The Alloa Coal Company was founded as a partnership in 1835 between William Mitchell, John Moubray, John Craich and David Ramsay. The partners obtained a lease to mine coal and ironstone on the lands of the Earl of Mar in Clackmannanshire. In the 1840's, Alloa coal was exported to Canada by the Ben Line in which Mitchell was a partner; the ships returned with Canadian timber. The company was headquartered at The Whins, Alloa.
The partnership was later managed by William Mitchell's sons Andrew and Alexander and had pits in Clackmannanshire, Stirlingshire, Fife and Perthshire. The partnership became a limited company in 1898 and was nationalised by the British Government under the National Coal Board (NCB) in 1947.
Mines and pits operated by the Alloa Coal Company Ltd. included Zetland Colliery at Helensfield (returned to farm land), Craigrie Collieries on Craigrie road, Clackmannan (now a farm open storage area), Brucefield Colliery at Kennet (returned to farm land), Devon Colliery near Old Sauchie (returned to farm land), Meta Colliery near Old Sauchie (in the woods at woods caravan park), King O'Muirs Colliery near Glenochil (now a skip / recycling area), Tillicoultry Colliery at Devonside (in the woods behind Sterling), and Dollar Colliery (also called West Pitgober Mine) east of Dollar village (now farmland at westertown). Dollar Mine, as it was known under National Coal Board management, was the last survivor, continuing to supply coal by rail to Kincardine Power Station until 1973.
Before the advent of the railways, coal was transported from various Clackmannanshire mines to the port and glassworks in Alloa via the various Waggonways, of which Alloa Waggonway is the most famous. Constructed by the Erskines of Mar in 1768, the Waggonway was an early attempt at railway engineering using horse-drawn wagons running on wooden rails, later replaced by iron-topped rails in 1785.
Coal mining continued to be a large concern in Clackmannanshire until March 2002, when the last deep mine was closed due to flooding.
References:
Statistical Account of Scotland - Alloa Parish
A General View of The Coal Trade of Scotland - Robert Bald
One Hundred Years in Coal - J.L. Carvel