Western Coal Field
The West Kentucky Coal Field comprises an area in the west-central and northwestern part of the state, bounded by the
Included areas
The Western Coal Field region of Kentucky includes all of the following counties:
- Butler County
- Daviess County
- Hancock County
- Henderson County
- Hopkins County
- McLean County
- Muhlenberg County
- Ohio County
- Union County
- Webster County
Additionally, the region includes parts of the following counties, mostly in the Clifty Area, which does not contain coal:
- Breckinridge County
- Christian County
- Edmonson County
- Grayson County
- Hart County
- Logan County
- Todd County
- Warren County
The term Western Coalfield (or Western Coal Field) is used to define the region with Pennsylvanian-age strata, largely sandstone and shale, in contrast to the
The biggest concentration of surface mines in this region has historically been in Hopkins, Muhlenberg, and Ohio counties. All three counties still contain a very large amount of coal and have active mining, surface and underground, operations taking place. The use of power shovels and draglines were very common in these counties where the coal would lay as close as 60–80 feet from the surface. This is a region that was considered to be the largest producer of coal in the world from the 1960s through part of the '80s until it dramatically dropped in the early '90s after the passage of the
See also
References
- ISBN 0-403-09981-1.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-04-13. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
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: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
Further reading
- WPA, Kentucky: A Guide to the Bluegrass State (1939); classic guide from the Federal Writers Project; covers main themes and describes every town and feature, with capsule histories online