Pocahontas Virginia settler, Jordan Nelson, is depicted here using coal as a fuel for both the forge and the hearth in the 1870’s. The twelve to thirteen foot coal seam in his backyard soon brought railroad speculator Captain Isaiah Welch and Northfork and Western vice president Frederick Kimball to his doorstep, resulting in the building and establishment of Southwest Virginia Improvement Company’s East Mine and the town of Pocahontas.
Ellen Elmes
PO Box SVCC
Richlands, VA 24641-1101
email: ellen.elmes@sw.edu
phone: 276.964.7205
fax: 276.964.7720