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Blackwood
Although Calvin Pardee's initial land purchase in southwestern Virginia was a large tract west of Crab Orchard (later Keokee), he did not develop that land for more than two decades. Between 1902 and 1904, he bought several small tracts of land in the vicinity of Roaring Fork in Wise County . By 1904, his small purchases made up a vast tract with incredible coal and coke potential. Halfway between Norton and Appalachia, on the Powell River , he built the offices of the Blackwood Coal and Coke Company on the site of the small community of the same name.
Having amassed huge tracts of coal land, Pardee ordered coke ovens built and mine openings dug. Starting in 1904, his Blackwood Company began shipping coal and coke although their success at that site would not last. During that first decade of the twentieth century, the coke industry had swelled partly because of the opening of new coalfields like those of the Stonega Coke and Coal Company. The coal coming out of Blackwood, although of good quality, was not comparable to the Stonega coal because of its high sulfur content. By 1910, coal and coke production at Blackwood had slowed because of market demands and after four additional years of robbing pillars, the mine closed.
When coking ceased at Blackwood, the company focused on building operations at Pardee. Years later when Pardee began its decline, the Blackwood Company returned to its initial investments near Keokee.
A small community at Blackwood still exists and due to recent mining, the drive through offers visitors an excellent illustration of the modern coal industry and offers a window into the boom years of coal.
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This page last updated: June 9, 2005
Maintained by: Dr. Brian D. McKnight
