Carbon Coal Mne Co.

Date 1872.

Push to enlarge.

 

Carbondale, Kansas.

The first buildings were erected by the Carbon Coal Company. They consisted of houses for the miners, and a store was erected where groceries, meats and provisions were sold.

A post-office was established, and C. P. Dodds appointed postmaster. He was also the railroad agent.

Y. M. SHIRES, farmer, residence on Section 29, Township 14, Range 16, P. O. Carbondale; has ninety acres under cultivation, and has about forty head of cattle. Located here in 1868, and was the first Superintendent of the Carbon Coal and Mining Company, and had charge of all underground work, both at Carbondale and Osage City. The first winter the company employed only 110 men, and coal reached $1 per bushel. Mr. Shires was born in Yorkshire, England, January 21, 1843. Remained there until about twenty-one years of age, engaged in mining, and came to America in 1864, and located in McDonough County, Ill. Remained four years, and was married November 2, 1869, in McDonough County, Ill., to Miss Hannah J. Heppenstall, a native of Yorkshire, England, and they have three children - George M., Frank N. and Mary C.

Osage City, Kansas.

 

The Osage Carbon Company succeeded The Osage Carbon, Coal and Mining Company, which was the first to open shafts here. The officers are W. B. Strong, President; E. Wilder, Treasurer; L. Severy, Manager; and Robert Craig, Superintendent. The number of men employed are 600; the number of shafts worked, 12; tonnage mined per day 750.

During the year 1870, the town grew quite rapidly. The first regular train of cars passed through in May. John F. Dodds, as agent for the Arkansas Valley Town Company, and for J. M. Wetherell, was very active in the sale of lots, and inducing settlers to locate. The greater number of buildings were erected on Wetherell's Addition, and this has ever since been the business center of the city. In the summer of 1870, the first coal mines were opened by the Osage Carbon, Coal & Mining Company.

ROBERT CRAIG, Superintendent of the Osage Carbon Company and Kansas Carbon Company. Came to Kansas January 12, 1871. Has been connected with the above companies since their organization, and had charge of the mines of the Carbon Coal and Mining Company from the time he came to Kansas till the organization of the Osage Carbon Company in September, 1880. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, March 17, 1838. When he was sixteen years of age he left Scotland and came to America, locating in Maryland. Has been engaged in the mining business since he was ten years of age. Visited his native country in 1861, remaining only a short time, and again in 1864, and remained six years as a manager of the Home Farm and Dalzell Collieries. Was Township Treasurer for four years, and member of the Board of Education.