Coal was known to be in Western Virginia since colonial times, but it wasn’t used much until the early 1800s. The first coal mining started near the Kanawha and Ohio rivers, where towns and factories already existed.

Salt furnaces in Kanawha County soon used up all the local timber and needed lots of coal for fuel. By 1840, 90 furnaces were using 200,000 tons of coal a year, mostly mined by over 900 workers, many of them enslaved. Even after the salt industry slowed down, coal was still needed for lighting and steamboats. Steamboats also helped transport coal. By 1860, there were 25 coal companies and over 1,000 workers.

A special kind of coal called cannel became popular in the early 1800s because it burned brightly and was used to make oil for lamps. In the 1850s, cannel coal mining boomed near the Elk, Coal, and Kanawha rivers. By 1860, almost every county in Western Virginia had a coal oil plant.