the south flooded the coalfield in search of a better way of life, and to this day McDowell County has the highest percentage of African-American population of any West Virginia county. Immigrants from Poland, Hungary, Italy, and Greece settled in the coal camps and contributed to the remarkable ethnic diversity of the area. Echoes of this diversity are still evident today. In the mid–20th century mines thrived at Capels, Caretta, Coalwood, and Berwind. On January 10, 1940, the Bartley No. 1 Mine explosion killed 91 miners, and subsequently, Havaco No. 9 mine explosion on January 15, 1956 claimed the lives of 15 coal miners. Extraction of the low-volatile coal continued unabated through the energy boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Since 1990 this coalfield has been on the decline and outmigration has robbed the area of 75% of its population. (In 1950 McDowell County had a population of approximately 100,000 people, which was reduced to about 22,000 people in the 2010 census.) Yet today there are a few medium to small surface and deep mines still operating. Coal camps Some of the names of the coal camps, also called coal towns, associated with the Pocahontas Coalfield are: Algoma Amonate Anawalt Bartley Berwind Big Four Big Vein Bishop Boissevain Bramwell Capels Caretta Coalwood Coopers Cucumber Eight Elbert Elkhorn English Freeman Gary Havaco Jenkinjones Keystone Maybeury Pageton Pocahontas Premier Ream Six Thorpe Upland Venus Vivian War Welch Wilcoe See also Coalfield Pocahontas, Alberta New River Coalfield Winding Gulf Coalfield External links Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains - Flat Top-Pocahontas Field (of West Virginia) Coalfields of the Appalachian Mountains - Pocahontas Field (of Virginia) References https://usminedisasters.miningquiz.com/Mine_Disasters/search_Coal_county.asp?COUNTY=McDowell+County%2C+WV Coal mining in Appalachia Coal mining regions in the United States Mining in West Virginia Mining in Virginia Geography of Mercer County, West Virginia Geography of McDowell County, West Virginia Geography of Tazewell County, Virginia National Coal Heritage Area