this time it was what Susan Bailey-Koubti wrote on Aug. 10, 2017. She mentioned Jack Shannon and his wife, and the wife is likely to have been the aunt of my long-ago friend Hubert Jethro Barnhardt Jr. Her first name was Marvel and I remember that Jack and Marvel kept company — as we used to say — but I left Logan and never knew if the two of them tied the knot.
A picture in this posting shows Jack with the Rossmore tipple in the background. As I remember it I met Jack in person only once and at the time he was connected with the new tipple at Stirrat, maybe as the tipple boss or as the superintendent.
According to Swain’s 1916 book (History of Logan City), Rossmore Mine was opened in 1915, originally owned by the Logan Mining Company which also owned the Mona Mine at Monaville (and several other Logan County mines). Rossmore Mine used a track haulage system underground.
Recently, on the Logan County, WV History and Nostalgia Public Facebook site linked to this website, Brandon Ray Kirk posted a photo of the sealed Rossmore Mine. There were numerous comments regarding the mine and cemeteries in the vicinity. There were several pictures included in the comments. A couple of photos which were furnished by Frank Messer are pictures of the Rossmore Mine tipple.
Messer’s pictures of the Rossmore Mine tipple appear to be the same photo shown on the http://www.coalcampusa.com/sowv/logan/rossmore-wv-coal-mine/rossmore-wv-coal-mine.htm website. That photo has a note stating, in part: “…Vintage view of the tipple showing the conveyor coming right out of the mine portal and going up to the top of the tipple…..circa 1922”. That picture was taken in the early years of the mine, evidenced by the style of the railroad cars.
A photo in the Rossmore Mine photo gallery on this Logan, WV History and Nostalgia website is of the tipple and surrounding area in the 1930’s. It is worth noting that photo has a note on it stating the mine was a West Virginia Coal and Coke operation at that time.
A similar photo of the tipple dated 1945 is shown in the Rossmore Mine photo gallery. That photo was taken in the latter years of the mine as is evidenced by the style of the railroad cars.
The Rossmore Mine is a “slope mine” in the Cedar Grove coal seam which is about 30 feet under the creek bed at the location of the concreted mine opening shown in the Rossmore Mine photo.
A map of the mine indicates there were three parallel 120-foot or so long slope openings to the mine spaced about 50 feet apart. From WV Flood Tool mapping, it appears that the slope openings were at about 720-foot elevation. The coal seam is at about 680-foot elevation at the bottom of the slopes.
I don’t know which of the slope entries is the concreted mine opening shown in the photo. The mine map indicates the slope farthest up the creek was connected to the tipple. The wooden structure connecting the slope entry to the top of the tipple appears to have been about 100-foot or so long.
Although the abovementioned http://www.coalcampusa photo’s title mentions “showing the conveyor coming right out of the mine portal and going up to the top of the tipple”, it would be wrong to assume that a “conveyor” was used to bring the coal out of the mine to the tipple. Although “conveyor belts” and mechanical pan-line chain conveyors ultimately came to be used widely in transporting coal, it is more probable that, since Rossmore Mine used track haulage, it appears that the loaded mine cars were hoisted one-by-one up the slope and dumped at the top of the tipple. This was a common practice in 1915. (Photo #72 in this website’s Mount
Gay, WV photo gallery shows a circa 1930’s example of this method of hoisting cars.)
It is possible that Rossmore could have replaced a car-hoisting method with a conveyor belt system at some later time. However, generally speaking, a beltline cannot be steeper than about 16 degrees because coal will roll back down it if it is steeper than 16 degrees. (Although, “special” conveyor belt designs can be steeper than 16 degrees.) It appears the Rossmore slope was steeper than 16 degrees.
From these slope openings, the original Rossmore Mine mined northward (down Island Creek) toward the Mona Mine. At some point in time, a “new mine” (as labeled on the mine map) was mined from these same slopes southward (up Island Creek) to where it came up against the workings of the Switzer No.2 Mine of the Island Creek Colliery Co. at Switzer.
I have seen no indications as to which of the slopes was used for the mine ventilation fan, nor have I seen where the men, equipment and supplies entered the mine.
The mine map shows an aerial tram facility connected to the tipple. It appears that the aerial tram was about 750 feet long and ended up on the point on the lower side of Lynn Branch where, presumably, it dumped rock, “slate” and mine refuse from the mine. The support towers for the tram are shown on the mine map. Photo #2 in the Rossmore Mine photo gallery on the Logan, WV History and Nostalgia website shows some of the support towers going up the hill.
A cemetery (Vance?) is shown on the mine map and it is about 50-feet or so away from the last aerial tram support tower up on the point. The map shows there was a pump borehole about 450 feet up on the left side of Lynn Branch.
It may be of interest to know that in the early 1980’s when I was chief engineer at Youngstown Mines at Dehue, we leased (subleased) from Wheeling-Pittsburg, a large tract of No. 2 Gas seam coal property that lay between Dehue’s workings at McConnell and Rossmore. (The No. 2 Gas seam is about 150 feet below the Rossmore Mine Cedar Grove seam.) One of the conceptual plans to develop that property was to put a slope from the trailer park area at Rossmore going under the highway and creek and under the Rossmore Mine. Raw coal would have been brought up the slope by conveyor belt and put into railroad cars where it would be shipped to Wheeling-Pittsburg’s preparation plant at Stirrat for processing. Another conceptual plan was to put a slope down at Monahill coal camp area, put the raw coal onto railroad cars and ship it to Youngstown Mines’ preparation plant at Dehue. Ultimately, it was decided to upgrade Dehue’s existing underground beltlines, track system and ventilation facilities to develop the new property. When Massey bought the Youngstown Mines operations in the early 1980’s, they decided to shut down Dehue and abandoned existing plans for the property. At some time afterwards, they did apply for a permit to install an opening for that property in Lynn Branch at Rossmore. I don’t know what their plans were. From what I have seen in mine permitting advertisements, it appears they plan on developing the property from an opening in the Madison Branch area near Rita. Aracoma Coal Company, LLC currently has an underground permit #U 500119 listed as Lynn Branch No. Gas Mine.
I spent the first 13yrs. of my life in Rossmore WV. We moved to Morton Wash. in 1959. We now live in Yuma, AZ most of the time but still have our home in Wash. I have many fond memories of Rossmore and the surrounding communities. Small world, huh?
James I spent my first 19 years in Rossmore, and loved every moment, then did a stint in the military, came back and bought a house in Monaville, lived there for 40 plus years, also loved it, now in Bradenton FL, yep love it also, but nothing compares to growing up in Rossmore, the entire camp was our playground
Douglas Dempsey mentioned the fact that the Rossmore mine was driven through the mountain to the river at, or across from, McConnell. He’s right in saying that few people remember it, but I’m one of them, since I lived in the upper end of Stollings. The mine used the McConnell opening for getting rid of slate and there also was a tramroad on that side of the river that was used for bringing in mine timbers. For this haulage they used mules. I suppose they stabled the mules outside. When they would come out of the driftmouth with mine motors the electric arcs from the “nips” they used could be seen for miles — at night, that is.
Robert,
Thanks for the great information about the opening across the river at McConnell at the west side of Thompson Branch. I had no idea that it was anything more than a drainway opening.
I got to looking at some old maps and found that, actually, there were two openings there about 350 feet apart. They were at the northern head end of two entries called 6th Rt. The westernmost opening was the right-hand entry and was within a crosscut distance (about 80 feet). The seam elevation there is 652.5 feet. The other opening was off of a short set of right-handed (eastward) rooms four breaks deep (about 350 feet) and the fourth break was driven left-handed (northward) by itself for about 250 feet to outcrop. A coal seam section at this opening reads top-to bottom:
Coal—2’ 6”
Slate—2’ 4”
Coal—0’ 6”
Slate—0’3”
Coal 2’ 11”
There was another opening at the west side of Sugar Branch about 2,000 feet upriver from Thompson Branch. The coal seam is at about 661.8 feet elevation there. This opening was at the western head end of a set of 2 entries called No. 1 Mains. The opening was driven westward as a single entry about 175 feet to outcrop.
A Monitor Coal and Coke mine had a cutout at the upper end of the Logan General Hospital area about directly across from the Holy Trinity Church on the boulevard. The seam there is probably closer to 710 foot elevation. As I recall, the outcrop of that seam could be seen at the back of the hospital parking lot which shows to be at about 708 foot elevation. As I recall, at the bottom of the dip in the boulevard coming from Logan to Cherry Tree there is an opening to this same mine that was barely visible at one time. I think the road construction cut into the mine. The road is at about 680 foot elevation in the bottom of the dip.
I am especially pleased to see your reference to the “nips”, a terminology that a lot of modern miners probably don’t even know, especially so with the widespread use of battery powered equipment.
My grandpa Chilton Hassel “Ace” Adkins worked in the Rossmore Mine. His Army enlistment record is dated June 30,1942 at the age of 19, so I am assuming he worked in the mine before he enlisted. The only document I have seen regarding his time in the mine is a document where he was written up for smoking in the mine! I would love to learn more about his time working on the mine.
Kim,there is a record at familysearch.org that
shows Chilton enlisting in the US Army on
March 12, 1945 in Huntington, WV.
Shows coal mining as his work.
Do you know when he died as the D.R.
might show more info.
Thank you for looking into this Bob! His date of death was 12/20/1989. AncestryDNA.com does show 3/12/45 as his enlistment date. He reported as living in Monaville, Logan, WV at the time.
My Dad Paul Connolly and My Uncle Arthur Maynard worked in that coal mines, we lived in Rossmore camp. back in the 40’s. you can see pictures of the miners on the wall of the Collins Funeral home.
Johnnie, I am so glad you made a post here. Look at the connect with relatives page on this site; in November I reached out to try to find you. I am your cousin! I saw the pictures you posted earlier this year on the,Logan Genealogical Facebook page. I am not a Facebook member so could not reach you that way. My grandmother Hester Adkins Rice and your grandmother Effie Adkins Maynard were sisters. My mother is Beatrice and she and your mom Ottie were cousins…making you and I cousins. The picture you posted of our great-grandmother just made my heart jump. Her name is Mary Noe, not Mary Moore as you listed. Would love to talk more with you. Please email me at rebeccafst@aol.com.
Hi Becky, I just seen this. I was told our Great GrandMothers last name was Moore. Thanks for letting me know the real last name.Good to know you, Cousin
Ottie is My Mother. she now lives in Heaven. August 6th. 1993. wasn’t you related to Barbara Jeffrey? I believe she was related to Dameron’s.
Douglas Dempsey
Not many people are aware of it but the Rossmore Mine extended far enough that some openings to it are across the river at McConnell a short distance up from the river’s edge.
It is only slightly more than a mile underground through the mine to McConnell. Those openings may be limited in numbers and probably were made to be used as drainway entries to release water from the mine.
In any case, several years ago when Logan was going through the large floodings, the Corp of Engineers had a drawing board conceptual plan of putting some of the flood waters of Main Island Creek into the Rossmore Mine so it could go through the Rossmore Mine and come out at McDonnell. The Rossmore Mine is at about 720ft elevation and the McConnell opening are slightly lower at or around 680ft elevation. The reasoning of this plan was that it would relieve the flooding in the Mt. Gay/Cherry Tree area.
I’ve returned! Last time I posted here was about a year and a half ago. I was getting desperate to find my great grandfather’s brother, Franciszek Stec, who worked in the mines. Browsing through church records today, I discovered his death record, a major find. He died in West Virginia and was brought back to NJ for burial.
My next question is this: Is there a way I could find out if he was killed in a mine accident? Were records kept of that? He was 50 at the time of his death.
Allison, I gave you the info on April 2,2016.
Asked you to post your e-mail address.
Suggested you do research at the
familysearch.org site.
If you have his D.C. it should show
the info.
I don’t have his death certificate. He was born in Turbia, Poland, which isn’t indexed online anywhere yet. He only shows up on FamilySearch when he lived in NJ. I have pretty much everything I can find about him that’s out there. He also didn’t show up in the Logan County death records for that year for some reason.
No Find A Grave yet but I’ll make one as soon as I confirm his burial with the cemetery. He is most likely unmarked because I know all the Stec’s there. Unfortunately the only record I have found is the church one. His wife went back to Poland I believe and his daughter stayed here and raised a family. I found them on FB but none ever responded to my messages.
Bob Piros
Allison, ok, this website shows
lots of WV coal mining accidents.
Hope that you find something.
Allison
I found his death certificate. Finally! After Rossmore, he made his way up to Moundsville where he died of liver cancer after an operation.
Bob Piros
Allison, good for you.
Which site did you find the
info on? So he wasn’t a
coal miner?
Allison
He was. His daughters passport said he was a miner at the mines in Rossmore but that was from 1915. Apparently by 1929 he had moved north. His DC said he had an operation before his death. True confirmation was that his burial would be in NJ.
It gets better. He was arrested in 1927 in Logan County for “receiving stolen goods” and was incarcerated at the West Virginia Penitentiary, which is where he died. Can’t find much more info than that as the archives director said records before 1935 are spotty. Wish I had a photo of him.
There are graves on top of hill of Rossmore mine. My great grandparents Floyd and Nancy Vance. Died in 1940’s. And two first cousins Ralph Edward Lewis and David Gene Lewis There are several other graves. You can see them in the winter when the leaves are all off. Floyd and Nancy have one granddaughter living and she isn’t able to get up there. Ralph and
David have 2 sisters and 2 brothers still living.
Wanda, you might be able to get
help with the grave cleaning if you
contact the New Life Freewill
Baptist Church in Rossmore.
Phone # 304-946-2521. They have
some nice looking photos on Facebook
of young people who could easily do the work.
Wanda,this cemetery is known as
Vance at Rossmore.
Your GG Floyd was born in Nov. 1867 &
he died in Jan.1928. Your GG Nancy was
born in Feb.1879 & she died in Aug. 1928.
Your GG Grandfather Levi Vance was born
in 1824 & he died in 1887. He is buried in
the Stirrat Community Church Cemetery.
My maternal grandparents, mom and dad, uncle lived in Rossmore, WV. My grandmother and grandfather were Clyde and Mamie Brooks. My mom and dad are James (deceased) and Nadine Brooks-Bailey who is almost 87 now. They lived in the first row by the tracks where Rossmore Park was. I was born in 1956 and came home to Rossmore! My grandparents were good friends with Jack Shannon and his wife. I have a lot of pictures of Rossmore that were my mamaw’s. My papaw and another man, Mr Calton? were the last two men out of the Rossmore mine when they closed it. They actually closed the mine. My mom had one brother, Clyde, Jr (Stoney) Brooks. Susan Bailey-Koubti
My maternal grandparents Lee and Hester Rice lived in the same area and may have been in the same row of houses. My grandfather was a miner at the Rossmore Mine but died before I was born. My grandmother lived in the 4 room house there until she died in the 1970’s. The house was the 3rd or 4th from the end when you turned to the left off of the bridge into Rossmore. I remember the name Mamie Brooks. My mom’s name is Beatrice and she worked at Fred Rushden’s store.
Hester Rice is my Grand Mothers sister. Effie Adkins Maynard. Grand-Dads name , John Abe Maynard. All lived at Rossmore. My Grandparents live on the hill across from Rossmore Camp.
Johnnie and Ronnie Maynard were/are my cousins and two of my best friends, Johnny`s wife, Roberta graduated in 1968 with my class.
craig Dameron
I played baseball with Stony Brooks Jr at Pine Creek, and when I came back from the service, My wife and I bought a house in Monaville, and Mrs Brooks lived across the tracks from us, and later my mom moved in Mrs Brooks house when she went to live with her daughter I think.
My mother met my father In the one room stone school house .When she was 16 they were married Frank E Mcdonald and Phyllis J ,Morris .My brother Paul now lives on the site of the camp that is now a trailer park .We came to Ohio when I was 6 and are still here .
My Grandfather Elmer lee Morris worked the mine ,They lived in the last house by the tracks I think it was yellow ,I think he worked there from the 20s through the 60s ,He also played ball for the mine team ,In the 70s or 80s the Logan banner did a story about the great mine team from the past and my Grand father was in it ,One day he showed me how they were paid and lived ,My response was that it was SLAVERY just by a different name ,My first word I ever said was PAPA in that house
I knew Elmer Morris and was friends with his son, Jimmy, I remember Elmer and a few other miners would shoot bats out over the tracks so the buck shots would go into the mountain instead of over in the camp
My great granduncle was named Frank Stec (Franciszek Stecz). He was born in Poland, came to NJ for a time and then went to this mine to find work. There is a story that he shot someone and had to serve time in a prison in WV. If anyone knows anything more, please let me know 🙂
Allison,you might want to use
familysearch.org to search for
Frank Stec.New Jersey shows
a Frank Jr.,mother Sophie born
in Poland in the 1940 census,shows
her as a widow.
Which document is that from? The town is close to where my great grandfather was from (Turbia) so it could be. Their parents were supposedly named Mary and the father was either Ignatius or Antoni. My gg’s marriage and death certificates both say something different.
Frank came to NJ, went to WV for work, where he supposedly shot a man and did some time. He came back to NJ briefly and then left and no one ever saw him again.
Allison,could you post your
e-mail address.
At the familysearch.org
site, put in
Franciszek Stec, then Poland.
A list of names will appear.
You can also search at the
Ellis Island site, might find
when Frank arrived in USA.
In which state did he first live?
Maybe he went back to
Poland to live.
Robert McCormack
My father, Clovis (Shine) McCormack as well as my Uncle John Enyart worked at that mine. We used to visit my Uncle and Aunt who lived in the Rossmore camp. I recall my Dad pointing out the mine entrance many times as we passed by.
I lived till the age of 13 in Rossmore, WV. We left in Jan. of 1959. My first and second grade teacher was Betty Petroff. I remember she had a younger brother named Bates who taught my sister (Donna Coleman) to dance. I used to carry (good) drinking water from the spring on the Logan end of the bridge for the elder Mr. Petroff for a dime. Good, good memories! Does any of this ring any bells for you?
I knew Bates Petroff, he was a very cute guy, was a year ahead of me in hi school. Rode our school bus some times , and yes he was a good dancer. Is Bates still around ?
I am just digging up some family history and found myself on this site. Betty Petroff was my grandmother. Her brother, Bates, passed away in the early 2000s. If anyone has more memories of the Petroff family, I would love to hear!
I lived in Rossmore until I was 13. I knew the Petroff family. I am sorry to read about Bates. My cousin, Charles Carroll, was the same age as Bates and I was a year younger. We spent many happy days playing in the park. I knew Jack and Betty also, but they were older. I also knew their parents.
Hi Buddy!
I most certainly do remember you and your family. Your dad was our scout master and your kind British mother was our cub scout den mother. I have many fond memories of my childhood growing up in Rossmore and your message has brought to mind some memories that I haven’t thought of in a while.
Hi Buddy, im Craig, remember you gave me my first baseball cards, I had never heard of them, and you had every team, you told me to pick a team and you would give them to me, I picked the Milwaukee Braves , I liked the Indian chief on the uniform , then you told me I could buy them down at Fred’s store for a penny, lol today I have over 25,000 of them.
Hello Jason, im Craig Dameron, my dad and mom [ Willard and Dot ] were good friends with your grandparents, and Debbie Petroff was around my age, I remember Jack and his wife coming to our house.
My grandfather, William Ellis Gollihue, lost his entire right arm in a mining accident in the Rossmore mine. The poster Barbara Howard is my second cousin.
my grandfather charles ellixson worked at this mines, and lived on mona hill. i remember the names of petroff, whitt, vance, napiers, fields, i was born on mona hill, my parents was Roy and Myrtle Ellixson Gollihue.
Coal Mine at Rossmore, West Virginia
I was born at Micco and we moved to Rossmore. We lived in what was called Rossmore Coal Camp. My Grand-Dad John Abe Maynard and Grand- Ma., Effie Adkins Maynard lived across the river on the hill. I still have a lot of cousins living there. I adopted my Daughter Patricia Jean , a new born baby. from Barbara Jeffery. There was a genetic sickness called Huntington’s disease. My Daughter had it. She learned when she was 18, but she finished School and college. She said they would find a cure before it got her not knowing she had the Juvenile H D. She wanted to be prepared to work, but she never did get to. She went to live in Heaven July 30th. 1916. Barbara disappeared at the age of 23 and was never seen again. She had the Juvenile form of HD as well. There is no doubt someone killed her.
Every time I review older posts I find information that I’d previously overlooked, and this time it was what Susan Bailey-Koubti wrote on Aug. 10, 2017. She mentioned Jack Shannon and his wife, and the wife is likely to have been the aunt of my long-ago friend Hubert Jethro Barnhardt Jr. Her first name was Marvel and I remember that Jack and Marvel kept company — as we used to say — but I left Logan and never knew if the two of them tied the knot.
A picture in this posting shows Jack with the Rossmore tipple in the background. As I remember it I met Jack in person only once and at the time he was connected with the new tipple at Stirrat, maybe as the tipple boss or as the superintendent.
According to Swain’s 1916 book (History of Logan City), Rossmore Mine was opened in 1915, originally owned by the Logan Mining Company which also owned the Mona Mine at Monaville (and several other Logan County mines). Rossmore Mine used a track haulage system underground.
Recently, on the Logan County, WV History and Nostalgia Public Facebook site linked to this website, Brandon Ray Kirk posted a photo of the sealed Rossmore Mine. There were numerous comments regarding the mine and cemeteries in the vicinity. There were several pictures included in the comments. A couple of photos which were furnished by Frank Messer are pictures of the Rossmore Mine tipple.
Messer’s pictures of the Rossmore Mine tipple appear to be the same photo shown on the http://www.coalcampusa.com/sowv/logan/rossmore-wv-coal-mine/rossmore-wv-coal-mine.htm website. That photo has a note stating, in part: “…Vintage view of the tipple showing the conveyor coming right out of the mine portal and going up to the top of the tipple…..circa 1922”. That picture was taken in the early years of the mine, evidenced by the style of the railroad cars.
A photo in the Rossmore Mine photo gallery on this Logan, WV History and Nostalgia website is of the tipple and surrounding area in the 1930’s. It is worth noting that photo has a note on it stating the mine was a West Virginia Coal and Coke operation at that time.
A similar photo of the tipple dated 1945 is shown in the Rossmore Mine photo gallery. That photo was taken in the latter years of the mine as is evidenced by the style of the railroad cars.
The Rossmore Mine is a “slope mine” in the Cedar Grove coal seam which is about 30 feet under the creek bed at the location of the concreted mine opening shown in the Rossmore Mine photo.
A map of the mine indicates there were three parallel 120-foot or so long slope openings to the mine spaced about 50 feet apart. From WV Flood Tool mapping, it appears that the slope openings were at about 720-foot elevation. The coal seam is at about 680-foot elevation at the bottom of the slopes.
I don’t know which of the slope entries is the concreted mine opening shown in the photo. The mine map indicates the slope farthest up the creek was connected to the tipple. The wooden structure connecting the slope entry to the top of the tipple appears to have been about 100-foot or so long.
Although the abovementioned http://www.coalcampusa photo’s title mentions “showing the conveyor coming right out of the mine portal and going up to the top of the tipple”, it would be wrong to assume that a “conveyor” was used to bring the coal out of the mine to the tipple. Although “conveyor belts” and mechanical pan-line chain conveyors ultimately came to be used widely in transporting coal, it is more probable that, since Rossmore Mine used track haulage, it appears that the loaded mine cars were hoisted one-by-one up the slope and dumped at the top of the tipple. This was a common practice in 1915. (Photo #72 in this website’s Mount
Gay, WV photo gallery shows a circa 1930’s example of this method of hoisting cars.)
It is possible that Rossmore could have replaced a car-hoisting method with a conveyor belt system at some later time. However, generally speaking, a beltline cannot be steeper than about 16 degrees because coal will roll back down it if it is steeper than 16 degrees. (Although, “special” conveyor belt designs can be steeper than 16 degrees.) It appears the Rossmore slope was steeper than 16 degrees.
From these slope openings, the original Rossmore Mine mined northward (down Island Creek) toward the Mona Mine. At some point in time, a “new mine” (as labeled on the mine map) was mined from these same slopes southward (up Island Creek) to where it came up against the workings of the Switzer No.2 Mine of the Island Creek Colliery Co. at Switzer.
I have seen no indications as to which of the slopes was used for the mine ventilation fan, nor have I seen where the men, equipment and supplies entered the mine.
The mine map shows an aerial tram facility connected to the tipple. It appears that the aerial tram was about 750 feet long and ended up on the point on the lower side of Lynn Branch where, presumably, it dumped rock, “slate” and mine refuse from the mine. The support towers for the tram are shown on the mine map. Photo #2 in the Rossmore Mine photo gallery on the Logan, WV History and Nostalgia website shows some of the support towers going up the hill.
A cemetery (Vance?) is shown on the mine map and it is about 50-feet or so away from the last aerial tram support tower up on the point. The map shows there was a pump borehole about 450 feet up on the left side of Lynn Branch.
It may be of interest to know that in the early 1980’s when I was chief engineer at Youngstown Mines at Dehue, we leased (subleased) from Wheeling-Pittsburg, a large tract of No. 2 Gas seam coal property that lay between Dehue’s workings at McConnell and Rossmore. (The No. 2 Gas seam is about 150 feet below the Rossmore Mine Cedar Grove seam.) One of the conceptual plans to develop that property was to put a slope from the trailer park area at Rossmore going under the highway and creek and under the Rossmore Mine. Raw coal would have been brought up the slope by conveyor belt and put into railroad cars where it would be shipped to Wheeling-Pittsburg’s preparation plant at Stirrat for processing. Another conceptual plan was to put a slope down at Monahill coal camp area, put the raw coal onto railroad cars and ship it to Youngstown Mines’ preparation plant at Dehue. Ultimately, it was decided to upgrade Dehue’s existing underground beltlines, track system and ventilation facilities to develop the new property. When Massey bought the Youngstown Mines operations in the early 1980’s, they decided to shut down Dehue and abandoned existing plans for the property. At some time afterwards, they did apply for a permit to install an opening for that property in Lynn Branch at Rossmore. I don’t know what their plans were. From what I have seen in mine permitting advertisements, it appears they plan on developing the property from an opening in the Madison Branch area near Rita. Aracoma Coal Company, LLC currently has an underground permit #U 500119 listed as Lynn Branch No. Gas Mine.
Thank you for your insight ! Im a coal miner from yuma , and the history of the area fascinates me !
I spent the first 13yrs. of my life in Rossmore WV. We moved to Morton Wash. in 1959. We now live in Yuma, AZ most of the time but still have our home in Wash. I have many fond memories of Rossmore and the surrounding communities. Small world, huh?
James I spent my first 19 years in Rossmore, and loved every moment, then did a stint in the military, came back and bought a house in Monaville, lived there for 40 plus years, also loved it, now in Bradenton FL, yep love it also, but nothing compares to growing up in Rossmore, the entire camp was our playground
Douglas Dempsey mentioned the fact that the Rossmore mine was driven through the mountain to the river at, or across from, McConnell. He’s right in saying that few people remember it, but I’m one of them, since I lived in the upper end of Stollings. The mine used the McConnell opening for getting rid of slate and there also was a tramroad on that side of the river that was used for bringing in mine timbers. For this haulage they used mules. I suppose they stabled the mules outside. When they would come out of the driftmouth with mine motors the electric arcs from the “nips” they used could be seen for miles — at night, that is.
Robert,
Thanks for the great information about the opening across the river at McConnell at the west side of Thompson Branch. I had no idea that it was anything more than a drainway opening.
I got to looking at some old maps and found that, actually, there were two openings there about 350 feet apart. They were at the northern head end of two entries called 6th Rt. The westernmost opening was the right-hand entry and was within a crosscut distance (about 80 feet). The seam elevation there is 652.5 feet. The other opening was off of a short set of right-handed (eastward) rooms four breaks deep (about 350 feet) and the fourth break was driven left-handed (northward) by itself for about 250 feet to outcrop. A coal seam section at this opening reads top-to bottom:
Coal—2’ 6”
Slate—2’ 4”
Coal—0’ 6”
Slate—0’3”
Coal 2’ 11”
There was another opening at the west side of Sugar Branch about 2,000 feet upriver from Thompson Branch. The coal seam is at about 661.8 feet elevation there. This opening was at the western head end of a set of 2 entries called No. 1 Mains. The opening was driven westward as a single entry about 175 feet to outcrop.
A Monitor Coal and Coke mine had a cutout at the upper end of the Logan General Hospital area about directly across from the Holy Trinity Church on the boulevard. The seam there is probably closer to 710 foot elevation. As I recall, the outcrop of that seam could be seen at the back of the hospital parking lot which shows to be at about 708 foot elevation. As I recall, at the bottom of the dip in the boulevard coming from Logan to Cherry Tree there is an opening to this same mine that was barely visible at one time. I think the road construction cut into the mine. The road is at about 680 foot elevation in the bottom of the dip.
I am especially pleased to see your reference to the “nips”, a terminology that a lot of modern miners probably don’t even know, especially so with the widespread use of battery powered equipment.
Keep posting! Thanks!
My grandpa Chilton Hassel “Ace” Adkins worked in the Rossmore Mine. His Army enlistment record is dated June 30,1942 at the age of 19, so I am assuming he worked in the mine before he enlisted. The only document I have seen regarding his time in the mine is a document where he was written up for smoking in the mine! I would love to learn more about his time working on the mine.
Kim,there is a record at familysearch.org that
shows Chilton enlisting in the US Army on
March 12, 1945 in Huntington, WV.
Shows coal mining as his work.
Do you know when he died as the D.R.
might show more info.
Thank you for looking into this Bob! His date of death was 12/20/1989. AncestryDNA.com does show 3/12/45 as his enlistment date. He reported as living in Monaville, Logan, WV at the time.
At the time of his death he was living in Columbus, Oh and was a retired mechanic.
My Dad Paul Connolly and My Uncle Arthur Maynard worked in that coal mines, we lived in Rossmore camp. back in the 40’s. you can see pictures of the miners on the wall of the Collins Funeral home.
Johnnie, I am so glad you made a post here. Look at the connect with relatives page on this site; in November I reached out to try to find you. I am your cousin! I saw the pictures you posted earlier this year on the,Logan Genealogical Facebook page. I am not a Facebook member so could not reach you that way. My grandmother Hester Adkins Rice and your grandmother Effie Adkins Maynard were sisters. My mother is Beatrice and she and your mom Ottie were cousins…making you and I cousins. The picture you posted of our great-grandmother just made my heart jump. Her name is Mary Noe, not Mary Moore as you listed. Would love to talk more with you. Please email me at rebeccafst@aol.com.
Hi Becky, I just seen this. I was told our Great GrandMothers last name was Moore. Thanks for letting me know the real last name.Good to know you, Cousin
Ottie came to our house and we to hers when I was a kid
Ottie is My Mother. she now lives in Heaven. August 6th. 1993. wasn’t you related to Barbara Jeffrey? I believe she was related to Dameron’s.
Not many people are aware of it but the Rossmore Mine extended far enough that some openings to it are across the river at McConnell a short distance up from the river’s edge.
It is only slightly more than a mile underground through the mine to McConnell. Those openings may be limited in numbers and probably were made to be used as drainway entries to release water from the mine.
In any case, several years ago when Logan was going through the large floodings, the Corp of Engineers had a drawing board conceptual plan of putting some of the flood waters of Main Island Creek into the Rossmore Mine so it could go through the Rossmore Mine and come out at McDonnell. The Rossmore Mine is at about 720ft elevation and the McConnell opening are slightly lower at or around 680ft elevation. The reasoning of this plan was that it would relieve the flooding in the Mt. Gay/Cherry Tree area.
I’ve returned! Last time I posted here was about a year and a half ago. I was getting desperate to find my great grandfather’s brother, Franciszek Stec, who worked in the mines. Browsing through church records today, I discovered his death record, a major find. He died in West Virginia and was brought back to NJ for burial.
My next question is this: Is there a way I could find out if he was killed in a mine accident? Were records kept of that? He was 50 at the time of his death.
Allison, I gave you the info on April 2,2016.
Asked you to post your e-mail address.
Suggested you do research at the
familysearch.org site.
If you have his D.C. it should show
the info.
I don’t have his death certificate. He was born in Turbia, Poland, which isn’t indexed online anywhere yet. He only shows up on FamilySearch when he lived in NJ. I have pretty much everything I can find about him that’s out there. He also didn’t show up in the Logan County death records for that year for some reason.
Allison,you might try this website,
http://www.wvgen.web.org/wvcoal/find.htm.
In what cemetery in N.J. is he buried?
Is there a Memorial page on the
findagrave.org site?
No Find A Grave yet but I’ll make one as soon as I confirm his burial with the cemetery. He is most likely unmarked because I know all the Stec’s there. Unfortunately the only record I have found is the church one. His wife went back to Poland I believe and his daughter stayed here and raised a family. I found them on FB but none ever responded to my messages.
Allison, ok, this website shows
lots of WV coal mining accidents.
Hope that you find something.
I found his death certificate. Finally! After Rossmore, he made his way up to Moundsville where he died of liver cancer after an operation.
Allison, good for you.
Which site did you find the
info on? So he wasn’t a
coal miner?
He was. His daughters passport said he was a miner at the mines in Rossmore but that was from 1915. Apparently by 1929 he had moved north. His DC said he had an operation before his death. True confirmation was that his burial would be in NJ.
It gets better. He was arrested in 1927 in Logan County for “receiving stolen goods” and was incarcerated at the West Virginia Penitentiary, which is where he died. Can’t find much more info than that as the archives director said records before 1935 are spotty. Wish I had a photo of him.
There are graves on top of hill of Rossmore mine. My great grandparents Floyd and Nancy Vance. Died in 1940’s. And two first cousins Ralph Edward Lewis and David Gene Lewis There are several other graves. You can see them in the winter when the leaves are all off. Floyd and Nancy have one granddaughter living and she isn’t able to get up there. Ralph and
David have 2 sisters and 2 brothers still living.
Wanda, you might be able to get
help with the grave cleaning if you
contact the New Life Freewill
Baptist Church in Rossmore.
Phone # 304-946-2521. They have
some nice looking photos on Facebook
of young people who could easily do the work.
Wanda,this cemetery is known as
Vance at Rossmore.
Your GG Floyd was born in Nov. 1867 &
he died in Jan.1928. Your GG Nancy was
born in Feb.1879 & she died in Aug. 1928.
Your GG Grandfather Levi Vance was born
in 1824 & he died in 1887. He is buried in
the Stirrat Community Church Cemetery.
My maternal grandparents, mom and dad, uncle lived in Rossmore, WV. My grandmother and grandfather were Clyde and Mamie Brooks. My mom and dad are James (deceased) and Nadine Brooks-Bailey who is almost 87 now. They lived in the first row by the tracks where Rossmore Park was. I was born in 1956 and came home to Rossmore! My grandparents were good friends with Jack Shannon and his wife. I have a lot of pictures of Rossmore that were my mamaw’s. My papaw and another man, Mr Calton? were the last two men out of the Rossmore mine when they closed it. They actually closed the mine. My mom had one brother, Clyde, Jr (Stoney) Brooks. Susan Bailey-Koubti
My maternal grandparents Lee and Hester Rice lived in the same area and may have been in the same row of houses. My grandfather was a miner at the Rossmore Mine but died before I was born. My grandmother lived in the 4 room house there until she died in the 1970’s. The house was the 3rd or 4th from the end when you turned to the left off of the bridge into Rossmore. I remember the name Mamie Brooks. My mom’s name is Beatrice and she worked at Fred Rushden’s store.
Becky, Lee & Hester Rice were my grandparents also, my mom and dads name are Willard & Dorothy Dameron
Hester Rice is my Grand Mothers sister. Effie Adkins Maynard. Grand-Dads name , John Abe Maynard. All lived at Rossmore. My Grandparents live on the hill across from Rossmore Camp.
Johnnie and Ronnie Maynard were/are my cousins and two of my best friends, Johnny`s wife, Roberta graduated in 1968 with my class.
I played baseball with Stony Brooks Jr at Pine Creek, and when I came back from the service, My wife and I bought a house in Monaville, and Mrs Brooks lived across the tracks from us, and later my mom moved in Mrs Brooks house when she went to live with her daughter I think.
My mother met my father In the one room stone school house .When she was 16 they were married Frank E Mcdonald and Phyllis J ,Morris .My brother Paul now lives on the site of the camp that is now a trailer park .We came to Ohio when I was 6 and are still here .
My Grandfather Elmer lee Morris worked the mine ,They lived in the last house by the tracks I think it was yellow ,I think he worked there from the 20s through the 60s ,He also played ball for the mine team ,In the 70s or 80s the Logan banner did a story about the great mine team from the past and my Grand father was in it ,One day he showed me how they were paid and lived ,My response was that it was SLAVERY just by a different name ,My first word I ever said was PAPA in that house
I knew Elmer Morris and was friends with his son, Jimmy, I remember Elmer and a few other miners would shoot bats out over the tracks so the buck shots would go into the mountain instead of over in the camp
My great granduncle was named Frank Stec (Franciszek Stecz). He was born in Poland, came to NJ for a time and then went to this mine to find work. There is a story that he shot someone and had to serve time in a prison in WV. If anyone knows anything more, please let me know 🙂
Allison,you might want to use
familysearch.org to search for
Frank Stec.New Jersey shows
a Frank Jr.,mother Sophie born
in Poland in the 1940 census,shows
her as a widow.
I checked it out. That’s not him. My Frank was born around 1882.
Ok, there is a Franciszek Stecz(Stec)
born Oct.3,1882 in Popkouice Poland
at familysearch.org. Do you know his
parents’ names?
Which document is that from? The town is close to where my great grandfather was from (Turbia) so it could be. Their parents were supposedly named Mary and the father was either Ignatius or Antoni. My gg’s marriage and death certificates both say something different.
Frank came to NJ, went to WV for work, where he supposedly shot a man and did some time. He came back to NJ briefly and then left and no one ever saw him again.
Allison,could you post your
e-mail address.
At the familysearch.org
site, put in
Franciszek Stec, then Poland.
A list of names will appear.
You can also search at the
Ellis Island site, might find
when Frank arrived in USA.
In which state did he first live?
Maybe he went back to
Poland to live.
My father, Clovis (Shine) McCormack as well as my Uncle John Enyart worked at that mine. We used to visit my Uncle and Aunt who lived in the Rossmore camp. I recall my Dad pointing out the mine entrance many times as we passed by.
My name is Jason Petroff, my grandfather Jack Petroff was raised in Rossmore, and Worked as an electrician underground for many years.
My grandfather was John Petroff and also worked at the Rossmore Mine. He was also friends with your grandfather.
I lived till the age of 13 in Rossmore, WV. We left in Jan. of 1959. My first and second grade teacher was Betty Petroff. I remember she had a younger brother named Bates who taught my sister (Donna Coleman) to dance. I used to carry (good) drinking water from the spring on the Logan end of the bridge for the elder Mr. Petroff for a dime. Good, good memories! Does any of this ring any bells for you?
I knew Bates Petroff, he was a very cute guy, was a year ahead of me in hi school. Rode our school bus some times , and yes he was a good dancer. Is Bates still around ?
I am just digging up some family history and found myself on this site. Betty Petroff was my grandmother. Her brother, Bates, passed away in the early 2000s. If anyone has more memories of the Petroff family, I would love to hear!
I lived in Rossmore until I was 13. I knew the Petroff family. I am sorry to read about Bates. My cousin, Charles Carroll, was the same age as Bates and I was a year younger. We spent many happy days playing in the park. I knew Jack and Betty also, but they were older. I also knew their parents.
James, not sure if you remember me or not, we went to Rossmore Grade School together, been a long time. My name is Andrew (BUDDY) Clark.
Hi Buddy!
I most certainly do remember you and your family. Your dad was our scout master and your kind British mother was our cub scout den mother. I have many fond memories of my childhood growing up in Rossmore and your message has brought to mind some memories that I haven’t thought of in a while.
Thanks:
Jim (It was James then)
Hi Buddy, im Craig, remember you gave me my first baseball cards, I had never heard of them, and you had every team, you told me to pick a team and you would give them to me, I picked the Milwaukee Braves , I liked the Indian chief on the uniform , then you told me I could buy them down at Fred’s store for a penny, lol today I have over 25,000 of them.
Hello Jason, im Craig Dameron, my dad and mom [ Willard and Dot ] were good friends with your grandparents, and Debbie Petroff was around my age, I remember Jack and his wife coming to our house.
My grandfather, William Ellis Gollihue, lost his entire right arm in a mining accident in the Rossmore mine. The poster Barbara Howard is my second cousin.
my dad Richie Farrell and my Uncle tom(rip) worked in these coal mines for 25 yrs. still tells stories about it today.
my grandfather charles ellixson worked at this mines, and lived on mona hill. i remember the names of petroff, whitt, vance, napiers, fields, i was born on mona hill, my parents was Roy and Myrtle Ellixson Gollihue.
My grandfather, John Petroff (1876-1943) lived at Monahill and worked at this coal mine.