Jenners, Ralphton, Acosta and Gray were each built shortly after 1900 as company towns by Consolidation Coal, a Rockefeller interest, for its newly opened deep coal mines.

Du Pont said it had agreed to sell a 50 percent interest in Consolidation Coal to Rheinbraun of Germany.

Consolidation Coal also owned the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad (C&P).

The company rebuilt the community and recruited new employees to work in the mines, but Carter regained the company when Consolidation Coal defaulted on its payments in 1933.

"No matter what we did, we were caught in the middle," said Thomas F. Hoffman, the chief spokesman for Consolidation Coal.

At that point, the Eckhart Branch became part of the C&P Railroad, also owned by Consolidation Coal.

West Virginia's largest coal field employer, Consolidation Coal, obtained a back-to-work order from Federal District Judge Dennis Knapp.

The company also owns Consolidation Coal in Pittsburgh, an important producer of coal that contains high levels of sulfur.

Watson organized several coal companies that became the Consolidation Coal and Mining Companies in West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky.

He came in 1866 as the President of Consolidation Coal, and of the C&P.