We have an issue with the replica coal mine on the lower level of the museum's John L. Lewis Building. The coal in it --- put into place in the mid-1970s when the building was constructed --- has deteriorated and needs to be replaced. But you can't buy coal in Lucas County these days, even though major chunks of Wyoming pass through here daily on coal trains. What to do?
This wouldn't have been an issue a century ago, when there were working coal mines here --- as witness this postcard from the Gary Tharp collection that shows the Inland Coal Company's entry in Chariton's 1911 4th of July parade --- a 3,550 chunk of coal.
The coal, hauled out of the Inland mine just northeast of Chariton on July 1 and squared off to make a good impression, won Inland third prize in that year's parade. First prize went to A.C. Reibel's float, "filled with harness and whips, the latter being thrown free by Mr. Reibel into the crowds"; and second, to the Ladies Improvement Association, "with their street sweeper, it being trimmed all in white, with two little Gold Dust twins standing behind the driver."
After the parade, the mighty lump of coal was unloaded onto the courthouse lawn and left there for a time to remind passersby of the huge economic potential of the second major wave of coal mining in Lucas County, then set to launch.
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The first great wave of mining commenced in western Lucas County during the mid-1870s when a brilliant mining engineer named William Haven located and opened the first of three Cleveland mines for the Whitebreast Coal and Mining Co. The company bought Haven out as an investor in 1882 and, fearful of competition, made him sign an agreement that he wouldn't work along the C.B.&Q. line across southern Iowa for 10 years.
In 1892, Whitebreast concluded that the resources of its field were exhausted and abandoned the mines. Without Haven, new fields could not be located and Lucas County's mining industry nearly ground to a halt --- although a smaller enterprises continued to operate in and near Lucas.
Haven pursued other interests across the United States during the years that followed, but during the late 1890s returned to Lucas County, convinced massive coal reserves remained. He prospected and drilled --- then during April 1901 found the investors he needed to incorporate the Inland Coal Company: Smith H. Mallory of Chariton and Warren Beckwith, C.H. Smith and William George of Aurora, Illinois. Haven signed on as manager and chief engineer.
With adequate funds now available, Haveb purchased mining options on 40,000 acres of land in the Little White Breast, English and North Cedar Creek basins of Lincoln, English and Pleasant townships.
The first shaft, Inland No. 1, was sunk just northeast of Chariton along the Little White Breast during July of 1901. Ten years later this mighty chunk of coal was hauled up from that mine and trotted through the streets of Chariton on July 4.
Here's another postcard view, this one showing how Inland No. 1 looked during its very early days when it was a small-scale operation. The lack of rail transportation was the major obstacle to development of these coalfields in northeast Lucas County. All coal mined had to be hauled out by horse- or mule-drawn wagons so the markets were local and employment at Inland ranged from 30-80 miners plus support personnel during those years.
But excitement was building during 1911. The Rock Island Railroad had announced plans to build a north-south rail line through Lucas County that would include spur lines to Inland No. 1 and to any other mines the company might develop in the fields it controlled.
That line was completed during 1913 and Lucas County's second great wave of coal mining commenced as Inland expanded Mine No. 1 and opened other fields for what would become the legendary Tipperary, Olmitz and Williamson mines.
During July of 1913, Inland Coal Co. --- a project of private investors --- sold out to the Central Iowa Fuel Co., a subsidiary of the Rock Island. And the rest is, as they say, history.
For so long as Rock Island locomotives were fueled by coal-generated steam, mining in northeast Lucas County boomed. As World War II approached and diesel became the preferred fuel for locomotives, the demand for Lucas County coal declined. As a result, the industry did not survive the war.
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