Number 10 Mine Portal at Whitby WV in 2007

Thanks to the driving skills and patience of Bob and Ginny Lilly, I was able to see what was left of the Whitby Mine Portal for the number 10 mine. As of 2007 the portals have officially been reclaimed, see picture below. However, if you want to see these portals before being reclaimed, I have provided a link below. To the best of my knowledge, the number 10 mine was the main portal for the Sterling Smokeless Coal Operation at Whitby WV. I did walk this site and was able to find coal in some of the bare seams below. The hill has been seeded and bails of hay are propped to promote growth. My estimate is that in a few years, you will never know that a mine was there.

Many folks will ask WHY I have a picture of this here? This reclaimed portal saw 1 million tons of coal and many many people mined this place to get that coal. In my research on Whitby I have discovered that though this portal will go away, the real coal, the real heart of the town of Whitby resides in the minds and memories of the people who lived and worked there. Coal made the state of West Virginia, however, it is the people and their faith in God that made Whitby and many many other towns within the coal fields of the Winding Gulf.

Whitby WV Mine Portals before reclamation

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Back to Whitby WV in 2007

Mine Map of the Number 10 Mine