King Coal in Randolph Co.

For all of coal mining’s importance to the county it is handled poorly in the county histories. While a great deal is said about coal and coal mining in the county histories, the information is scattered, and treated as secondary to whatever else was being discussed. Yet, for over one hundred years coal mining was one of the principal industries of the county. Coal was being dug out of the earth to burn as fuel as early as 1831. In Howard County, mining on a larger scale was being done as early as 1849. The following is from the December 6, 1849 edition of the Glasgow Weekly Times:

SAD ACCIDENT- DEATH-Mr. Jackson Thorp, of this county was working in his coal mine one day last week, when the bank caved in, and so bruised him, that he died on Friday morning.

When coal mining began in earnest in Randolph County is not known. The first indication of coal being mined on a large scale is in the mid to late 1850s when the mining towns of Breckenridge, Shafton, and Taunton sprang up. No one is certain of the exact dates when the mines of these towns opened. Mining at that early date was not regulated, so no state or county records exist as to when mines opened or closed. Breckenridge which became Darksville opened its post office in 1858. Taunton had a graveyard and its earliest grave dates to 1857. One can probably assume that large scale coal mining had begun by the late 1850s in Randolph County.

It is perhaps no coincidence that it was in the late 1850s that the railroads came to North Central Missouri also. There is every reason to believe that the railroads had a hand in spurring on large scale mining operations. As early as 1855, one of the chief concerns of the Hannibal and Saint Joseph Railroad was whether there was coal along the line. It was at that time they discovered that the beds of coal in Macon and Randolph County were vast. According to the January 18, 1855 edition of the Glasgow Weekly Times engineers estimated there was enough coal in the immediate region to supply coal to the railroad for 900 years at the rate of 100,000 tons daily. In reading news stories and history books of the nineteenth century about Randolph County it is hard not to find railroads and coal mentioned together. The railroads needed coal, and Randolph County had it.

By 1865, a single mine could employ as many as one hundred men. The following news story is from the September 7, 1865 edition of The Howard Union out of Glasgow Missouri:

COAL OPERATIONS – A company of men have leased 40 acres of land belonging to R. G. Gilman near Huntsville, and intend to commence operations for digging coal. They will employ about one hundred men in the business. It is expected by the time they get fairly under way, that the West Branch of the North Missouri Road will be completed to that point.

The history of coal mining in Randolph County from 1831 to the 1870s is largely lost though. We know coal was mined, but we do not have specifics. This was a problem later on. In Huntsville, coal miners would dig new mines into old forgotten mines, and as a consequence the mines would flood, the old mines having had no way to pump out water. In the early days when a mine filled with water it was simply abandoned.

The earliest coal mines in Randolph County were not mines at all. The mining of coal consisted of digging into exposed beds of coal on the surface with a scraper. This was known as slope mining. This transitioned very quickly into a form of underground mining known as drift mining. This was being done as early as the 1830s and 1840s. Drift mines were mines that were dug horizontally into the slope of a hill, and above the water table. Drift mining continued in Randolph County for many, many years. A drift mine owned by G. W. Taylor was dug into the side of Depot Hill in Huntsville on the north side of Depot Street near the intersection with Power Station Road. It was one of over 20 drift mines in Huntsville and the immediate vicinity alone.

Drift mining gave away to shaft mining. With shaft mines a shaft is driven straight down to a coal bed. Then the mine is dug horizontally along the coal bed. In the early days, the rooms of mines were supported with timbers. This gave way to the room and pillar system where some of the coal was left to support the roofs of the rooms. This allowed for larger rooms within the mines. Most of the mines in Randolph County used the room and pillar system.

As time went on, mines became more complex. There would be air shafts with blowers to drive out bad air and gas. Pumps would pump out water. Eventually, the coal would be brought to the surface by steam engines. Mine shafts began to be deeper and deeper. One of the deepest shaft mines in Randolph County was the Ol’ Elliot which went to the depth of 207 feet in 1931. The State began regulating mines in the 1880s. State inspectors would inspect the mines, and make sure that they were safe. If a mine failed inspection it would be closed until the problems could be resolved.

By 1873, 404,050 bushels of coal were shipped out of Huntsville by train according to An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Randolph County, Missouri published in 1876. This did not include coal used by locomotives, or coal shipped out by wagons. The richest coal fields in Randolph County were to be found in Salt Springs Township, and it was there J. C. Chapman and David Reece. G. W. Taylor, I. Cook, William Mitchell, J. A. Stewart, and Anderson & Co. first opened drift mines. In 1878 Salt Springs Township shipped 73,780 tons of coal with 380 men being employed in the mines. The coal was shipped to Kansas City, Omaha, and Council Bluffs. Much of it was also used locally for locomotives as well as home heating.

To give an idea of the amount of coal being mined in Randolph County in 1884, in the History of Macon and Randolph Counties, the following coal mining companies are mentioned: Anderson & Co. Coal Miners and Dealers, Collins Coal Company, Huntsville Coal Company, Independent Coal and Mining Company, Jones & Green Company, Moberly Coal Mining Company, Randolph Coal and Mining Company, Renick Coal Company, Star Coal Mining Company, and Woodard Coal and Mining Company. In addition to these mining companies there were individuals that also mined coal on their own outside of a company as well as smaller companies not mentioned in the history. And in 1884, the peak mining years of Randolph County were still ahead.

By 1891 according to the book Mineral Resources of the United States, Randolph County was producing 274,520 short tons of coal a year making it fourth in the state in coal production. The mines employed 535 men at that point. Coal production continued to increase, and in 1911 Randolph County produced 483,800 tons of coal according to the Minerals Yearbook published in 1912. By 1931, shaft mining was giving away to strip mining, and according to Jack Conroy in the essay, “A Groundhog’s Death” published in the late 1930s shaft mining was no longer profitable. The last shaft mine in Randolph County closed in 1966.

Shaft mining was dangerous, and Randolph County was not free of mining accidents. Even so, the county avoided major disasters like those seen in West Virginia where dozens, sometimes upwards to one hundred miners were trapped in mines. Most mining accidents in Randolph County involved no more than one or two men. In September of 1901, two men died in a drift mine near Rolling Home, their names were given in the news stories as Red and Bush. In November of 1908, Vic Kitchen was killed from falling rock in a mine, while Will McCullough later died from injuries in the same incident. In July of 1909, Tom Conroy and J. M. Morris were badly injured at the Monkey Nest Mine (the Eagle Coal Mine made famous by writer Jack Conroy). They were blasting, and were caught in one of the explosions. In 1915, Sterling Farris was thought killed in a mining accident, but was found, and was only badly injured. Accidents in shaft mines surprisingly increased during the 1920s and 1930s even though fewer men were being employed in the shaft mines. Jack Conroy in “A Groundhog’s Death” attributed this to lax safety procedures brought on by the state not inspecting mines as they should.

Perhaps the most memorable mining disaster in Randolph County started on August 17, 1936. Ed Stoner had reopened an old shaft mine near Moberly. Stoner could not afford much of the safety equipment such as air blowers, but opened the mine anyhow. According to Jack Conroy in “A Groundhog’s Death” mine inspectors were rarely seen at that time. Stoner hired Jack McCann, Demmer Sexton, and George Dameron to help him. While in the mine, an above ground fire broke out, perhaps started by the old Buick engine they used to hoist the coal. Trapped, they sought refuge in the mine.

McCann and Stoner went in search of fresh air in an attempt to get out of the mine. Ed Stoner died due to the gases in the mine followed by Dameron. McCann returned to where they had barricaded themselves in, and then after fifteen hours went out in the tunnels again. He found a jug of water beside their dead pony, and carried it back to a weak Sexton. At that point he could hear men above ground digging to get them out.

Over a thousand people had gathered to watch the rescuers dig. At first they tried digging through the air shaft, but then it was decided they had to dig directly into the main shaft. All totaled the men were trapped underground for seventy-two hours. Ed Stoner and George Dameron as well as their pony died. McCann and Sexton spent quite a while in the hospital recovering. The mine disaster resulted in an investigation, the result of which state inspectors stressed the importance of safety regulations being obeyed.

With coal mines came mining camps. These camps were essentially small towns with their own stores, and occasionally a post office or railroad depot. The early days of mining in the county saw such mining boom town arise as Breckenridge, Elliot, Harkes, Kimberly, McMullen, Shafton, Sunshine, and Taunton,. Some of these towns were very short lived. Kimberly only existed from 1895 to 1908. After that it was just a name on a piece of paper. Others like Elliot existed for decades. Of these settlements, only Breckenridge still maintains any sort of population. Breckenridge became what we now know as Darksville. However, both Kimberly and Harkes still appear on maps despite being open fields and pastures.

Elliot had the most sustaining power besides Breckenridge. Elliot started in 1877 and its mines did not close until 1912. At one point Elliot was the fourth largest town in Randolph County as at its peak it had a population of over 600. . Elliot was named for John S. Elliot a stockholder in the mining company. It was almost named Fleming for Thomas Fleming who brought about the town’s settlement.

Thomas Fleming of Fort Dodge, Iowa came prospecting for coal in the 1870s. He sank several shafts with no luck until he finally found coal at the site that would become Elliot. The Osage Coal and Mining Company bought the mineral rights to the Ben Ragsdale farm as well as property along the MK&T Railroad. Elliot was company owned. All the houses were owned by the Osage Coal and Mining Company. Even the school house which doubled as a Methodist Church was owned by the company. The mine closed for two years in 1890 due to the loss of a contract with the MK&T Railroad, and many families left. In 1905, the mine was sold to the Randolph Macon Coal Company. It was sold again to the North Central Coal Company who closed the mine in 1912. Since Elliot was a company town its population moved away. In its time however, it boasted a post office, a general store, a railroad depot, baseball team, and even a concert band. One has to wonder if the coal company had allowed the miners to own their own homes and businesses if the town would not have survived to this day.

In the 1920s, small scale strip mining came to Randolph County, and by 1933, according to an edition of the Moberly Monitor-Index, 55 men were employed at the strip mines in the county out of between 240 to 250 coal miners total. However, the number of men employed by the strip mines would gradually increase, while those employed by the shaft mines would decrease. Strip mining or surface mining consists of digging away the surface of the land to get to coal not easily gotten to via shaft mining.

The first large scale strip mines in Randolph County appear to have been operated by the Huntsville-Sinclair Mining Company. Huntsville-Sinclair opened its first strip mine in Randolph County in May of 1932. The mine was intended to cover 2,000 acres, and was to be mined by a Bucyrus revolving steam shovel weighing 300 tons, which cost over $200,000. In its first few days, the shovel dug a pit 30 feet deep. A 2300 volt power line was built to power the mine, and a temporary pumping station put in. At that time, they expected seven trucks capable of hauling six tons each to be put into operation. Plans for the mine had begun in 1930 when $141,000 was spent to buy the land needed. At that point it was expected that the mine would eventually employ between 300 and 400 men.

The early days of these mines were troublesome. In 1934, work at a Huntsville-Sinclair strip mine between Huntsville and Moberly was halted when shaft miners marched on the mine. The march was organized by union leaders J. R. Ferns and W. E. Kidd. The May 16, 1934 edition of the Moberly Monitor-Index estimated there were between 200 and 700 miners that were a part of the march. At one point, one of the dump trucks was wrecked, the road was blocked, and threats were made against the strip miners. Eventually, the sheriff was called in. Kidd accused Huntsville-Sinclair of paying its 100 miners at the mine under the wage allowed by regulations. He claimed this made it difficult for the deep shaft mines to compete with the strip mining companies. Essentially, he accused Huntsville-Sinclair of being responsible for shaft mines closing. The conflict continued and on May 18, 1934 the National Guard was called in to deal with the union workers.

Strip mining like shaft mining was dangerous business. The Huntsville-Sinclair mine had been only open a few months when Ursel Rothwell was seriously injured from being caught in a cable. In November of 1933, Henry Kohler of Huntsville was crushed by falling rock at one of the Ernest Riley Workings of the Huntsville-Sinclair Mining Company. In February of 1935, Ralph Cooper had his leg crushed by a rock thrown by a dynamite blast. Then in November of 1935, Hadley Hughes who was only 26 was killed by a high voltage wire at one of Huntsville-Sinclair’s mines. While such accidents would become less common, there was not a year some injury though sometimes minor happened at the strip mines.

From nearly the beginning of strip mining in Randolph County there were concerns of pollution. In 1935, Grace E. Dickerson sued the Huntsville-Sinclair Mining Company. She accused them of polluting Stinking Creek near Huntsville which ran adjacent to a property she was administrator for. According to her, the cattle would not drink the water, and the pollution killed all the fish. The coal company maintained the pollution came from abandoned slope and drift mines, and that the stream was dry most of the year to begin with. Huntsville-Sinclair lost the case, and Dickerson was awarded $4,500.

In the decades that followed, strip mining operations in Randolph County grew larger and larger. Another strip mine was opened in 1935, this one by the Central Coal and Coke Company northwest of Huntsville. This was followed by a mine opened in 1936 by the Binkley Mining Company. At that time, the Binkley mine had the world’s largest shovel. The shovel was manufactured by the Bucyrus-Erie Company, and seventy people could stand in its bucket. In one scoop it could dig to a depth of 70 feet. It was the first of many large shovels to operate in North Central Missouri.

The most renown of these shovels was “Big David.” When it was built in the 1960s it was the largest shovel to date. According to a story in the March 20, 1962 edition of the Moberly Monitor-Index, it stood as tall as a twelve story building. Big David weighed 6,538,000 lbs, and in 1962 mined 853,481 tons of coal. That is nearly double the output of every shaft mine in the county in 1911. Its shovel could move 90 tons of rock and dirt in a single scoop. It was run by 7,200 volt powerlines, and had as much horsepower as the largest ocean liners at the time. In its day it was the largest mobile shovel in the world. It would later be followed by other even larger shovels operated by AECI.

Due to the large amount of coal being mined in Randolph County, the Thomas Hill Energy Center was built in Randolph County. The Thomas Hill Power Project as it was initially called was started in 1964 at the cost of $32,000,000. It began operation in 1966. Thomas Hill Lake which was built to help cool the plant cost an additional $5,000,000. Randolph County beat out Chamois, Boonville, and Palmyra as being the site for the plant. The plant was expanded in the early 1980s.

Strip mining in Randolph County would continue until 1994. At that time, the mines began closing in Randolph County, victims of the Clean Air Act. The coal in Randolph County contains high amounts of sulfur, which made it expensive to process to meet government regulations. It became cheaper to obtain coal from Wyoming for the power plant. Yet, in 1992, Randolph County produced 90% of the coal in Missouri

In the years since, much time and money has been spent reclaiming the coal fields. As a result, of over one hundred years of mining Randolph County had to suffer the consequences. The land itself, while it has been reclaimed, will not be as rich as it was once. In nature, it takes hundreds of years to rebuild top soil, a process that is only now beginning with the reclaimed strip mines. The reclaimed land is not suited to crop farming although it is suited to grazing cattle.

A far worse situation is one caused by the old slope, drift, and shaft mines. A study conducted in 2002 by the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (DNR) found that the water of Sugar Creek was overly acidic due to water seeping from old slope, drift, and shaft mines along it. This was even after reclamation efforts from 1983 to 1994. Prior to that, the stream had dumped coal waste on five acres of farmland. Ninety thousand tons of coal waste was removed. Unfortunately, the DNR did not find a solution in 2002 for the acidity of the water of Sugar Creek. Closing the mine entrances could cause water to build up in the mines which in turn would cause a blowout somewhere in the mine. Such a blowout would send even more coal waste into Sugar Creek. The ideal solution of filling in the mines was determined to be cost prohibitive.

A similar problem exists in the city of Huntsville itself. A study conducted from July, 1987 to December 1988 by Dale W. Blevins and Andrew C. Ziegler for the DNR found water in Huntsville to have a number of pollutants due to the old drift and shaft mines. The runoff from the mines was highly acidic, and contained iron and sulfate. Eighty percent of this runoff came from two springs in old mines. The streams in Huntsville eventually run into the East Fork of the Chariton River, and the pollution has an impact on fish in the river as well as wildlife that drink the water from it. One only need go to West Depot Street in Huntsville, Missouri and look at the stream that runs west of the Elementary School and see the orange water to realize it is polluted.

In addition to polluted water, this study also found there was a threat of subsidence. Subsidence is when the ground sinks due to a collapsing mine. Most often they found this happened near the entrances to mines, and after a heavy rainfall. The areas most under threat of this in Huntsville are the area west of Downtown Huntsville where there were several old drift mines, and northeast of the Huntsville City Cemetery where there was a sizable mining operation in the late nineteenth century. Also at risk is the area along Highway 24, and an area south of Sutliff Stadium. The threat of subsidence is very real in other parts of the county as well. It is surprising that there are no large sink holes appearing in various parts of the county given how much drift and shaft mining was done.

For over one hundred years, coal mining was one of the major industries in Randolph County, perhaps second only to the railroad. At times the mines in Randolph County employed upwards to one thousand men. Outside of farming, it was the only industry that was seen in nearly every part of the county. There were mines around Thomas Hill and Darksville, mines in and around Huntsville, mines around Moberly, and mines around Renick and Higbee as well. When the mines closed in the 1990s it was as crippling a blow as when the Wabash Shops left in the early 1960s. It is a shame that early Randolph County histories never really talked about coal mining. It was after all a big part of Randolph County’s heritage.