The Story of Paint Creek

Described as a "howling wilderness" by European settlers in the early 19th century, Native Americans had long used Paint Creek as a route of travel between settlements. Known as the "War Road" or the "Indian Path", Paint Creek received its name from the numerous painted trees found along its banks. American Indian war and hunting parties frequently painted pictographs on the trunks of trees to transmit information about their exploits or to mark trails. By 1774, Paint Creek had already acquired its unique name.

In the early 19th century, most settlers practiced subsistence agriculture on Paint Creek. A few settlers became very successful farmers, but most settlers lived very simple and rugged lives. The most successful farming communities developed along upper Paint Creek between Pax and Beckley. The pastoral charm of this area is still evident today in the communities of Sweeneyburg, Maynor, Cirtsville, and Lively.

With the arrival of Paint Creek's first railroad in 1853, coal companies took the area by storm and transformed Paint Creek from a land of scattered farms and rustic homesteads to a land buzzing with the sounds of industry. Railroads opened up coal to external markets, brought in thousands of immigrant workers, and fundamentally changed the way of life on Paint Creek.

Many farmers who had been struggling to provide for their families through meager subsistence farming were attracted to the mines by the prospect of steady income and access to goods in the company stores. Coal companies built entire towns for their workers. In these company towns, or “coal camps”, coal operators owned the houses, stores, and schools. Coal companies even issued their own currency, known as "scrip". Miners tolerated this controlled environment for a time, but the dependence on coal companies for nearly every need in life began to breed resentment among the miners.

The unrest reached a boiling point in 1912 when miners on Paint Creek went on strike to demand higher wages, fairer employment laws, and better living conditions. They were soon joined by their fellow miners in nearby Cabin Creek. The coal operators promptly evicted the miners from company housing with the help of company-hired mine guards. Many of the evicted miners and their families began living in tent colonies. It wasn’t long until the tension erupted into violent conflict. In one infamous incident, an armored train manned by mine guards rolled into the town of Holly Grove and fired into a tent colony, killing one miner and injuring many more. After more than a year of conflict, the miners and the coal operators finally reached a settlement. Today, many historians consider the 1912-1913 Paint Creek-Cabin Creek Strike to be West Virginia’s first mine war. It would be the first of many other similar conflicts to rack West Virginia's coalfields in the decades to follow.

Coal mining dominated Paint Creek for nearly a century before production diminished in the mid 20th century. As fast as they arrived, coal companies departed Paint Creek and took the company towns with them. Towns that were once populated by over a thousand people were reduced to nothing. Today, scarcely evidence remains of many of these coal towns.