Cranberry Fuel     Raleigh County, WV

   The Cranberry Fuel Company operated mines in southern West Virginia in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, until it was incorporated into the New River Coal Company around 1906.  The mines were worked until 1958, when the coal began to play out.

       Sometimes, though, the journey of a piece of scrip is as interesting as the history of the mine it’s associated with. 

       The Cranberry Fuels penny in this picture came to West Virginia businessman Mel Hancock during his years at Mountain State University in Beckley, as the Vice-President of Development and Alumni Affairs in the 1990’s.

       Hancock often discussed his childhood in Cranberry with other MSU employees, telling of his mother worked at both the Cranberry and Skelton Company Stores, and those stories brought him this Cranberry penny.

       When the college purchased the building that had housed Beckley High School from 1918 to 1928, and Beckley Junior High after that, the penny was found as the old school lockers were being removed.  The worker who discovered it remembered Hancock’s childhood stories and brought it to him.

   “You can imagine some kid bringing it to school, only to have it fall through a crack in the locker and end up lodged in the wall all these years,” said Hancock.  “That was not a small loss in those days!”

   The coin brings to light a variation unlisted in the latest Edkins Guide.

Kevin Traube, submitted 3/05