KENTUCKY COAL MINING HISTORY
The Kentucky bituminous coal deposits are divided into the Western and Eastern Coal Fields. The smaller Western Coal Field covers 6,400 square miles in parts of 20 counties and has estimated reserves of almost 36 billion tons, part of which cannot be mined economically using today's methods. The larger Eastern Coal Field covers 10,500 square miles in parts of 37 counties, and has estimated reserves of almost 53 billion tons, part of which cannot be mined economically using today's methods. Through 2000 the total amount of coal mined in Kentucky is reported to be 16.3 billion tons, while the
amount of coal orignally in the deposits was estimated at 105 billion tons. This means that only 15.5% of total Kentucky coal reserves have been depleted through the year 2000.