Deep in the New River Valley, whispers can be heard echoing off the mountains from the lost town of Binktom and the Empire Mines. “The stories of Binktom and the Empire Mines are important,” states Michael Mooney, son of late Binktom miner, Green Mooney. “I want to pass the history down to my son so that he can pass it down through the family.”
Binktom was a thriving community of coal miners and their families on the south slope of Little Walker Mountain in Pulaski County. The town’s existence was heavily dependent on Empire Mines, started in 1914, from which thousands of tons of coal were removed during Binktom’s heyday in the 1920s.
According to maps in the Raymond F. Ratcliffe Memorial Transportation Museum in downtown Pulaski and former tenants of Binktom, the majority of the mining community stood near the intersection between Mines Road and Langhorne Road. Maps indicate that the town stretched down the mountain along present day North Ridge Lane. Binktom was a town with above average living conditions for the time and place.
“We fared okay when we lived there,” relates Verlon Hurd, former Binktom resident and older sister of Michael Mooney. “We had enough to eat and stayed warm. The conditions weren’t outstanding, but nowhere else had outstanding living conditions back then.” A 1925 industrial survey of the Empire Anthracite Coal Company shows that Binktom had 55 houses, describing them as “comfortable, well built, and much superior to usual mining camp dwellings.” In a 2007 book by late historian Lloyd Matthews titled “Pulaski County: An Historic and Descriptive Sketch,” Binktom dwellings were noted as having been supported by frame columns, under which fresh air could circulate.
Additional structures allowed the community to operate like a small town. “Binktom had stores for groceries,” Hurd recalls. The industrial survey detailed a “well-managed commissary” which carried “all living necessities for the miners and their families.” The survey claimed that goods were marked up an average of 20 percent.
Matthews’ book details a different picture, stating that the store offered “ordinary staple foods such as sugar, flour, fatback and potatoes” at extremely high prices. Since the store was owned by the mining company, purchases were charged to miners’ weekly pay. This meant that miners might not receive pay unless they had an unusually successful week.
However, work at the Empire Mines had some advantages. Miners earned an average of 55 cents per hour or $1 per coal car of 1.7 tons. In 1925, $1 was roughly equivalent to $17.78 now and was high pay compared to other mining districts.
Workers like Green Mooney held other positions which were paid based on performance. “Dad would calculate how much coal was in the carts,” Hurd explains. “He kept the records for coal and counted the carts.”
Alongside the mines, the railroad was an important asset that catalyzed the county’s success, connecting industry downtown to the mountains. The Altoona Railroad, constructed in 1880, ran from downtown Pulaski, across present day Robinson Tract, and toward the coal seams in Little Walker Mountain. This extension connected itself to Norfolk and Western’s Virginia-Tennessee railroad. The Town of Pulaski incorporated in 1886 and proved to be a hub for industry and commerce throughout the following century.
The years 1923 and 1924 were highly successful for the Empire Mines. Around 600 tons of high-rank Virginia semi-anthracite coal was extracted each day. Yearly coal sales in 1923 reached a total of $455,874 for 97,209 tons. Similar numbers were produced in 1924 with 124,240 tons bringing $423,075.
Questionable business dealings and frequent management changes led the Empire Mines to bankruptcy in 1927. The Southwest Times, Pulaski’s local newspaper, reported that the Empire Mines had debts of approximately $1.2 million. In 1930, a shareholder of the Empire Mines chartered a new coal company, following a legal battle to regain rights to the Empire Mines premises.
According to Matthews’ book, the Empire Mines reportedly closed for good in 1938 after successfully operating eight more years. However, this date does not match Hurd’s claim that she lived in Binktom until she was six. This would mean the mines closed in 1943. When the Empire Mines officially shut down, the town of Binktom went with it. Hurd’s family was forced to move to Robinson Tract while equipment from the Empire Mines was removed and the entire town was bulldozed.
Some evidence of the Empire Mines’ existence is still visible on Little Walker Mountain, like a small powder house constructed in 1919. Several mine entrances exist but are not accessible. Concrete foundations of the Altoona Railroad still lie below the high ridges at the foot of the mountain.
Binktom and the Empire Mines are one example of many lost mining communities that once flourished in southwest Virginia and across Appalachia. Some of these towns will never have their stories told as the people who inhabited them are aging. Unfortunately, it is likely that towns similar to Binktom, once teeming with life, will forever remain silent and still.
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