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Coal Mines in Greene County and Their Effect The area history is deeply rooted in coal mining. The mines brought settlers and income to the area beginning as early as the 1840's. Over the years there have been close to 450 different mines in Greene and surrounding counties. Today, there are just a handful of strip mines and remnants of old mines that still dot the rural countryside of Greene and Sullivan counties. The area was strip mined years ago, leaving over a 1000 lakes in the area. Greene County is considered a “Fisherman’s Paradise” by many. There are over 150 public lakes ranging from five to 1,550 acres; as a result of this strip mining era. In the late 1840’s all that was needed to be a miner was owning a piece of land on which one could see a seam of coal from a ledge or an outcropping in a slope. The only tools needed for a would be coal miner was the pick, shovel and the stamina to do the work. Thus began the mining of bituminous coal in Greene county. The earliest users of the locally mined coal were the blast furnaces in Richland twp., at Furnace; which was used to process iron ore. They also tried to produce coke which was not successful. The Furnace was continued until about 1850 when the mining of iron ore ceased. Coal that was mined from the Homer Booker’s Mine located southeast of Mineral city sold at 4 cents a bushel and if it was delivered it was 7 cents. At the mine entrance the remnants of the little track and coal carts can be seen and is evidence that it was a thriving business in its day of the other local rivals. When the 1850’s rolled around the demand for coal was out growing the supply. The railroads; steam ships of Richland Creek and White River; and new industries coming to the Midwest was using it at an insatiable rate. And above all the coal mines themselves were their best customers, also. The coal industry’s growth was limited to a radius of a few miles of the mines because of the lack of transportation. 1859 - John E. Wolford came to Greene county and shortly there after opened up the 1st coal mine of the county. When the Indianapolis & Vincennes Railroad was built across Greene county in 1869 the local coal mines could now step up their production of coal and ship it out beyond Greene county and more readily within the county also. The railroad had laid a fourteen mile branch which extended into the area of the coal mines. They competed for the lucrutive coal hauling business, negotiating for trackage rites over other lines and the intricate pattern of track and spurs from the main line to the mines sprung up. Props for the mines were shipped from Eastern Greene county to Western Greene county via the Monon. The Geology survey of 1869 by E. T. Cox, state geologist is very interesting. 1880's - the vast Coal deposits at the north end of the marshes in Stafford Township; Stockton and Wright townships was to be opened for deep shaft mining at Island City South of Linton by the Island City Coal Company. There was also strip mines, slope mines, and deep mines in these areas. 1882 and soon thereafter two civil war veterans Francis Marion Dugger and H. T. Neal who had held county offices, were to open mines in many areas under the name of Dugger & Neal; partners being: F. M. Dugger & H. T. Neal; to follow were Beasley, Sherwood, and Freeman to name a few that would be added. Following the death of H. T. Neal in 1889 his son Elmer E. Neal would carry on as one coal company and Franic Marion Dugger as another. This is found in the Biographical Memiors:
The Lyons Coal Company had sunk a shaft to a depth of 38 feet and was in a layer of dark, hard slate. Two miners were employed and had began work in the upper vein and work day and night taking out 300 bushels of lump coal every day. Coal of the fine quality was supplied by the Lyons Coal Company. Linton which was a small town seemed to start blooming over night in 1884. The instant the Island City No.1 owned by the Island Coal Company managed by Col. S. N. Yeoman was sunk Linton became a boom town. Investors began buying up thousand of acres land as fast as they could about two miles south of Linton. Mining of a good grade of coal soon was running as much as 1,000 tons per day. Then by 1887 as much as 1,500 tons of coal was being mined out of a second mine that had been sunk - Island City No. 2. By 1890 the miners of the Island City mines were working ten hours shifts for seventy-five cents a shift. Most of that money went back to the mining companies as rented their house, rather shack - off of the company. They had to buy at the company store as pay was accepted in scrip, called flicker or toad hide and could only be redeemed there. The script could be converted to cash if the miner paid a ten percent fee if he did not apply it to his account at the store. Hiram Turvey came to Linton, Indiana, in 1887 and was engaged in mining, which profession he learned in Ohio. He followed this work for about. twelve years, when he joined a corporation and purchased eight hundred acres of coal lands, operating three mines as the Island Valley Coal Mining Company, of which Mr. Turvey was a director. This company was dissolved in 1904 and the subject became identified with the Sugar Valley Coal Company, of West Terre Haute, with which he is now connected as a stockholder and director. 1888- Francis M. Dugger and Henry T. Neal purchased 1/2 interest in the Summit mine, located just west of Linton, which they successfully operated for several years. He opened what is known as the New Summit mine, which was sold upon the death of Henry T. Neal. He opened mines in Midland, Lattas Creek and Lestinger, near Jasonville also. Levi Moss Price's 400 acre farm was part of the old Summit, and one of the first mines worked when the coal fields were developed. Instead of selling his coal, he leased it and the royalty made him rich; the present summit mine is on his land (1910). In 1888 miners were paid wages from $1.50 to $2.50 per day. Many of the mines had their own little communities, schools and community well. There were thre large company stores: Robertson Company Store, Wolford Company Store and Fourth Vien Company Store. In 1890 the annual convention of District #11 of National Progressive Union of Indiana was held at Terre Haute on the 14th of January. Phil H. Penna, president; known as the "Grand Old Man of the Coal Industry". Resolutions adopted that day were:
Thomas G. Morgan, W. P. Rollins, Camden Smith, James Shield, T. I. Roberts, Stell Hobbs, John Suttle, Joseph Nixon, and Cal Hunter were among some of the old timers serving on committees from the surrounding area and Linton. Phil H. Penna was president of the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) from 1895 to 1896. John a. Templeton attended the 1892 National convention and served on the Finance and Defense Fund Committe. There were also non-union workers in the area. Sometimes farmers would have an out crop of coal on their land thus allowing him to dig his own coal and he would let his neighbor dig some of the coal also. The Linton mines were running every day. The Labor Movement came about in the 1890's and Linton being a coal mining town could hardly escape the struggle between the miners and operators. The influx of miners from the eastern mining states as well as Europe came to Greene county thus offering a varied ethnic background to the area. 1891 April 16 - P. H. Penna who was active in organizing the Mine workers made this statement: "We ask for an eight hour day" With the union came the strikes for better wgaes and better working conditions. At one time a 'Colored' crew was imported as strike breakers from Kentucky and it is said 'the sin could not set on them. They were quickly hustled out of town by the union miners. In 1894 Edwin L. Wolford also became stockholder in the South Linton Coal Company, and acted as secretary and treasurer of the same until its business was wound up in 1905. 1895- John Alexander Templeton personally dug the Bon Ton mine shaft and sold coal by the wagon. Though a rail switch was built in 1896, he sold Bon Ton the next year for $1,250 and became general superintendent for several Talley operations.  1892 - Edwin L. Wolford began as a stockholder in the Island Coal and Mining Company, becoming treasurer of the same, which position he acceptably held until the company closed its business in 1903 On 8 Mar. 1892 the newly formed United Mine Workers of America met and adopted rules regarding a weekly pay law and abolished the company stores. Next came the reality of the eight-hour work day and six days a week by 1898 along with a high hike which brought the miners wages to $1.80 per day. The miners were no longer tethered to the so-called shacks or houses they had to live with the company store system behind them. John L. Lewis helped in organizing the Miners union. On 19 May 1893 Island City mine burned with a loss of $50,000. One block of choice coal, 5700 pounds that was to be taken to the St. Louis World’s Fair, was burned in that fire. 1894 - Edwin L. Wolford also became stockholder in the South Linton Coal Company, and acted as secretary and treasurer of the same until its business was wound up in 1905. A choice of jobs and a weekly cash income resulted as a result of the continuously opening of shaft mines in the area. An impressive brick building was erected by the Island Coal Company and of coursebore the name "Island City Block" but it was called "the Company Store" with tongue in cheek by the miners. It bore the name of ""Linton Supply Company" and employed twenty-five people on a regular steady basis and many others at needed times. There was a huge varied stock of merchandise at all times, dry goods, clothing, hardware, notions, household furnishing, farm wares, meat and of course mining supplies. It comprised thirty thousand square feet and D. R. Scott of Levy Dry Goods from Terre Haute was the manager. Thus the Island City Mine Company had brought prosperity to Linton for the second time. Also seven additional plats was added to Linton by 1901. Another mining company was the Thorp ran by Sherwood. The "Bon Ton" mine was sank near Linton in 1895 by John A. Templeton. The "Atlas Mine " and the "Twin Mine" was also sank by him with other investors involved in those. 1895 a real estate firm composed of three men and possibly some silent partners, put out a forty page brochure advertising Greene county as:...Its other merits included...nine coal shafts turning out about 900 cars of coal daily of the very best quality woth an almost inexhaustible quanity... Levi Price operated a coal shaft on his farm from which were produced large quantities of the high grade coal for which this section of the state is noted, this enterprise proving remarkably successful and adding very much, materially, to the liberal income of which he is the recipient, though about 1897 he leased his mining property on royalty basis, since which time the coal mined has paid approximately $300 per acre. A brief un-flourished tale of a miners life follows: Mine dangers were carbon dioxide or methane gas, mine damps (colorless-no odor), coal dust (explosive), rock fall. The average miners’ equipment: Cap with carbide lamp, carbide flask, water, pick and shovel; "dummies" (paper rolled in cylinder for blasting powder) – about 3 of these were placed in drill holes in afternoon; dinner bucket (double deck, first food, and second water; Last, a lot of courage to go underground possibly a a mile in darkness, save for the flickering carbide light, water dripping from the ceiling only 5 or 6 feet from the floor. 1899 - Edwin L. Wolford was one of the organizers and promoters of the Black Creek Semi-Block Coal Company, and was secretary and treasurer of this company until they closed their business in 1905. 1899 - Elmer Elsworth Neal took charge of all his father's interests except the coal business, and in partnership with T. J. O' GARA, of Chicago, purchased the interest of F. M. DUGGER, his father's former associate, and reorganized the Summit Coal and Mining Company with a capital of twenty thousand dollars, the subject being elected secretary and treasurer of the concern, also general manager, which important positions he has since filled. The Summit Coal and Mining Company is one of the largest and most important enterprises of the kind in the Indiana coal region, giving employment to a large number of men though out the year and doing business of continually growing magnitude, the daily output amounting to something in excess of twelve hundred tons. He went to Chicago on business and would eventually move there to take charge of the coal yards. In an article on the White River Navigators of Friday December 22, 1899 this is found about the coal industry of Greene county: There are some good coal fields within a short distance, but they are worked in such a primitive manner to be scarcely profitable. The oldest — it has been worked thirty years — is the McKISSICK, three miles southwest of Worthington. It, as most of the others, is in the side of a hill and is reached by a tunnel instead of a pit. 1900 George Richards sold the Victoria Co. to a George Richards. He had acquired the Shelburn mine and reorganized the Victoria Co. which operated mines in Greene county. About 1900 Linton had a population of 3,071 and in six years in had exploded to 12,000.  Some 200 or more mines were in operation during this time in Stockton and Wright township. They contained a maze od railroad spurs to the various mine tipples. Many of the Greene county people worked in the mines and the early 1900's was the height of the coal industry boom for Greene county and was the highest population for the county which figured over 36,000 people. 1900, March 31- on this date the first locomotive - a work train crossed Main Street building track northward in Jasonville. John R. Walsh, a Chicago capitalist and banker acquired stone quarries at Bedford and bought a railroad extending from Elnora to Westport in Decatur County There were no coalmines on this line and Walsh needed coal for his quarries and railroad. He originally planned and surveyed a line from Elnora northwest to a point near Sullivan, thus tapping that county's coalfields, which were already in operation. Linton coalfields having already been opened by the building of the Illinois Central railroad through the town was already quite a mining center. The proposed Elnora Sullivan line would have missed them several miles to the south, so they set about trying to induce Walsh to build to Linton and northward to Terre Haute, there connecting his road with other important lines. Also the city of Terre Haute itself was an important asset to a railroad, it being third in size in the state at the time, only Indianapolis and Evansville having more population. Linton's business and coal interests prevailed in their endeavor, after promising the builder to furnish free right of way through Greene County a distance of more that twenty miles. Landowners, anxious for a railroad donated the land for right of way, or sold it at an extremely low figure. The money required was raised through popular subscription. This railroad now carries the intials C.M. St. P & P on its equipment and is known as the Milwaukee Railroad; the tracks ran through Jasonville, Linton and Beehunter where it crossed the Indianpolis and Vincennes Railroad on it's route southeast into Bedford. Coal was discovered in this area and with the coming of the railroad, through Jasonville, in 1900, it wasn’t long before a mine was sunk at Golden Knobs. The shaft was sunk in 1903. Its depth was 203 ft. The mine was closed down in 1908. In that time 155,000 tons of coal had been shipped out. Fortunately the location of the mine was such that the Coal Company was forced to build their railroad grade across Johnson Hollow. This grade, or fill, measured 800 feet wide, at the base and averaged 22 feet wide at the top. The coal company found it necessary to install a sewer measuring 5 ft. in diameter, to allow the natural drainage of the area, before they could begin the fill. The huge railroad-fill had to be made to extend the Golden Knob Mine’s railroad switch to the Badder’s Mine, thus forming the lake’s dam. Estimates of the cost, at the time, were $150,000. The more than two hundred or more mines through-out Stockton and Wright towships during the early part of this century allowed them to amass a maize of rail spurs from the main line to the various mine tipples. The construction of the railroads in Greene county began in 1869 and lasted till 1906; coal being the principal reason for the railway expansion and the main reason for it's decline was that the deep shaft mines were eventually being slowly worked out. The "K" - bituminous coal, from the Island City Coal and was located south of Linton. This coal field embraced over fifty thousand acres of coal lands, and the average thickness of the coal vien was not less than five feet. It was free from any foriegn substance and was easily mined by machine or by pick. Midland Mine Company in this picture below was taken shortly after the turn of the century. This depicts a typical site in the area of that day of a deep coal mine.  The first mine of note opened in Jasonville in 1901 was the P. Fry mine. This was financed by local capital headed by Philbert Fry, after whom the mine was named. It perhaps resulted in a financial loss to the investors, but the high quality of the coal had the effect of attracting corporations with money to open other mines. It was said that the coal was far superior quality to the Midland and Gilmour mines which had just been placed in operation. Later Jim Pearson leased this mine and had fair success with the operations.  The above pictures is of the P. Fry mine at Jasonville and was located near the site of the present Metronics factory on the southeast side of Jasonville. The money for the mine was put up mostly by local Greene county men. From 1910 till 1952 the city of Jasonville got its drinking water from the underground workings of the old P. Fry mine. Island Valley Mine - Early 1900s - Located on the north edge of Jasonville on the east side of North Meridian Street. Sunk in 1903, the mine continued to produce until around 1920. Grouped around the Island Valley Mine entrance are a bunch of miners  Trouble at some point brewed around Jasonville and Vivian City or Bogle's Corner, which was over the county line in Clay county it was to of happened on day and night in April 1908 or 1909. It was a village of Hungarian miners that worked in the mines arounf Jasonville. The Lattice (Latta) Creek Coal Company and Green Valley Coal Company came into being during this period also. Job Freeman was manager of the latter.  From 1901 till 1922, 18 mines had opened in the Jasonville area. They had produced more than a million tons of coal, and only three were still in operation at the time of the stock market crash and by 1933 they were all closed. The old Northwest mine had started up in 1902, and stopped in 1926. In 1902 wages for miners were $2.42 and a day. 1902 - John A. Templeton leased coal land near Linton and with other parties he sank the Atlas Mine and the Twin Mines. He later sank and operated for others the Shirley Hill Mines No. 1, 2, and 3. James B. Sherwood was largely instrumental in establishing what is known as the L. T. Dickason Coal Company, having incluced Col. L. T. Dickason, of Chicago, to purchase a large body of coal lands near Linton. This company afterward was merged with the United Fourth Vein Coal Company. Later on he bought the land and interested Colonel Dickason in the purchase of the coal lands, which resulted in the organization and development of the Little Giant Coal Company. In 1903 James B. Serwood organized and was president and manager of the North Linton Coal Company for two and one half years until its merger with the United Fourth Vein Coal Cmompany. He is at the present time a director and secretary of the latter company 1903 - Edwin L. Wolford organized and promoted the Linton Semi-Block Coal Company, at once becoming secretary and treasurer, also general manager, succeeding admirably until the business was sold in 1905. 1904 - The Island Valley Coal Mining Company, was dissolved in 1904 and Hiram Turvey one of the directors became identified with the Sugar Valley Coal Company, of West Terre Haute, with which he is now connected as a stockholder and director. Edwin L. Wolford was also one of the organizers and promoters of the United Fourth Vein Coal Company a consolidation of six companies in 1905, as follows: Island Valley Coal and Mining Company, North Linton Coal Company, L. T. Dickason Coal Company, Black Creek Semi-Block Coal Company, Antioch Coal Company, and the Black Hawk Coal Company, with a capital of one million dollars, and with the following officers: Job Freeman, president; A. B. Meyer, vice-president; Edwin . Wolford, secretary and treasurer. This company has continued business in a most successful manner, and the present officers: (1908) are: Job Freeman, president; A. B. Meyer, vice president; Edwin L. Wolford, vice president and treasurer; J. B. Sherwood, secretary. This company is doing an annual business of eight hundred thousand dollars. Its capacity being six thousand tons daily. Peabody Atlas 1906 Shipping Mines and Coal Railroads show the mines of Stockton and wright townships. I cropped the maps down to Indiana, Greene County and the Western most portion of Greene COunty where the mines were located.  In 1907 - 2,704,408 tons of coal had been mined in the county. The annual average wage of the miner was $547.28 and the cost to dig a ton of coal as 80 cents. How the 'Panic of 1907' affected the Greene county mining industry is obscure but if the stories that have been handed down through the generations are true some of the large investors were forced into bankruptcy. 1908 - Mr. John W. Graham was interested in the coal mining business at Jasonville in company with the Letsinger Coal Company, which operates the Letsinger mine, which has an output of thirty cars per day. 1908 - Mr. Harvey L. Doney is secretary and treasurer of the Letsinger Coal Mining Company, which was incorporated with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, and which operates at Jasonville, Greene county, giving employment to an average of one hundred men, and producing from eight hundred to ten hundred tons per day. The stockholders of the company are: H. W. LETSINGER, JOHN W. GRAHAM, JOHN E. MC LAUGHLIN, L. E. LESTINGER, L. J. FAUCETT, R. E. EVELEIGH, T. T. PRINGLE, J. R. LESTER, EMMA WEATHERWAX, W. L. CAVINS, ROBERT E. LYONS and H. L. DONEY, the last named owning a fifth interest and devoting his entire time to the enterprise. 1908 - Job Freeman - Fourth United Vein Coal Company, of which he was president; the Green Valley Coal Company, to which he sustained the relation of president and manager. 1908 - Vandalia Coal Mine Accident Linton, Indiana. 1911 - 18 May found in the Bloomfield Democrat was: Monon Coal Co. - - Sets Possession of the Holding of Alliance Company. Recorder Vaughn has received three deeds from the Alliance Coal Company which has kept him Busy the greater part of the week. - - The Alliance Coal Company, the corporation the acquired the Walsh properties, has holdings in Greene, Clay, Vigo and Sullivan counties. This deeds transfer all to Parley H. Noyes. - - In Greene it amounts to 266 separate pieces of property, together with 200 lots in Midland. The coal lands of the company cover about 1,500 acres. As the deeds state "for and in consideration of $1 and other valuable the amount of consideration is not known. - - It is stated on good authority that Parley H. Noyes has now transferred the property to the Monon Coal Co. The Black Creek mine in Greene county was not sold. The New Summit Coal Company was operated by L. T. Dickason and was taken over by Mr. Templeton in 1913. By this time the Island City Mine complex was beginning to wane, Elmer Neal and T. J. O’Gara began the New Summit operation. The best machinery that money could buy equipped the New Summit Mines. The coal from the mine was of excellent quality but the production of coal from it only averaged around 359 tons per day. There was a tailor made market for the coal from the New Summit mine through O’Gara and King of whom T. J. O’Gara was associated with and they were the largest jobbers of coal in Chicago and the United Stat.e Elmer Neal, C. W. Adams, E. H. Tripp, and J. W. Yakey who were considered the "giants of the coal industry" moved their investments to land leased northwest of Linton near Midland. The organization became known as "The Hoosier Coal Company. It was not long after that others followed these industrial giants to the north of Linton. By this time the mines were working only seasonal or part time as the supply was more than meeting the demand for coal. A system was developed that at eight o’clock before each work-day the mines would blow a whistle for an extended period to notify their workers that each miner should be on the job the next morning. Is was said at one time residents of Midland could count up to as many as twenty-eight whistles going off at the same time and that no two whistles sounded the same. It was when the whistles did not sound that gloom settled over the mining community. The six mainline railroads from their very beginning built their lines so that they could service the vast coal region of Greene county. As many as four of the long side tracks were used up until World War I. On theses side tracks awaited the empty coal hoppers standing idle waiting to be filled to the brim for transporting. When filled to the brim long trains of nothing but coal hoppers left the mines. The huge P & I Coal mine near the Midland Monon rail yards closed down in 1919 after a very productive twenty years. Soon other mines followed the P & I pattern in very rapid succession. The boom that began in 1901 for Jasonville joined in with the other towns of Midland, Linton and a score of others. In 1910 it was stated that - There are, within a radius of three miles of the City of Linton, sixteen coal mining properties in operation, representing an investment of One and One-Half Million dollars, employing twenty-five-hundred men, with a tonnage capacity of twenty-thousand tons per day and an average semi-monthly payroll of Seventy-Thousand dollars. 1913 - 20 September John Alexander Templeton organized Linton-Summit Coal Company, a forerunner to Templeton Coal Co., with the help of Penna, David R. Scott, John P. Jeffries and W. J. Hamilton. When he died on April 27,1935, at the time, Templeton Coal and its affiliates operated five mines in Greene and Sullivan counties, the last producing mine closed in 1954. Templeton was also a part of Sherwood-Templeton Coal Co. An explosion in the Island Valley No. 3 seam on March 23, 1918 injured 16 men, one Linton resident dying from his injuries the same night. Elvin Price, was one of the injured. By 1919 eighteen mines had been established, produced an abundance of coal and then were abandoned by 1933 as follows:
Tower Hill, Old Midland, Lenoir, Coal Ridge, Alum Cave, Big Dirty, Red Rag, Bolt, Arizona, White Ash White City Mc DOnald -Bradford - S of Linton on St Rd 59 aboned by 1934- A. B. Mc Donald & Fielding bradford  The City Mine, East of Jasonville was abandoned and moved to near Sullivan upon its abandonment. The mine was largely operated with Jasonville capital, and the same group of owners having operated the City Mine located in Greene county. These were supposeingly the top producing mines of this era. A few of the small family mines were able to hang around for several more years but only supplying the neighborhood with coal and by 1950 these ceased to exist also. Gilmore, Monon No. 7. Also known as Vigo Coal Company. Monon Coal Company. - 1901-1919. Yield: 2,291,000 tons. This mine was accessed by trackage rights on the then Terre Haute & Southeastern/ Milwaukee. A map shows that the spur (that still exists), leads directly from the Jasonville shops to the west went right by the mine. This mine was located due south of the Lattas Creek mine, about one mile south of Shakamak State Park.  Latta's Creek No 1, Monon #6. The company names are listed as: Lattas Creek Coal Co., South Indiana Coal Co.,Monon Coal Co., Alliance Coal Co. It operated from 1903 to 1923 and dug 3,559.000 tons. It was located just south of Shakamak State Park, in Greene County.  1920 the Templeton Coal Co. and the Glendora Coal Company were in operation and continued to be so until the 1940's. The Sherwood and Templeton Coal Co. was located in the northwest corner of Stockton township. They had their own power plant, known as the Anticoh Power Plant. With the ending of World War I jobs were decreasing in the mines as the decrease need for the coal for war industries and plus the inflation brought on by the war. The recession of 1921 had a minor effect. The labor problems in mining and transportation spread to Greene county and men were often out of work for several weeks or months during a strike. 1923 - April the Antioch mine explosion occured and these explosions fueled the United Mine Workers to grow in strenght and got wages raised and saftey legislation in force. Isaac Cotton was awarded the first Medal of Honor bestowed upon any citizen of Indiana by the Joseph A. Holmes Safety Association for heroic valor performed after the explosion at Antioch mine “Ike” faced what seemed to be almost certain death, in going into a fire that raged after the explosion and carrying Logan and Muirl Bedwell, brothers of Linton away, a few days later from the burns received. 1923 - The Glenburn Mission began as a mission to the un-churched nationalities of coal miners, living in the Glenburn area adjacent to Linton in 1923. The Glenburn Mission was under the auspices of the Home Missionary Conference of the Methodist Church. In 1950 the mission was sold and became Rest Haven Nursing home, and today it is known as the Glenburn Nursing Home. 1925 - 23 Feb. City Mine explosion an article with the 51 names of the deceased exists somewhere. The late 1920's bought a coal strke that closed the Bon Ton and Penna Mines. It is said that on Labor Day 1926 Alphonso McWhorter and 2 or three other men went into an abondoned coal mine to see if it was worth reopening. The mine caved in and killed all of the men. It is believed that the mine was near Jasonville. In 1928 miners wages had climbed to $7.50 a day. John A Templeton & Robert Harley Sherwood established Sherwood-Templton Coal Company. 1928 - GROUND TO DEATH BY STEAM SHOVEL by United Press - Linton, Ind., Jan.31--George Fogle, 40, an oiler at the Standard's fourth vein coal striping (sic) plant near here, was killed today when he was caught in the cogs of a steam shovel. He had climbed to the top of the boom without notifying the craneman, who started the machinery. His neck was broken and his chest crushed. Piror to the stock market crash in October 1929, ground work had been created for the Shakamak Park. A half section of it being in the norwest corner of the Greene county mining area. A switch track that had been used between two mines was filled with railroad fill to create a dam for the water from the min ponds left after strip mining operations. The depression years brough a slowing to the coal indrustry. 1931 - 23 January on a Wedensday more than 200 men who were 200 feet underground either reporting to work or leaving their jobs whe a terrific blast echoed through the Little Betty pit mine and the it was a fire. The mine was located just south of the Four-Way Bridge in Sullivan county occured; 6 miles southwest of Linton. First brought up out of the mine were the injured: Earl Bedwell who died three hours later, Don Burris, and Joe Wallace; and dead were Lotus Mitchell and Otto Hale. By 11:30 that night 28 were known dead ( most of whom were residents of Linton and Jasonville) and seven missing and dozens were injured. John Mc Phail and Donald Newkirk were amongest the dead also. The 7 missing men: Ben Snyder, Lossi Hale, Herman Brown, Julie Wellington, Charles Love, Kess Crouse and William Bedwell was found at 6:30 a.m. Thursday morning near death from asphyxiatation. Ben Snyder had scratched a upon a slate these word;" "I thought you would Like to know about it if don't get out alive" it was brought up with the rescued miners. Among the dead were: Clarence McQueary. Fred Reed of Jsonville was listed as dead in this disaster and newspapers carried his name. Besides the deceased miners it left in its wake 18 widows and 47 fatherless children. These men had either worked in grown up within the sight of mines along the western edge of Greene county which bore the names of: Tater Hill, Bogle 3, Bogle 4, Golden Knob, Green Valley, Bon Ayr, P. Fry, Lattis Creek, Island Valley 3, Gilmore and many others. The local miners union provided each family with $200 for burial expenses and the United Miner Workers of America contributed $2,000 to the local relief fund. The Newkirk family was denied any of these benifits without a reason given as to why. Yet today it still remains the state's worse mine mishap. Below are two pictures from that day.  1932 miners wages dropped down to $4.75 1/2 a day. There were always periodic strikes pending new contracts between the coal operators and the UMWA nationa policy that was imposed on ther local unions..  1935 - John A. Templeton died leaving sons Charles N., Philip H. and Rbbert A. on the Templeton board. 1937 - The mines in Stockton and Wright townships have been among the most productive in Indiana. The annual report of the Division of Mines and Mining of Indiana, for the year ending Jun 30, 1937, ranked Greene County sixth among the coal producing counties of the state, with a total of 632,025 tons. 1939 - P. H. Penna died. The Maumee Colliers was in operation in Greene county south of Linton in the 1940's.  In 1943, the Friar Tuck mine opened in Greene County, and until it closed 1952, was reported to have produced 3 million tons of coal. 1955 CHarles N. Templton died. The Comet Mine, a strip mine of coal and clay east of Switz City, and a new shaft mine , a sunk mine, were opened in 1972. Both are fine examples of what has passed for in 1912 from the Island City Mines gave to Greene county in its first surface coal mine. During the ninety-one years of mining in Greene county it can be said that there has not been a major mining disaster with a large number of lives lost. 1962, Dec. 8 about 2:30 p.m. The South Linton Coal Co. mine cut into the old works of the Buck Creek Mine. In 1973 the wage scale for the miner was $42.25 to $50.00 per day; $6.90 per hour for 7 ¼ hour work day; overtime pay was time and a half or $10.35 per hour; work on Sunday was double time, or $13.80 per hour. Holiday pay was triple time, or $20.70 per hour. Fringe benefits were 14 days vacation with pay, 1 day extra for each year worked, up to 19 years. Also there were sick benefits and pension with a special pension for Black Lung. In 1976 to dig a ton of coal cost between eight and 10 dollars. 1986 - An unique agreement between archaeological and coal mining interests led to testing and subsequent excavation of the Lattas Creek Site in the spring and summer of 1986. 1988 - Coal Inc. owns the only deep shaft mine in Greene county and is located southwest of Vicksburg in Stockton township. Only fourth vien coal is taken out of this mine. Some of the mines in the Linton and Stockton area were:
The Little Giant Mine, date unknown. Also known as, Monon No.14, Vandalia No.14, Vigo No.14. Owners: Shirley Hill Coal Company, Monon Coal Company, Coal Bluff Mining Company, Vandalia Coal Company.(1915) Operated from 1914-1921. Produced 3,283,503 tons. It is said to have been located in eastern Sullivan county, half way in between Dugger and Plesantville; but by a list of mines for the Linton area abouve it was also in Greene county. It appears to be in what is now the Green/Sullivan State Forest. The Ajax Coal Company tipple in Sullivan county took coal from the mines in Stockton township.    Maumee Collieries Company also known as Linton #28 Strip Mine. This strip mine produced 4,121.828 tons of coal from 1949 to 1960. The general location was in Greene County south of Jasonville, north of Linton and due east of Vicksburg. Maumee Collieries Company also known as Old Glory #33, Cottage Hill. Strip Mine. Alva Coal Corp. This strip mine produced 4,592.622 tons of coal from 1959 to 1969. It was located about five miles east of Jasonville off SR 48. It is now the location of a landfill. Vandalia #2 was began by The Indiana Southern Coal Co. about 1905. It than became Alliance Coal Co. It Became Monon Coal Co. in 1909. Then it sold to the Vandalia Coal Co. in 1911. It was abandoned in 1919. It yielded 891,300 tons. It was located south and east of Farmersburg, Indiana and about 3.5 miles north of state road 48. This area is now being strip mined by Black Beauty Coal Company.  Victoria The S & A Coal Corporation's new coal washer and tipple, circa 1955. Completion of this structure, in 1954, gave the railroad renewed hope for revenue on the Indianapolis & Louisville Railway Company Branch. The structure would be fed by coal from area strip mines. As a result of the mining the underground mines honeycomb the Linton area and many areas of the city are undermined. And Linton is in the heart of the coal fields. Underground (deep) mining was the dominant mining technique until the 1950s when the development of large-scale excavation and transportation equipment made surface (strip) mining more efficient. Most of Indiana's underground mines used a method called room-and-pillar mining, whereby 20 to 50 percent of the coal is left in the mine to support the overlying rock.  In instances where the remaining coal pillars are insufficient to bear the weight of the overlying rock, subsidence of the mine roof will occur. Subsidence may occur decades or centuries after an underground mine is abandoned. All undermined areas are at risk of subsidence, but it is not possible to predict when, if ever, subsidence will occur at a given locality  The 1970's was again a boom time in the coal industry for the county. The coal being stripped was shipped to the powerplants within the state and 750-1,000 men in the county worked for the mining industry. Since then the industry has declines and till about 330-400 miners work for the large companies within the county by 1989.  The high sulpher count in the coal was one major cause of the decline in the coal mining in Greene county. Yet some say the boom will come again but it looks like a long time yet to come. The Peabody Coal Company was in operations in the 1970's. Peabody Coal Company cars at the tipple.     The tracks leading to the old Peabody miller creek tipple. These tracks are located just east of the Latta yard curving around to the east and crossing Highway 59 north to Jasonville. Grade crossing at Highway 59.    In 1988 the only deep shaft mine left in Greene county was operated by COal, Inc. and was located southwest of Vicksburg in Stockton township. The coal take out was Fourth vien coal only. 1995 - Fossil Fuels Shops was sold to the Greene County Solid Waste Management District offices. The property includes 14 acres of formerly mined lands and was previously an abandoned coal mine maintenance facility for heavy equipment. The district purchased the property and established the Recycling Center and our offices in August. Location is one-half mile south, then one-half mile west of the "Lighthouse Junction" (S.R.54/S.R. 57/U.S.231). 20- 21 May 2000 Site 764 - Bloomfield Greene County Gates installed 5/20-21/00 - The Indiana Division of Reclamation's Abandoned Mine Land (AML) Program has undertaken multiple bat gating projects in recent years. These bat gates were installed not only to protect the public from dangers of open mine shafts, but also to maintain the habitat that is so critical to the bats that use these mines. 
Geology Reports etc. on the coal field of Greene county Indiana:
In 2000 Coal's share of employment currently exceeds 5% in the region comprising Sullivan and Greene counties. |
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