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Souvenir Mining Spoon Handle Joplin, Missouri
Souvenir Mining Spoon Bowl Joplin, Missouri
Souvenir Mining Spoon Back Joplin, Missouri
New England Mine ca 1900
Souvenir Mining Spoon New England Mine Fairmont, WV
  Souvenir Mining Spoon Front New England Mine Fairmont, WV.JPG - SOUVENIR MINING SPOON NEW ENGLAND MINE FAIRMONT WEST VIRGINIA - Sterling silver souvenir spoon,state seal of West Virginia at top of handle showing date of June 20, 1863 when WV became a state, figural mining scene on handlewith marking WEST VIRGINIA down handle, bowl engraved with mining scene and marked NEW ENGLAND MINE at top and FAIRMONT COAL CO. along bottom, reverse marked Sterling with image of Lady Liberty, hallmark of S in circle forShepard Mfg. Co., Melrose Highlands, MA who made silver spoons from 1893-1923, 5 1/2 in. long, weight 22 g. [The roots of today’s Consol Energy Company, the leading producer of high-BTU bituminous coal in the United States and the U.S.'s largest underground coal mining company, are tied to the Fairmont Coal Company and West Virginia coal mining pioneer James Otis Watson. Watson became known as the “Father of the Coal Industry” of the Upper Monongahela Valley. Born in 1815 at Benton’s Ferry near Fairmont, he purchased land in the Fairmont, West Virginia area in 1852 and opened his first coal mine, the American Coal Company, in what is now within the city limits of Fairmont, approximately 20 miles southwest of Morgantown in Marion County. Watson continued to expand his coal mining operations over the next four decades. In 1890 Watson bought the entire property belonging to the West Fairmont & Marion Consolidated Coal and Coke Company, which then owned the West Fairmont, Marion, and Shaft mines. He then organized the West Fairmont Coal & Coke Company, which successfully worked these mines for decades thereafter. Profits from this venture allowed Watson's company to purchase the New England mine from the New England, Fairmont & Western Gas Coal Company in 1894. The New England mine had been developed in 1885 but was allowed by the previous owner to fall into disrepair. Watson bought the mine, rebuilt the railroad access, erected a coal mining town named New England, and made other improvements to the mining operation. As a result, Watson's modern New England Mine became the largest coal producer in Marion County. In 1899, Watson’s health failed and he released control of all his mining operations to his brother Clarence Wayland Watson. C. W. Watson on June 17, 1901 organized the Fairmont Coal Company with a capital of $12,000,000. The company would operate 36 mines including the Montana and Aurora of the Montana Coal and Coke Company, the New England shaft of the West Fairmont Coal and Coke Company, and six separate mines of the Monongah Company. In addition the company owned 1,450 miners’ houses, 5,800 individual cars, 5,000 acres of surface land, and controlled 60,000 acres of the best coal in the district. James Otis Watson would live to see the organization of Fairmont Coal Company but would die one year later. In 1903 Fairmont Coal Company and Consolidated Coal Company, which was organized in Maryland in 1864, merged operations with C. W. Watson relocating from Fairmont to Baltimore where he took control of Consolidated Coal. After purchasing control of Somerset Coal Company, the 3 three companies were combined into the Consolidated Coal Company in 1909 with soon-to-be U.S. Sen. Clarence W. Watson as either chairman of the board or president of the corporation until 1928. Eventually, Consolidated Coal would become the backbone of a new energy giant named Consol Energy. The Fairmont Coal Company was also well known for a very sad episode in U.S. mining history. On December 6, 1907, a massive explosion ripped through the Fairmont Coal Company’s No. 6 and 8 mines in Monongah. The powerful blast, which shook the earth and was heard several miles away, killed at least 361 men and boys, making it the worst mine disaster in U.S. history. Investigators never definitively pinpointed the cause. Many of the men and boys employed at the two mines were recent immigrants, with especially high concentrations from Italy, Hungary, and Russia. The actual number of deaths has been estimated to be substantially higher because the miner identification system was destroyed in the explosion. The legacy of this accident led to the formation of the U.S. Bureau of Mines on May 16, 1910.]  
Souvenir Mining Spoon Bowl New England Mine Fairmont, WV
Souvenir Mining Spoon Handle New England Mine Fairmont, WV
Souvenir Mining Spoon Back New England Mine Fairmont, WV
Souvenir Mining Spoon Reverse New England Mine Fairmont, WV
Copper Queen Smelter Douglas AZ ca 1905

Souvenir Mining Spoon Front New England Mine Fairmont, WV | SOUVENIR MINING SPOON NEW ENGLAND MINE FAIRMONT WEST VIRGINIA - Sterling silver souvenir spoon, state seal of West Virginia at top of handle showing date of June 20, 1863 when WV became a state, figural mining scene on handle with marking WEST VIRGINIA down handle, bowl engraved with mining scene and marked NEW ENGLAND MINE at top and FAIRMONT COAL CO. along bottom, reverse marked Sterling with image of Lady Liberty, hallmark of S in circle for Shepard Mfg. Co., Melrose Highlands, MA who made silver spoons from 1893-1923, 5 1/2 in. long, weight 22 g. [The roots of today’s Consol Energy Company, the leading producer of high-BTU bituminous coal in the United States and the U.S.'s largest underground coal mining company, are tied to the Fairmont Coal Company and West Virginia coal mining pioneer James Otis Watson. Watson became known as the “Father of the Coal Industry” of the Upper Monongahela Valley. Born in 1815 at Benton’s Ferry near Fairmont, he purchased land in the Fairmont, West Virginia area in 1852 and opened his first coal mine, the American Coal Company, in what is now within the city limits of Fairmont, approximately 20 miles southwest of Morgantown in Marion County. Watson continued to expand his coal mining operations over the next four decades. In 1890 Watson bought the entire property belonging to the West Fairmont & Marion Consolidated Coal and Coke Company, which then owned the West Fairmont, Marion, and Shaft mines. He then organized the West Fairmont Coal & Coke Company, which successfully worked these mines for decades thereafter. Profits from this venture allowed Watson's company to purchase the New England mine from the New England, Fairmont & Western Gas Coal Company in 1894. The New England mine had been developed in 1885 but was allowed by the previous owner to fall into disrepair. Watson bought the mine, rebuilt the railroad access, erected a coal mining town named New England, and made other improvements to the mining operation. As a result, Watson's modern New England Mine became the largest coal producer in Marion County. In 1899, Watson’s health failed and he released control of all his mining operations to his brother Clarence Wayland Watson. C. W. Watson on June 17, 1901 organized the Fairmont Coal Company with a capital of $12,000,000. The company would operate 36 mines including the Montana and Aurora of the Montana Coal and Coke Company, the New England shaft of the West Fairmont Coal and Coke Company, and six separate mines of the Monongah Company. In addition the company owned 1,450 miners’ houses, 5,800 individual cars, 5,000 acres of surface land, and controlled 60,000 acres of the best coal in the district. James Otis Watson would live to see the organization of Fairmont Coal Company but would die one year later. In 1903 Fairmont Coal Company and Consolidated Coal Company, which was organized in Maryland in 1864, merged operations with C. W. Watson relocating from Fairmont to Baltimore where he took control of Consolidated Coal. After purchasing control of Somerset Coal Company, the 3 three companies were combined into the Consolidated Coal Company in 1909 with soon-to-be U.S. Sen. Clarence W. Watson as either chairman of the board or president of the corporation until 1928. Eventually, Consolidated Coal would become the backbone of a new energy giant named Consol Energy. The Fairmont Coal Company was also well known for a very sad episode in U.S. mining history. On December 6, 1907, a massive explosion ripped through the Fairmont Coal Company’s No. 6 and 8 mines in Monongah. The powerful blast, which shook the earth and was heard several miles away, killed at least 361 men and boys, making it the worst mine disaster in U.S. history. Investigators never definitively pinpointed the cause. Many of the men and boys employed at the two mines were recent immigrants, with especially high concentrations from Italy, Hungary, and Russia. The actual number of deaths has been estimated to be substantially higher because the miner identification system was destroyed in the explosion. The legacy of this accident led to the formation of the U.S. Bureau of Mines on May 16, 1910.] Download Original Image
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