page_title: McArthur Mining Company
section_title: Mid-life history
hierarchical_section_title: McArthur Mining Company / Mid-life history
caption_attribution_description: English: Corunna Coal Company 1890 Union Contract
context_page_description: The McArthur Mining Company is a defunct coal mining company. It was Michigan's first coal mine, with the first coal mined in 1839.
context_section_description: McArthur obtained in 1864 the assistance of B. Brisco, master mechanic of the Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad, in making investigations of his coal deposits to determine its value for mining. There were certain investors from New York City who became interested in the results of the reports of McArthur's coal. It was decided then to officially make a company for the purpose of mining that coal. Funds of $100,000 were raised. McArthur sold then to the investors on April 22, 1865, to the new-born company a plot of land consisting of 120 acres on the east half of the northwest quarter and the west half of the west part of the northeast quarter of section 22. The new company was called McArthur's Mining Company. 
  The investors in McArthur's Mining Company, besides Alexander McArthur, were Dr. G. M. Peck, Samuel Daskham, and Edward W. Lockwood of New York City. Dr. Peck was chosen president and Alexander McArthur as local agent. The new company erected an engine–room, a coalhouse, an office, and tramways. Their initial investment was also used for machinery and other buildings at the mines. They also constructed a very large wharf on the Detroit River where the coal was taken to. From Detroit the coal was carried by steamers to New York City. The cost of transportation of the coal was more than anticipated and soon it became unprofitable to operate the company. The company was dissolved a year after it started.
  Briar Hill Iron and Coal Company of Ohio in 1869 through 1870 sent out their representative Charles Gilbert, a practical geologist, to examine the coal region around Corunna, Michigan and the area at McArthur's Mining Company. He began testing for coal by drilling test-holes. Gilbert drilled 56 test-holes of which 46 showed coal deposits in section 23 of Caledonia Township. Henry P. Gilbert purchased from Chauncey Hurlburt on April 1, 1871, some 66 acres of land where these tests were made. He in turn sold an interest in this land in December of that year to other investors, George F. Perkins, John Stambaugh, of Akron, Ohio, and George Todd, of Youngstown, Ohio. The investors opened a slope and to mine coal in 1872. They invested over $90,000 to make the venture profitable, but within a year they went broke. An improvement that this company left behind was a railroad track from the mine to the Corunna Depot. This was a major improvement over horse–drawn and ox–drawn wagons that had been used for some 38 years before.
caption: Corunna Coal Miners Union Contract
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