Alma Pond Creek   Mingo County, WV

  Sprigg, Mingo County, is located on the Tug River below Matewan and above Williamson.  Sprigg is situated along the N & W Railway (now Norfolk & Southern) and is across the river from Kentucky.

 
 Most of the mines in that area were in Kentucky but were compelled to use the N&W Railroad for shipping but the tracks were located on the West Virginia side.  Consequently, a bustling, small  town, emerged known as Sprigg.   With so many people working in the coal industry in that area there was an acute need for services.

 Appalachian Electric Power Company had a generating station located there as much electricity was needed for the mines and community.  Since coal was so readily available for generating steam it was a natural fit.

 Alma Pond Creek Coal Company had a mine located at Sprigg and issued scrip in the one dollar denomination only.  Their scrip was purchased from Ingle-Schierloh and was shipped on March 10, 1927 (300 one dollar pieces).

 There are no pieces of this scrip listed in West Virginia or Kentucky but a beautiful example does exist in a collection.  Alma Pond Creek stated in a letter to Ingle-Schierloh that the scrip would be redeemed by the Sprig Grocery Company, Curtis Phillips, and Ed Jude.  There was at least one other merchant (J.J. Huff) who did business in Sprigg but, apparently, was not included among those who took Pond Creek scrip.

 The Sprigg Grocery Company purchased their scrip from Orco and only one denomination is known, that being the fifty cent piece.  (2637C50)Surely, the other denominations are out there somewhere.

 Curtis Phillips scrip (2637A) consists of the nickel through the fifty cent piece.  It was purchased from Ingle-Schierloh on March 27, 1927 in the amount of 100 each for all denominations.  No penny is known to exist but one may be waiting to be discovered.

 Ed Jude purchased 500 pieces of scrip from Ingle-Schierloh on March 25, 1927 (2637B).  These were 100 pieces each of the penny through the fifty cent piece.  He was billed $21.25 for this shipment but, apparently, had some trouble coming up with the money to pay the bill.  Ingle-Schierloh Co tried, repeatedly, to get their money but to no avail.

 Mrs. Zella Jude (Ed’s wife) wrote Ingle-Schierloh a letter stating that Mr. Sampson of Alma Pond Creek had notified the Jude’s that they could no longer redeem Alma’s scrip and this had put them in a very bad financial bind.  Eventually, the Jude’s paid part of the account but Ingle Schierloh persisted in their efforts to collect the remainder.

 Mrs. Jude wrote a check to Ingle-Schierloh on June 30, 1927 in the amount of $11. 43 but it was returned due to insufficient funds.  The bill was finally paid by postal money order on July 18, 1927.

 No listing for the fifty cent piece was recorded until the last edition of the Edkins book was published and the penny was extremely hard to find.

 In the spring of 2000, your author was recovering from a bout with cancer.  One of my cousins who lives in Mingo County, Ernest “Bud” Lackey, decided to pay me a visit and stated he knew I collected scrip and wanted to bring something to cheer me up.

 Saying he had found three pieces of scrip, in a jar, which had been in his basement forever, handed me a quarter and two fifty cent pieces of Ed Judy scrip.  A very good way to cheer up a collector.

 Rumors have persisted, for years, that a one dollar piece of Ed Jude scrip exists but it is highly unlikely.  If it does exist, it probably would have been made by Orco as no records of this appear in the Ingle-Schierloh files.

 Ed Jude went on to become the Mingo County Court Clerk and served many years in that position.  The author knew him as a boy growing up in Mingo County.

                                                                                                     Jim Lackey, submitted 6/08