Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1891-06-26
COAL MINES PLAYING OUT.
Those in Northern Webster County Moth
ing but Pockets.

Those in Northern Webster County Moth
ing but Pockets.
Frank Collins, Of the Collins Brothers
Coal Company, mine operators at Fort
Dodge. Coalville, and Lehigh. in Web
ster County. says, concerning the con-
dition of things in the Northern Iowa
coal fields:
1t is summer now, and OF course
things are pretty dull and the working
force small. Then there has been a
strike in some of the mines, which has
injured the interest to some extent, and
on the whole it is a very untavorable
time to sum up the situation.
The prospects for the opening OF Kew
mines or the investment of more capital
in the industry are not at all bright.
The condition of the veins would not
warrant further investment. The So
called veins in Webster County, which
are the ones furthest north in Iowa,
are not veins ut all. They are
pockets, and the best OF them,
with possibly couple of exceptions,
have been worked out Within the past
few years the center of the northern
mining operations has been gradually
moving southwark. Ten years ago Fort
place is Lnhigh, which. by following the
river and the course Of the coal field, is
fully twenty-five miles further south.
Ten years ago, Carbon junction, on the
Illinos Central and four miles east of
Fort Dodge, was mining town of five
hundred people. In it Duncombe &
Richards, the Fort Dodge Coal Company,
and the Holiday Creek Company were
operating large mines. Now all that re.
mains to mark the site OF the once lively
burg is the scattered piles Of slack and
refuse from the mines. From Carbon
the Fort Dodge Company and Duncombe
IL Richards went south two miles to the
Foalville mines. Here several large
shafts were opened and another large
town was built, but these have all been
deserted now, and along the strag-
Cling street are scattered the
crumbling and unoccupied houses
which were once the homes OF
several hundred miners. Only few
country banks are now operating there,
where once the output rivaled in proper
tions that of any place in the State. II
was at Coalville that our company first
opened mines. We are now running a
larger mine about mile from there and
have prospected field that will furnish
us with our present output for number
of years, but it is the only field north of
Lehigh that can be operated successful
ly. The Craig Coal Company, the Wash
burns, Balchcs and others, mostly Min.
neapolis and St Paul capitalists, de.
Wcloped large fields at Kalo, across the
Des Moines River from Coalville, but
now the only company left is the Craig
company and its output is small in COM
parison to what it was five years ago
The town of Kalo has become depopulat-
ed, and even the Craig company, which
has a large business, has been compelled
to go to Angus, forty miles further
south, and open mines from which to ill
their orders. At Lchigh the Corey
Brothers, Crooked Creek company and
several other extensive concerns are op-
Grating large mines, but their output is
on the decrease and their mines are be-
coming more expensive and difficult to
operate with each succeeding year.
During the past two summers the Lehigh
companies have spent thousands of dollars
lin prospecting for coal to supply the trade
(which soon must leave them for
want of coal, but without marked sue
cess. 1t is only matter of very few
years when Lehigh will be enumerated
of the mining towns of the past. There
is considerable coal in the extreme
southern part of Webster County, but il
is away from the railroads. has poor
roofing, and will be expensive to mine,
1t is only question of comparatively
short time before coal mining in Iowa
north of the center of the State will be
thing of the past. Iowa's coal supply
will have to come from the central and
southern parts of the State or from
other States
AS far as the progress of the develop
ment of Iowa's industries is concerned.
do not think it will have much effect
outside the mining districts. As to the
price of coal in this portion of the State,
can say that railroad rates from the
southern and central portions will have
to come down, or the prices will be ad.
yanced to agree with the difference in
freights between the present and the
future sources Of supply.