Elk Horn Coal Corporation - Stock Certificate

Stock printed by Republic Bank Note Co., Pittsburgh, Pa. Please specify color. THE HISTORY OF ELK HORN COAL The best coal in the United States - that's what Richard Broas thought of the coal he stumbled on in Elkhorn Creek in Pike County when he was there as a captain in the Union Army. A prospector by training, Broas knew these washed up coal samples had to originate in a king-coal vein. In 1881 he returned to Kentucky, prospecting for the vein around Louisa, but did not find what he was looking for. Moving up the Big Sandy River to Johnson and Pike Counties, Broas then entered Letcher County where he finally found the 'true Elkhorn' vein of coal on Joe's Branch. The year was 1883 and the site was near to where the largest and one of the finest company towns in eastern Kentucky would eventually be built - Jenkins. Thirty-two years later a company took its name from these grand seams of coal. ELK HORN COAL CORPORATION incorporated November 18, 1915. Mr. J.F. Caulfield, Assistant Secretary of the 3 companies uniting to form Elk Horn Coal, sent inquiries by telegram to Virginia and West Virginia asking if the name was already in use. On November 16, 1915, he received a telegram saying: 'You may use the name Elk Horn Coal Corporation for new corporation in West Virginia. Stuart F. Reed. Secretary of State.' Two days later, Elk Horn Coal Corporation was officially chartered in the state of West Virginia. The three companies merging to form Elk Horn Coal were Elk Horn Fuel Company, Elk Horn Mining Corporation, and Mineral Fuel Company, which was already a whollyowned subsidiary of Elk Horn Mining. Elk Horn Fuel developed in order to acquire and consolidate properties of other mining companies (or land holding companies) in eastern Kentucky and West Virginia. It bought properties from Northern Coal & Coke Company, Beaver Creek Consolidated Coal Co., Copland Coal Co., Harold Coal Co., Otter Coal, Long Fork Coal, Kellioka Coal & Coke, and E.D. Jobe for a total of 185,000 acres in Kentucky. It bought another 15,000 acres in West Virginia from Rich Mountain Coal Company. ' For years these early coal companies conducted much of their business in New York City, which placed them close to banks, bankers, and influential twentieth century industrialists. Offices were maintained on Wall Street, but meetings were often held at the old Waldorf Astoria Hotel, where the Empire State Building stands today. At a meeting held there on March 27, 1913, the Board of Directors of Elk Horn Fuel unanimously accepted a proposition from Mr. J.W.M. Stewart, an attorney from Ashland, Ky. representing John C.C. Mayo and others, for the purchase of 107,000 acres from Beaver Creek Consolidated Coal, Rich Mountain, Copland Coal, Mineral Fuel, Harold/Blackstone Coal, Long Fork, Otter Creek, and Hardaway Coal. He furthermore retained the right to subsequently transfer all assets of Northern Coal & Coke to Elk Horn Fuel. The Board resolved to carry these transactions into effect. These properties were leased to other companies that wanted to begin mining, and Elk Horn Fuel formed a company for itself: Elk Horn Mining. In March of 1914 Elk Horn Mining had 20,000 acres in Floyd and Knott Counties under lease from Elk Horn Fuel, and 4,500 acres in Letcher County from Mineral Fuel Company. Mineral Fuel Company purchased all its acreage from Mineral Development Company on April 30, 1913, and began mine development before it subsequently leased this property to Elk Horn Mining in October, 1914. Early on, the lease states: 'The Lessor and the Lessee, on the faith of this lease being executed, having heretofore erected upon said leased premises, miners' houses and other improvements, all of which pass under this lease. . . . ; and having made openings and driven entries preparatory to the shipment of coal; and a railroad having been constructed to said leased premises; the Lessee covenants to push development and operation of the demised premises as rapidly as the conditions of the market, railroad facilities, and labor conditions will reasonably permit.' At the time these three companies merged, they all had the same officers. Clarence Wayland Watson was president of all three, George W. Fleming was vice-president, J.W.M. Stewart was secretary, and John F. Caulfield was assistant secretary. George Fleming was Clarence Watson's nephew, and his father had been a governor of West Virginia. Watson was a recent president of Consolidation Coal Company - a company he manipulated to the category of 'coal giant' in 1909 through the merger of several major coal companies. Soon he would be the chairman of the Board of Directors of that prestigious company. In 1913 Watson was also completing a two-year term as U.S. Senator for the state of West Virginia. Consolidation Coal had wanted to purchase all the property of Elk Horn Fuel, Elk Horn Mining, and Mineral Fuel, but couldn't. Mr. Caulfield testified in 1953: "Well, I was in the Consolidation Coal Company from May lst, 1902, until Elk Horn Fuel Company was organized in February 1913, and Consolidation had an opportunity to acquire about 200,000 acres in Kentucky, but'owing to the fact that they had a good many mortgages on their other holdings, there were financial reasons why they should not acquire them as additional holdings of Consolidation Coal Company. (NOTE: Consolidation Coal bought 100,000 acres of land in the Jenkins area of Letcher County in late 910 and early 1911). So, Senator Watson, who was the head of the Consolidation at that time, arranged for the formation, after financing, of Elk Horn Fuel Company, a new company, manned entirely by Consolidation Coal Company employees and officials. So the, two companies of Elk Horn Fuel and Elk Horn Mining were formed to resolve this situation. John C. C. Mayo's dream of developing the properties he had gathered for the last thirty years was being acted out now in the board rooms of men who had devoted their lives to business transactions that reaped fortune upon fortune. (Later, some of these corporate and individual fortunes would be gambled and lost in the stock market crash of 1929. Senator Watson, like others, brought his 'fortune and Elk Horn's to the gaming table, and lost for both). Anybody who was more than a mountaineer wanted in on the game. A list of stockholders of Elk Horn Fuel at the close of business August 14, 1913, is partly a roster of people already heavily involved with this kind of business, and partly a list of people from eastern Kentucky who wanted to help bring the dream to life. In the first' group were Van Lear Black and H. Crawford Black. Crawford Black was a director of Consolidation Coal, president of Fidelity & Deposit Company of Baltimore, and owned 11,138 shares of Elk Horn Fuel stock. J.N. Camden and S.D. Camden together controlled 40,766 shares. Johnson Newlon Camden got his start through oil production and later merged his company with the Standard Oil Company created by John D. Rockefeller. J.N. Camden was president of Northern Coal, Coke, & Iron Company in 1905 and in later years S.D. Camden served as vice-president of Consolidation Coal. George Fleming owned 3970 shares, John C.C. Mayo had 15,258 shares, and Jere Wheelwright, president of Consolidation Coal, had 9503 shares. Howard Warfield held 27, 646 shares, J.W.M. Stewart from the legal firm of Hager & Stewart in Ashland, owned 33,157 shares. Mr. Stewart provided legal counsel for years to all these emerging coal companies, and signed documents as secretary or president of many of them. Clarence Watson held the most shares individually - 34, 665. Others who helped form and promote the development of Elk Horn Fuel and who held shares (bought or awarded) were J. W. Caulfield, Robert Garrett & sons, Lucy and Fannie Langhorne, and five other members of the Watson family. Locally, individuals who assisted John C.C. Mayo in past endeavors were jumping on this bandwagon too, as it was the final stage in bringing economic development and pleasures of the twentieth century to the mountains. This list of people included John Buckingham, James W. Turner, George Copland, and Dan Davis of Paintsville,.B.F. Combs and the Harkins family of Prestonsburg, John F. Hager of Ashland, W.F. Hite of Huntington, and C.B. Slemp of Big Stone Gap. Judge @ohn Hager had been with the prospecting party of Richard Broas in 1883 and understood first-hand the wealth they were just starting to uncover. Two banks from Baltimore were included in the list of 193 stockholders. Elk Horn Fuel issued a total of 70,000 shares of preferred stock and 190,000 shares of common stock in 1913. When Elk Horn Fuel and Elk Horn Mining (including Mineral Development Co.) merged in 1915 to form Elk Horn Coal Corporation, there were already 18 mines in operation - seven in the Wayland Division, seven in the Fleming Division, and 4 in the Wheelwright Division. The total capital stock of Elk Horn Coal upon completion of the merger was $27,045,000 . On November 30, 1915, just 12 days after its birth, Elk Horn Coal acquired all the property of Elk Horn Fuel and Elk Horn Mining including all mining camps and apurtenant mine works and equipment, the 205,452 acres of land they jointly controlled, and an option to buy 50,000 acres more from Beaver Creek Consolidated Coal. Getting down to business on December 1, 1915, Elk Horn took control of mine works already set up by Elk Horn Mining and still in progress. At one of these locations, up on Right Beaver Creek at Steele's Creek, there had been confusion as to what to call the mining town under construction. The nearest post office was at the town of Allen. Letters were addressed to 'At Camp, Steele's Creek, Allen P.O.', or 'Watsontown, Allen P. O.', o r 'Wayland, Allen P.O.'. A courier for the company would be at Allen to receive mail when it arrived, then ride the train (or a horse) up to Stonecoal and Steele's Creek where the mail would be distributed. On May 18, 1914, however, 'Wayland' was established as an official U.S. Post Office (named after Clarence Wayland Watson) and mail rode the train under its own power to this, destination. (In addition to the engineering offices maintained at Wayland, Fleming, and Wheelwright, Elk Horn also maintained business offices for the convenience of its lawyers, bankers, and officers who had family homes in other states. Offices in New York City were used as meeting places and addresses when the three development companies formed and required powerful financial backing. Some years later these offices were closed and the office in Cincinnati opened. This office was used until 1942 when it was relocated in Charleston, WV; in the early 1970's it was moved to Beckley. In 1974 Ethyl Corporation bought Elk Horn Coal and in 1976 established corporate headquarters in Richmond, Virginia.) **The community of Garrett had a post office, first named 'Ballard',but mail going to Steele's Creek was distributed from Allen P.O. In Floyd County, Elk Horn initiated mining at Wheelwright, but credit for expanded construction and development must be given to other companies as Elk Horn Coal sold its holdings in the Wheelwright area in 1 930. Elk Horn's predecessors also established Weeksbury and mines there, but these holdings were sold to Eastern Gas & Fuel Associates. The towns built at Garrett and Wayland were large mining centers until the last mines closed in the early 195.0's. At Garrett, mine postings indicate mine 326 closed in 1927, mine 327 in 1943, and mine 325, the most extensive one on Stonecoal Branch, lasted until January, 1956. At Wayland, mine 330 was shut down in 1928, mine 331 in 1936, and 332, 328, and 329 held out until 1954. A 1937,report on Elk Horn mining operations states in part: 'Each of the six active operations (2 in Floyd County & 4 in Letcher) is a complete mining plant with tipple, railroad yard, shops and electric power substations on the surface and with underground workings equipped with mining machines, locomotives, mine cars, electric wiring, fans, pumps and other facilities necessary for mining and preparing the coal for shipment. Each plant has its own town with dwellings, stores, streets, electric light lines, water supply and other facilities necessary for the housing and comfort of the employees. (The town of Fleming serves both the Fleming #1 and Fleming #2 operations). 'The Wayland mine is operating the Elk Horn No. 1 seam which has a general average thickness of about 42 inches of coal. The underground equipment includes 26 electric cutting machines, 25 electric locomotives, 500 new steel mine cars, 1 mechanical loading machine and 23 underground conveyors. These conveyors are arranged to load from 12 working places and to gather the coal to 4 separate points where trips of mine cars are loaded.' 'This mine and its equipment has an estimated capacity of 3200 tons per day; this is based on the production made in recent months. The actual output in the year 1936 was 526,671 tons in 250 working days. This was an average of 2100 tons per day, but improvements and additional equipment installed in 1937 have increased this output.' 'The tipple is a new all steel structure, constructed -in 1937 and put in operation during the latter part of September. It has a capacity of 600 tons per hour and its equipment is thoroughly modern in every respect, consisting of shaker screens, vibrating screens, crushers, remixing conveyors and a blending plant for , preparing and loading various combinations of sizes. The outside facilities consist of 2 substations, repair shops, a Cardox charging plant, 394 miners' dwellings and 4 stores.' 'The Garrett mine is operating the Elk Horn No. 1 seam which has a general average thickness of 42 inches...... underground equipment includes 8 electric cutting machines, 16 electric locomotives and 880 mine cars. This mine and its equipment has an estimated capacity of 800 tons per shift of 7 hours. The actual output in the year 1936 was 332,927 tons in 241 days - an average of about 1300 tons per day,. working partly on a double shift.' 'The tipple is a wooden structure with shaker screens, vibrator screens and picking table. It has a capacity of about 900 tons per shift of 7 hours. The other outside facilities consist of a substation, repair shop, 185 miners' dwellings and 2 stores.' 'The Fleming No. I plant is operating the Elk Horn seam (E-3) which has a general average thickness of about 68 inches. The underground equipment includes 3 electric cutting machines, 8 electric locomotives and 282 mine cars. This mine and its underground equipment has a capacity of 800 tons per day, based on the 1936 output which was 196,846 tons produced in 246 working days.' 'The tipple is a wooden structure with shaker screens, crusher and picking table. This has a capacity of 800 tons per day. Other outside facilities consist of repair shops, substation, 261 miners' dwellings and 2 stores - these dwellings being also used for housing the employees at Fleming No. 2.' 'The Fleming No. 2 plant is operating the Elk Horn seam (E-3) which has a general average thickness of about 57' inches. The underground equipment includes 5 electric cutting machines, 11 electric locomotives and 358 mine cars. This mine and its equipment has an estimated capacity of 1285 tons per day; the actual output in the year 1936 was 262,836 tons in 269 working days - an average of about 980 tons per day.' 'The tipple is a wooden structure with shaker screens and picking table. It has a capacity of about 1200 tons per shift. The other outside facilities consist of a substation and a repair shop.' 'The Haymond mine is operating the Elk Horn seam (E-3) which has an average thickness of from 60 to 69 inches. The underground equipment includes 5 electric cutting machines, 13 electric locomotives and 610 mine cars. This mine and its equipment has an estimated capacity of 1635 tons per day; the actual output in the year 1936 was 315,733 tons in 234 working days - an average of 1350 tons per day.' 'The tipple is a wooden structure with shaker screens, crusher and picking tables. Other outside facilities consist of a substation, repair shop, 262 miners' dwellings and 2 stores.' 'The Hemphill plant is operating the Elk Horn seam (E-3) which has a general average thickness of about 48 inches. The underground equipment includes 5 electric cutting machines, 9 electric locomotives and 237 mine cars. This mine and its equipment has an estimated capacity of 2,000 tons per day; the actual output in the year 1936 was 239,080 tons in 281 working days - an average of about 850 tons per day.' 'The tipple is a wooden structure with shaker screens, vibrator screens, crusher and picking table. Other outside facilities consist of a substation repair shop, 147 miners' dwellings and 2 stores.' The Wayland and Garrett operations were given an estimated life of 30 years, to be extended as more boundaries of coal were added to the mining limits. Both Fleming plants were given a death.warrant for 4 – 5 years hence. The Haymond plant had a life expectancy of 8 years, but the operation at Hemphill was expected to carry on at least another 40 years! None of these mines, however, lasted much past the mid-1950's. After the company mines closed, Elk Horn expanded its leasing business, but the lessees now provided all mine equipment and employees. Many of these mining enterprises went into the abandoned works of Elk Horn's big mines at Wayland and Garrett and mined small blocks or panels of coal. Mine 328 apparently was worked in 1960. The tipple at Wayland was leased to Evans-Elkhorn for many years. When Evans-Elkhorn no longer needed it, the tipple was leased to Blackstar Coal which was the last lessee until the tipple was torn down in 1978. In 1937 Elk Horn Coal Corporation reorganized under the federal bankruptcy act and changed its name to THE ELK HORN COAL CORPORATION. Today it is owned by Tredegar Industries, a spin-off of Ethyl Corporation, which also maintains corporate headquarters in Richmond, VA. Jeanette Knowles (former Elk Horn Coal employee) November 1990 All information for this article was obtained from documents on hand or from two books: "Kentucky's Last Frontier", by Henry Scalf, and "Theirs Be the Power", by Harry M. Caudill.

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