Bishop Coal Camp

In 1930, Pocahontas Fuel Company built a coal camp in Bishop to mine a 7 foot section of the Pocahontas 3 seam as well as part of the 5 seam.  The town of Bishop straddles the WV/VA state line.  It is split between McDowell County, WV and Tazewell County, VA.  Bishop was one of the last camps built in the Pocahontas Coalfield.  We know that Bishop was a major coal camp because the houses are large and there are even sidewalks through the camp.  The camp was made up of mostly Europeans and many African Americans who camp up from the "Deep South" after the Civil War.  To this day, McDowell County has the highest per capita population of African Americans.  The population of the camp in 1950 was almost 100,000, but had decreased to 26,000 by the 2000 census.  There were two mining tragedies at the Bishop mine in 1957 and 1958 in which a total of 61 people were killed.  In 1958 Consol purchased the mine.