About Boone County
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Boone County is in the southern part of the state located south of Charleston and about 133 miles southeast of Columbus, Ohio. It was formed in 1847 from parts of Cabell, Kanawha, and Logan counties. The county is named after Daniel Boone (1734-1820), famous explorer and hunter, who after establishing one of the early settlements in Kentucky, lived in Kanawha County for several years and even served as a representative from there in the Virginia General Assembly.
It is rural (although it is part of the Charleston metropolitan area) with a present territory of 503 square miles and a population of 25,703. Its county seat and major city is Madison (pop. 2,677) located in the central western part of the county. Other towns are Danville (pop. 550) located northwest of Madison; Sylvester (pop. 195); and Whitesville (pop.520) which are both in the southeastern part of the county. The county is drained by the Coal Rivers which take a northwestern course through it. The Big Coal River is in the northern part of the county, and the Little Coal River is in the southern part of the county. The rivers are aptly named since bituminous underground coal mining is the major employer and industry in the county with Madison as a rail hub for the local coal fields. In the northernmost part of the county is the Fork Creek Wildlife Management Area.
Other sources of major employment are retail, health care and social assistance,
surface coal mining, accommodation and food services, professional and finance,
construction, and trucking. There is slightly more surface mine tonnage in coal
production than that from bituminous underground mining. Automobile and equipment
repair, wholesale, security services, natural gas production, and sawmilling and
wood product manufacturing are also a minor but noticeable sources of employment.
Agriculturally there is some notable raising of poultry, tobacco, and vegetables,
but the major products are livestock and forage.