Mid-Lothian Mines and Rail Roads

Mid-Lothian Mines and Rail Roads (HML3N)

Location: Midlothian, VA 23114 Chesterfield County
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Country: United States of America
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N 37° 29.5', W 77° 38.617'

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Inscription
Local Coal Mining in the 18th and 19th Centuries

Outcroppings of coal along the south bank of the James River in what is now Powhatan County were discovered circa 1700. A hunter from the nearby Huguenot settlement, Manakintown, dislodged lumps of coal as he slid down the riverbank to retrieve his quarry. Soon, nearby landowners began searching the area for coal outcroppings and deposits.

The earliest record of coal mined in the United States was that of a coal pit operated on the headwaters of Falling Creek near present Midlothian in 1737. Among local collieries working in the coal basin in the 18th and 19th centuries were Black Heath, Clover Hill, Cunliffe's, Etna, Gowrie, Green Hole, Mid-Lothian, Moody-Johnson, Trabue's and Salle's.

The Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Company

The Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Company was chartered in 1835 on a 404 acre tract by the heirs of William Wooldridge. The coal seam here was approximately 36 feet thick and 700 feet deep. Wooldridge issued stock to raise funds for machinery, construction and the sinking of shafts. There were four shafts, 11 by 11 feet square producing about 1 million bushels of coal yearly. The Mid-Lothian shaft (later known as the Pump Shaft), one of the most productive, was flooded following a disastrous explosion in 1855 that killed 55 miners. After several unsuccessful attempts to pump out and rework this once preeminent shaft, it was abandoned.
Details
HM NumberHML3N
Tags
Year Placed2009
Placed ByChesterfield Heritage Alliance, Chesterfield County Parks & Recreation
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Monday, October 6th, 2014 at 7:07am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18S E 266282 N 4152699
Decimal Degrees37.49166667, -77.64361667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 37° 29.5', W 77° 38.617'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds37° 29' 30.00" N, 77° 38' 37.02" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)804
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 629 Scotter Hills Ct, Midlothian VA 23114, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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