Philip Sporn Mine

The Sporn plant in October, 2014, a few months before it closed. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

The interior of the Philip Sporn mine scale house. It was a small, poorly insulated metal building. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

A old scale that weighed the coal that was hauled away from the mine by trucks. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

The main entrance to the Sporn mine. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

A coal conveyor entrance which brought the coal to the surface. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

The capped off main shaft to the mine. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

One of the settling ponds which was part of the coal prep plant. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

Abandoned outbuildings near the old switchyard. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

In 2013 I could walk down into the mine a short distance to a sealed door. It is underwater now. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

The name of the conveyor belt manufacturer was B. F. Goodrich. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

Some of the conveyor system is intact. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

The place where the coal was burned, the Philip Sporn power plant. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

Coal spillage near the mine shaft. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

The old coal prep plant settling ponds are being filled in, erasing a part of the site’s history. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

Another view of the conveyor entrance. rbt45769 (Atlas Obscura User)

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The Philip Sporn Mine was created in 1949 as part of the power plant complex of the same name. The first four units of the power plant were completed in 1952. This helped spur the development of the Vanadium alloy smelter next door and the Kaiser Aluminum plant in Ravenswood, West Virginia. The mine created hundreds of steady, well-paying jobs that raised the standard of living for the rural, agricultural area. However, the mine was closed in 1975, and the power plant ceased operations in 2015.

Know Before You Go

The Sporn mine can be reached by driving north from New Haven, West Virginia, on Route 62 (also called Graham Station Road) to the intersection of Broad Run Road. (You will drive past the Mountaineer power plant with a huge cooling tower in the process.) Turn right onto Broad Run Road and drive a short distance past the switchyard. A chain-link fence encloses the mine property, but the gates are partly open. This site is guarded and photos may only be allowed from outside the fence.