Over the past eight years I have spent considerable time trying to locate coal scrip from southeastern Kansas with very little success. On a number of occasions, I was able to do some research at Kansas University to sort out information on the names, locations, and status of the former coal mining communities of Crawford and Cherokee counties. Only a very few former coal camps are now hamlets and villages which may account for the scarcity of Kansas coal scrip. I might add that the only Kansas coal scrip, in addition to what Edkins has in the first book, I have found is McCormick Coal Co. Fuller, KS., A.B. Ryder Mercantile Co. (c/s for Gross Camp Mines) Gross, KS., United Club of Midway (Midway Pioneer Coal Mine Camp) Midway, KS., and Larson Bro. (Mine) Weir, KS. which are round cardboard tokens.
Now for a little history of the Kansas Coal Field which I would like to share with the members. The construction and opening of the first underground shaft-mine in Southeast Kansas, near the present day village of Seammon, was in 1874. This first underground mine signaled the beginning of coal mining in Cherokee County and adjacent Crawford County. In the following years, other shaft mines were opened in the coal-bearing areas of the two counties. Underground mining continued until the 1930's when strip-mining started to take over. Prior to the first underground mine in 1874, there were two forms of mining: drift mining and strip-mining by animate power. The small early drift mines were along outcroppings of coal beds on the hill slopes and sides of ravines. They were called "gopher hole" mines. In these early days strip mining was done by teams of guided mules pulling scraps and plows over coal seams that had very little ground over them. These two forms of early day mining proved ineffective due to the small volume of productions.
The Weir-Pittsburg (Cherokee) coal field was found to be the most important seam in the coal field due to a thickness of three feet and covering a large area. The average shaft mine in this coal area was 285 feet. There were about 290 important mines with vertical shafts downward to the seam and then extending tunnels into the coal seam. Many of these larger shaft mines had a degree of permanence about them and stimulated the rise and growth of nearby assemblages of houses, shacks, and other structures which served the needs of the operators and employees of the mines.
Going through numerous sources of material at Kansas University I was able to locate over 100 sites of former coal mining communities. A number of these settlements survived to become rural and urban communities, which presently have no connections with mining except for their early beginnings. Most of these former communities are nonexistent.
Two major factors stimulated the rise of mining camps and communities in the coal fields. First was the urgent need for housing to accommodate the large numbers of mostly foreign-born miners and their families.
A second factor was the lack of transportation during the early days of underground mining, so the poorly salaried miner had to live near his place of employment. So the coal companies built "company houses", a "company store" and a community hall. The larger mining communities had rooming houses, hotels, saloons, churches, schools, blacksmitheries, railway trackage and even farms.
The establishment and growth of the coal mining communities in the coal field began in the late 1870's. The first camps were located in the southern portion of the coal field in Cherokee County and spread towards the northeast into Crawford County as the field was extended and developed. The most active period for the establishment of the mining settlements was probably between 1890 and 1910. The communities were disseminated from one end of the coal field to the other as were the underground mines. Presently, there are no mining communities in Kansas. The last few probably became defunct in the 1930's.
The coal mining communities besides being near shaft mines were located on section roads. In talking to former coal field employees and other knowledgeable persons disclosed that generally the section roads preceded the coal camps. Many camps were located at crossroads. The physical expansion of some camps extended into the peripheries of two or more sections. The reason for this by the coal companies was to provide easy access to mine and camp. Access to a mine and its camp, located in the middle of a section, was by a short road or roads, which connected with the straight section roads. Vestiges of some of these dirt roads can still be seen in the countryside, although mines and camps are gone.
Streets of the camps were usually oriented to the basic directions of the compass (north-south and east-west). The streets and roads in most of the camps show they were essentially parallel to the section roads which formed the most important street in the mining communities. The blocks between the streets were divided into lots.
There were two basic types of houses in the coal mining settlements in Kansas. One was more or less square with a hipped-roof and the other was the elongated ("crackerbox"). The square type was the larger of the two and was used by larger families. The elongated ("crackerbox")house is built like a boxcar and cut crosswise into three rooms. The two basic house types were further modified and enlarged by joining two or more of them into T-shaped, L-shaped or U-shaped structures. These houses can be seen today on some farms and in small settlements which were once coal mining camps.
I found that geographical names of the mining camps originated from several sources. A number of camps were named for the owner of the land which was leased or purchased by the coal companies. As example, Capaldo, a former coal camp in Crawford County, was named for the original owners of the land. Ringo, another camp was named for the owner of the land. A number of camps were named for coal operators, superintendents and coal companies. For another example, Fleming, a camp in Crawford County was named for Ira Fleming, superintendent of a coal company. Scammon (Scammonville) in Cherokee County, once a large mining camp, was named for the Scammon brothers, who were early coal mine operators. Kirkwood and Crowelburg, both in Crawford County were name for A.B. Kirkwood, a co-owner of the Wear Coal Company and the Crowe Coal Company.
Another camp was named for its geographical position; Midway, an early camp in eastern Crawford County, was named for being Midway between Fort Scott and Baxter on the stage line. (Token known from here is United Club of Midway which was Midway Pioneer Coal Mine Camp) a few mining camps were named for natural features or characteristics, such as Mulberry, Lone Oak, Breezy Hill and Mineral City.
The most important coal companies were the , Western Coal & Mining Company, Cherokee-Pittsburgh Coal & Mining Company, Central Coal & Coke Company, Mayer Coal Company, Clemens Coal Company, Kansas & Texas Coal Company, Crowe Coal Company, Pittsburgh & Midway Coal Mining Company, Wear Coal Company and the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway Company.
Several camps were interestingly named after the numbers of the shaft mines of the larger coal companies. To illustrate, the Central Coal Coke Company had mines numbering in the 40's and 50's; there were number42, 43, 45, 48, 49, 50 and 51. The camps assumed the names as 42 Camp, 49 Camp, 50 Camp, and 51 Camp. Camp 50 is the only one that survived and is now a small rural hamlet. The Sheridan Coal Company had its numbers 3, 4 1/2, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12 and 14 mines after which camps were named. These Sheridan camps have been nonexistent for years.
Some mining communities have interesting and humorous names. The Cherokee-Crawford coal field was a good one. I came across names as 4 1/2 Camp, Dogtown (named for the abundant dogs kept by the miners), Little Italy, Red Onion, Red Camp (named for all red houses). Water Lilly, Gebo Camp, Pumpkin Center, Chicopee, Klondike, Blue Goose, Scabpatch (named for non-union miners), Frogtown (named for frog infested pond near camp), and Buzzard's Roost Camp.
The number of employees in these underground mines in Cherokee-Crawford counties reached 10,000 around 1917-1918. In Addition to mostly European nationalities there were also a number of native-born blacks. But by and large they were "melting pots" of Italians, Australians, Germans, Yugoslavs, French, Belguims, English, Welsh and Scots. The mining camps ranged in size from less than 50 people to over 1,000. The majority remained small.
I failed to mention earlier that the main seam (Weir-Pittsburgh) was one level, not multileveled as they commonly were and are in the Appalachian coal areas. Once an underground area of the seam was mined out, the mines were closed and dismantled and new mines opened elsewhere. The camps were commonly moved including the houses, shacks and all other buildings after being disassembled and moved on railroad flat cars or on huge flat wagons pulled by mules and horses. It has been said that a mule shed of an old camp, may be a miner's shack in the new camp. The transported houses, shacks and other buildings, now a part of a new coal camp, were lined up in rows with the vacant ground between the rows of houses becoming the dirt roads and streets of the new camps.
Establishing new camps was frequently repeated during the period of shaft mining from 1874-1930.
During the late 1920's and early 1930's a series of problems, acting in combination, caused a steady and rather quick decline of underground mining in this coal field. The main reasons were the depression, the rise of mechanized strip mining, competition from oil and gas, labor problems (strikes), and competition from Eastern coals.
With the decline of underground mining, the landscape of these two counties changed as the mines closed, the camps near the mines were vacated and gradually fell into various stages of decay. Many miners went to other operating mines in the area, migrated to other coal mining regions of the U.S. or entered different trades. Some miners retired or went on welfare and remained in a few of the coal camps.
Most railroad spurs, ties and tracks were removed although there is still some abandoned railroad equipment visible today. Most of the dirt roads leading to the mines and camps have grown over by vegetation or plowed for use as cropland. About all that is left of numerous camps are the remnants of foundations, sidewalks, cellars, and water wells along with the tailing pile or dump of the former mine.
A few of the mining camps survived the decline of underground mining and became hamlets, villages, towns and one city (Pittsburgh), Pittsburgh, Arma, Frontenac, Mulberry and Scammon were located on one or more railroad lines and this advantage lent stability to their communities and helped to sustain them during the decline of underground mining.
In summary, commercial shaft mining, stimulated the beginning and growth of numerous mining communities in the Cherokee-Crawford counties and coal field. A number of present-day rural and urban communities can trace their origins back to a coal camp near an underground mine. But most camps fell into physical decay after the miners departed. Where crops now grow and cattle now graze on many sites, there were once busy mines and mining camps. With the close of the last shaft mine in this coal field, a colorful and important era of mining ended which had a profound impact upon the history of this portion of southeastern Kansas.