The collection is open to research.
The copyright status of this collection is unknown. Copyright restrictions may apply. Contact Special Collections and University Archives for assistance in determining the use of these materials.
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Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [identification of item], [box], [folder], Big Vein Anthracite Collieries Records, Ms1990-014, Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va.
The Big Vein Anthracite Collieries Records were donated to Special Collections in 1990.
The processing, arrangement and description of the Big Vein Collieries Records commenced and was completed in October 2009.
Superior Anthracite Coal Company, headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland, began developing the Big Vein Mine near McCoy (Montgomery County), Virginia, around 1919. One of the largest mine operations in Montgomery County, the Big Vein employed more than 300 miners at its peak in the 1930s. The mine continued to operate until 1954, but complete shutdown did not occur until 1958.
This collection contains two bound volumes of daily fire boss reports for Big Vein Anthracite Collieries--owned by Superior Anthracite Coal Company--in McCoy (Montgomery County), Virginia. Each report records the date and time of mine inspection and notes conditions found by the fire boss. The reports are signed by fire bosses J. M. Albert (1926-1927) and C. D. McCoy (1929-1931) and countersigned by mine foreman D. E. Stanton. Most of the reports simply record the favorable condition of the mines in a single sentence, though a number record the presence of gas and action taken to clear it.
The collection is arranged chronologically.
Subsequent fire boss reports for Big Vein Anthracite Collieries may be found in Superior Anthracite Mines Fire Boss Reports, Ms2009-131.
The guide to the Big Vein Anthracite Collieries Records by Special Collections and University Archives, Virginia Tech, is licensed under a CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/public-domain/cc0/).