Finding the Big Stick Mine

I continue to search online for what I can find about the death of my grandfather, Ora Riddle in a mining accident. Online I found the West Virginia Mine Health Safety & Training website and called the Regional office closest to Big Stick, the mine that Ora died at.

A very nice woman gave me the name of a Mr. Dave Kessler at the Charleston, WVa, Miners Safety Office.  Dave answered the phone and I told him I was doing a genealogical search about the death of my grandfather. Dave said that mining records dating back that far, 1936, would be kept in the Historical Archives in Charleston.

He gave me the name of Debra Basham, who Dave said did a very good job of keeping up with those old records. Dave said, "more than likely, that there might be a report of the accident but it probably wouldn't be more that a page or two". I said that was alright, it would be more than I currently had.  I asked Dave if he thought it might be possible to visit the old mine and he said "depends on who owns the land now".

I called the Historical Archives and asked for Debra and got her voice mail. I left a message saying what I was attempting to find out, hopefully she will get back to me and I can arrange some time to visit the archives and get copies of what is available.

Continuing to hunt and peck on the search engines on my computer I found a listing of all the mines in West Virginia and where they were located.  It is quite a long list and West Virginia seems to practically rest on veins of coal. It says that 4% of the worlds total coal reserves are there and is found in 53 of 55 counties. Taxes paid by the coal industry and utility companies account for over 60% of business taxes paid to the state. Coal truly is King.

There are literally hundreds of mines listed. Raleigh County, is where the Big Stick mine was located.  The list is quite detailed saying the Big Stick is listed as being in the Crab Orchard Quadrangle and was call the "Big Stick & Affinity Mines", an underground mine owned by the Lilllybrook Coal Company resting on the Pocahontas No 4 coal seam.