VICCO
By Bill Porter
From The
Heritage of Wise County and the City of Norton - Volume I
By 1897 clearing for the camp was
well underway. By 1900 railroad tracks were in place. They extended over a mile
above the company store. By 1910, VICCO had built at least 30 homes for the
miners and by 1920 over 70 homes were in the camp. A postoffice was established
in 1912 called "Vicco," an acronym for the company. In the 1920's the
company built a schoolhouse. A Baptist church was used as a school before the
company built the new school.
During the mid 1920's hard times hit
the mining industry. People began to leave the camp and seek employment
elsewhere. Many moved to West Virginia and Pennsylvania. As the homes became
empty the company tore them down. The school closed in 1928 and the children
were sent to the Banner School which was built in 1911 and consisted of only
two rooms. Because of the closing of the Vicco school, two more rooms were
added to the Banner school. In 1930 the post office was closed and mail ordered
to be shipped to Banner.
In 1935, less than a dozen families
lived in the camp. Today, the camp is only a memory with a few scattered
families living there where the camp once existed.
Three communities sprang up on the
waters of Little Tom's Creek. The Town of Dingee existed during the 1890's.
Vicco was established about the turn of the century and ended in 1935. Banner
was established in 1890 with a post office. The office ceased to exist in 1981
but the community continues on both physically and spiritually.