In West Virginia, coal is kingmaker

MOORESVILLE, W.V. – Here, in this tiny unincorporated community equidistant from Shinnston, W. Va. (population 2,306), and Smithfield, Penn. (pop. 817), the dogwoods are only now beginning to bloom, their annual springtime metamorphosis from white to green just underway. And just past Crooked Run Road, the coal trucks line up, one by one.

Dogwoods are one of the unmistakable heralds of spring, symb…