Boone C: Bethlehem Coal Mines

The town of Van: (Satellite)

The town of Bandytown: (Satellite)

If you can figure out where the prep plant and mine was, please leave the info in the comments.

Rick Jarrett posted 27 photos with the comment: "Some old pictures of the old Beth Energy/Eagles Nest complex at Bandytown, near Van in Boone County.  The mines are long ago sealed, and the plant is slowly being demolished.   Fittingly, the last pictures are of the last day the mine was open."

James Torgeson shared

1
Entrance to the site

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Parking area

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Shops

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Elevator For No. 1

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Walkway from the bath House to the elevator

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Under the elevator

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Bath House

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Waiting room

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Slope into No. 1

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Slope into No. 1

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Belt Coming out of No. 1 Slope

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No. 1 fan

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Mantrip station

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[Some comments indicate this is #131 portal. These mines were longwall mines.]
Billy Mitchell: Shut the Plant down September 18, 2001.

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No. 131 portal

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No. 131 portal

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Underground, No. 131

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Underground, No. 131

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Underground, No. 131

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Loading point. No. 131

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Underground, No. 131

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Bolter, No. 131

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Shuttle Car, No. 131

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The final fireboss board at No. 1 slope

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After the final ride

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Parked for good

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The slope is locked...

Remembering Bethlehem Mines posted

Mike Ashley commented on the post of Van Prep Plant

Worked for Bethlehem Mines Corporation 1976 - 1983, helped support this coal preparation plant and mining operations on Route 26 Chap Road (near Bandytown) Van, West Virginia. Boone County, Wharton Quad, No. 2 Coal Seam. The Prep Plant served Mine 131 and additionally Mine 132 later. Mine 131 and 132 were primarily a continuous miner and longwall operation.

This mining operation was owned and managed by Bethlehem Steel Corporation through its reconfigured BethEnergy Mills Inc. subsidiary and known as Eagle Nest Incorporated (10/19/1989-5/5/2004). The underground Eagle Nest coal facility underwent a $13 million modernization program prior to being sold. Eagle Nest Inc. had annual metallurgical coal production capacity of 1.6 million tons. Subsidiaries of A.T. Massey Coal Company, purchased ca. 1991 the Eagle Nest Incorporated deep mine and preparation plant also known as the Van Complex. Massey Coal ran it under the name Eagle Energy, Inc. The mine was probably named for the Eagle coal seam, which is of a metalurgical nature in this vicinity.

In 1976, steel companies owned two of the top four coal producers in Appalachia. By 1986, steel-industry-affiliated companies had dropped out of the top four producers. By 1991, USX (formerly U.S. Steel) and Bethlehem Steel ranked 18th and 19th in central Appalachian coal production (EIA, 1993). Mine Map available at:

http://downloads.wvgs.wvnet.edu/minemaps/340/340948_01.tif [The link did not work for me.]

Mine No. 1, Eagle Energy, Inc., is located six miles southeast of Van on Route 26, Boone County, West Virginia. Coal is mined in the Eagle coal seam. Average mining height is 72 inches.

The mine opened in June 1989. Employment is provided for 102 employees on two production shifts and one maintenance shift, with the mine producing coal six days a week. The mine produces an average of 9,000 tons of raw material daily from two producing MMUs, one on advance and one on retreat mining.

The mine was developed from the surface, with a dual compartment track and belt slope entry with the belt conveyor in the top portion and the track in the bottom, for a length of 900 feet. This mine has two shafts. One shaft is a dual compartment both intake and return air. Ventilation is exhausted by a nine-foot Jeffrey fan averaging 495,441 cubic feet of air per minute. The second shaft is an elevator shaft for employees to enter and exit.

Coal is transported from the longwall section to a belt conveyor. On the advancing MMU, coal is transported from the face via Joy 10SC shuttle cars to the section dumping point, then loaded onto a belt conveyor to the surface. 

So where was the Erie mine? I'm saving this here for now.

James Torgeson shared