In April 1961 â sixty years ago this spring â Gov. Lindsay Almond toured Southwest Virginia. One of the stops on his tour was Clinch Valley College, what today is known as the University of Virginiaâs College at Wise, where school officials did what school officials everywhere do when a governor comes to visit: They asked for more funding. Hereâs what caught our eye in The Roanoke Times account of the governorâs stop at the college: School officials âsaid they are unable to project Clinch Valleyâs future enrollments because of uncertainty in the coal fields. The populations of mining towns are declining because of mechanization of the mines.â