Cabin
Creek History and Culture
Through the first half of the 20th century, Cabin Creek grew into
a booming coal-mining town. In the 1950s, the series of towns
along Cabin Creek held 150,000 people - a population greater than
Charleston's metropolitan area at that time. In boom times, as
many as a dozen coal companies worked the mountains of Cabin Creek,
each with their own grocery stores, doctors, churches, and money
system (or "scrip," the term for company tender).
Cabin Creek Health Center (CCHC) was established by the United
Mine Workers of America (UMWA) in reaction to the growing health
concerns over Black Lung and a particularly serious mining accident
in the early 1970s. The UMWA partnered with the Railroad Union
and Cabin Creek residents in the early stages of founding CCHC,
and many area industries such as Ford Coal, Carbon Fuel, Ridenour
Trucking, and Shonk Land Company donated building materials and
land. Yale University architectural students and community volunteers
assisted in the building's construction.
Cabin Creek Coal-Mining History Links
" "Growing
Up On Cabin Creek" - Interview with Arnold Miller,
president of the UMWA during the founding of Cabin Creek Health
Center.
" Tending
the Commons: Folklife and Landscape in Southern West Virginia"
- An Library of Congress Collection.
o Archives
Specific to Cabin Creek -especially the aerial photos
of Cabin Creek mine sites and valley fills.
" West Virginia Archives and History - "Mine
Wars" http://www.wvculture.org/history/minewars.html
County in Consortium (underserved portions of) Kanawha
All
four primary sites are located within twenty five minutes of Charleston,
the state capital. Below are some of the local recreational and
cultural attractions.
