Henry Ford, Coal Baron   Harlan County, KY

     Henry Ford was one of America’s empire builders in the field of industry.  His ability to overcome any obstacle that interfered with the growth and expansion of his automobile business led to his becoming a legend in the coal industry.   Such an obstacle came in 1922 when Ford had to cease operations due to a shortage of steel.  To produce steel, an adequate supply of metallurgical coke was required by the steel mills.  This steel shortage, caused by the lack of coke, was the motivation for Henry Ford to enter into coal mining. 

     With all the resources at Ford’s disposal, he could not purchase coal anywhere at any price.  A friend of his, Mr. Malcomsom, came to Kentucky and bought coal property near the city of Harlan, forming the Harlan Gas Coal Company.  It is said the Malcomsom advised Ford of the vast coal deposits in the area.  He advised his friend to “get into the coal business and you will have all the coal you need.”  Ford immediately purchased the old Banner Fork Coal Company in 1922 and expanded his legacy as an American empire builder.  The era of the Fordson Coal Company had begun.

     Ford’s Banner Fork Coal location in Kentenia, Kentucky, near Wallins in Harlan County, produced a daily output of 3000 tons on high volatile by-product coking coal.  The mine had an estimated reserve of 8,000,000 tons.  Ford built a large coal mining community, complete with a modern commissary.  His next adventure was the Pond Creek Coal Company located at Stone, Kentucky.  This company proved to be Ford’s largest operation and the daily output was around 6,000 tons and the coal reserves were estimated at 180,000,000 tons.  He had eleven openings and more than 1,500 men.  Another reserve of 120,000 acres, wooded with approximately 700,000,000 feet of virgin timber under laid with approximately 400,000,000 tones of coal.  As Ford expanded his coal enterprises into West Virginia, at Nuttalburg, he continued to provide his employees with adequate and clean houses, medical facilities, and educational facilities for the workers children, and a satisfactory wage.

     Again looking to the future growth of his main operation, Ford Motor Company, Henry Ford purchases 1,000 steel rail coal cars and a railroad the D.T. & I., now connecting the rail lines in the coalfield to the Great Lakes.  He established a large coal dock at Duluth, Minnesota where he had several Great Lake freighters to add to his fleet of coal, lumber and ore carriers.  In 1925 alone two Ford motor ships transported 1,500,000 tons of raw materials on the Great Lakes in just an eight month period.  What coal he didn’t need he sold.  By the middle of 1930 he had one of the largest privately owned coal operations in America along with railroads, iron ore mines and steel producing plants. 

     Today the Fordson Coal Companies have passed into history.  The coal camps have all but disappeared from the days when coal was king.  However, the legacy of Henry Ford is well preserved in the history of King Coal.

W. C. Stump, submitted 02/04