| Date |
Event |
| 1857 |
George LaFayette Carter born in Hillsville, Carroll
County, Virginia. |
1869 |
Snakeroot Post Office established September 20, 1869. This would be on the present-day site of
Coalwood. (Source: National
Archives, Post office records.) |
| 1902 |
Earliest recorded use of the name Coalwood. |
| 1903 |
Coalwood Post Office established March 12, 1903.
(Source: National Archives, Post office
records.) |
| 1905 |
Norfolk & Western Railroad completes laying
track from Clear Fork Junction to Coalwood. The Clear Fork Branch of
N&W was put in operation on April 10, 1905.
[Source: N&W Annual Report for Fiscal Year
ending June 30, 1905 (page 13).] |
| 1905 |
Carter bought 20,000 acres in McDowell County, West
Virginia, and began constructing a town at Coalwood. |
| 1905 |
Carter builds a wooden tipple at Coalwood. |
| 1905 |
First coal is mined at Coalwood. The coal is
extracted through drift and slope mines.
(See explanation
of types of coal mines on this page.) |
| 1913 |
Carter Coal Company was incorporated on January 18,1913.
(Source: recorded in McDowell County
Deed Book 62 on page 554.) |
| 1914 |
First shaft mine goes into operation in Coalwood. |
| 1922 |
Carter sold or leased properties to Consolidation Coal
Company which was independent at the time. (Pittsburgh Consolidation did
not become a company until 1945.) Carter had already built the brick
store and office building. Consolidation built the new clubhouse.
Source: Alex P. Schust. |
| 1924 |
Mine shaft at Caretta installed. |
| 1933 |
Consolidation Coal defaulted on its notes to Carter, and
the property reverted back to Carter. Carter Coal Company
resumes operations at Coalwood. Carter Coal Company regained
possession of its coal properties on March 16, 1933.
Source: Welch Daily News, March 15, 1933.
When Carter Coal regained its property in 1933, James
Carter was the President of the company and George L. Carter was the Vice
President. Source: Alex P. Schust. |
| 1933 |
Carter Coal Company mines are unionized. |
| 1936 |
George Carter dies. |
| 1936 |
George Carter's son, James W. Carter, takes over as
General Superintendent of Carter Coal Company. |
| 1943 |
Homer Hickam, Jr. born on February 19. |
Approx.
1945 |
The miners refused to work because Carter wouldn't sign
the standard union contract. The U.S. Navy is
sent in for a period of six months to get the miners back to work. |
| 1947 |
November 25, 1947. It was announced that a group of
industrialists had bought Carter Coal Company. Industrialists
were Youngstown Sheet & Tube Company, Interlake Iron Corporation, and
Steel Company of Canada, LTD. Source:
Source: Welch Daily News November 26, 1947. |
| 1947 |
Olga Coal Company was incorporated on December 22,
1947. Source: Corporation Book 2,
Page 471, McDowell County Court House. |
Approx.
1956 |
The mines at Coalwood and Caretta are joined underground. |
| 1956 |
Olga Coal Company sold the houses to Clearfork Realty in
1956. Clearfork than sold them to residents.
Source: Alex P. Schust. |
| 1957 |
The Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik into Earth
orbit on October 4. |
| 1959 |
Olga tears down Olga
#1 tipple in Coalwood. Coal is now moved underground from the Coalwood mine to
the Olga Caretta mine where it is brought to the surface. |
| 1959 |
Norfolk & Western begins pulling up the railroad tracks
from Coalwood to Clear Fork Junction. |
| 1980 |
LTV Corporation buys Olga. |
| 1986 |
LTV closes the mine at Coalwood. |
| 1986 |
LTV sells the company houses in Coalwood to employees and
others. |
| 1991 |
LTV arranges for the Coalwood company records to be
transferred to the Eastern Regional Coal Archives in Bluefield, West
Virginia. |
| 1995 |
The February/March 1995 issue of
Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine
contained the original 2,000 word article
"Big Creek Missile Agency"
by Homer H. Hickam, Jr. |
| 1998 |
Rocket Boys by Homer Hickam, Jr. published in
hardback by Delatorre Press. |
| 1999 |
Universal Pictures releases the movie October Sky
in the United States. |
| 1999 |
Rocket Boys is released as a mass-marker paperback
by Dell using the new title October Sky. |
