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Mines in Johnson and Franklin
Counties Produce High Grade Fuel
Coal –because of its great
commercial value – has been a great factor in the advancement of
Arkansas particularly that part of the state northwest of Little Rock.
Of the many minerals in
Arkansas, coal, with the exception of bauxite, has meant the most
financially to the state since the first vein was discovered in 1841 on
the east bank of Spadra creek, a few hundred feet from the Arkansas
River, about four miles south of Clarksville.
Hundreds of thousands of
tons of “the finest coal in the world,” have been taken out of Johnson
and other northwest Arkansas counties.
The field in Johnson county
is almost as old as Arkansas.
Two major veins are known to
exist, one of them anthracite, this latter vein being in the extreme
western part of Johnson county and running into east Franklin county.
The veins range from 30 inches to four feet, and the quality is reputed
to be as fine as the world produces. Because of this excellent product
this field has won favor in all the coal markets in the United States
and in some other countries.
In 1843 barges served to
send coal down the river to Little Rock and other points, but because of
the remoteness of the locality, inadequate facilities for
transportation, lack of knowledge concerning its use, and the extensive
forests of wood to be had all over the state without expense, the mining
business was soon abandoned and years passed before operations were
really profitable.
Resumed in 1876
As early as 1876 land was
being leased around Coal Hill for coal and minerals, and soon shafts
were sunk and actual coal mining operations started. In was here in
1881 that E.A. Kline brought convicts to the location to work in the
mines and while convict labor was employed off and on for several years,
these workmen were not a success.
In 1879 A.B. Hillmantle and
Stiewel and Company were mining coal at Spadra and in 1893 the Clark –
McWilliams’s Coal Company was formed by N.R. Clark and N.M. McWilliams.
Mr. McWilliams died several years ago, but Mr. Clark, who is the oldest
operator in the Spadra field, with his associates continued operation of
the mine until early 1936 when they sold their interests in the company
and the name was changed to Blue Blaze Coal Company. However, Mr. Clark
is still actively engaged in the mining industry, being interested with
his brother, son, and grandson in the operation of the Clark Coal
Company mine at Jamestown at a location not so far from the site of the
first activities back in 1841.
Mr. Clark is a veritable
encyclopedia on the mining subject and discusses with interest the
problems and difficulties confronting mine owners through the past half
century, and the decided change in methods of mining as inventions in
machinery and equipment simplify the work in its entirety. His first
shaft was sunk to a depth of 48 feet and all work was of necessity done
by hand labor, except the pulling of loaded mining cars to the surface,
this being done by mules. Here the coal was broken into large lumps and
loaded into railroad cars. At that time the capacity of the railroad
cars was approximately 14 tons, compared with the modern hopper car of
today holding 50 to 75 tons. Mr. Clark stated that the railroad
equipment of that day was so light that a wooden rail in the switch
track would last about seven months.
Strip Mines Operated
Since that time, coal has
been mined from shafts, slopes, and stripped. In the early twenties
three strip pits were operated about three miles west of Clarksville by
Werner – Dunlap, C.C. and E. Coal Company, and Albro Martin, this method
being to strip the rock, and dirt from the coal, mammoth steam shovels
being used in the operation. These pits were 45 feet in depth, and
before the plants were dismantled several years ago, about one million
tons of coal was mined in this manner. At the present time there are no
strip pits in the field, two slope mines and nine shafts.
The modern shaft is 300 feet
or more in depth. A tipple is erected at the top of the shaft wherein
is installed the elevator or cage that takes the workmen to and from the
bottom, takes all material and supplies to the bottom, and brings the
miniature cars of coal to the top. At the bottom of the shaft runways
branch off into entries and rooms, forming a perfect network for human
activities in the underground workshop. As the coal and rock are
removed, timber props are used at intervals to prevent the fall of the
roof from this subterranean chamber. A mining machine is one of the
very best inventions for the work underground. This machine with a crew
of two cuts coal usually each night so that the rooms or entries will be
ready for the miners the next day. The coal is still loaded by hand
onto the little cars, and aside from the hazardous work of possible rock
falls, the only bad feature about the work is that the rooms are on an
average only three feet eight inches in height, necessitating
considerable stooping of workmen.
Mules are still used to pull
the mine cars to the shaft, or to the main track in slope mines. Into
Grate, Egg, No. 4 Nut and slack the coal goes into railroad cars and is
soon ready to be moved to the consumer. Stray pieces of slate or rock
that have escaped the eye while being loaded in the mine are removed
before the finished preparation hits the car, and the product as
received by the consumer is real perfection.
Coal Being Trucked
Because of bad roads and
inaccessibility of railroad facilities, coal from the semi-anthracite
field in the western part of Johnson county, known as Philpot field, has
not been offered to outside markets until the past few years. However,
with improved conditions everywhere, the coal is being trucked to Ozark
in Franklin county, the most convenient railroad station to the field,
and moved to outside sources. This vein of coal is not as thick as the
vein in the Spadra field. It ignites almost like kindling and swells as
it burns, and when it is finally consumed there is nothing left to
signify that the fires has been, save a handful of red ashes. This
field is so named because a man by the name of Lynn Philpot owned the
land on which it was found and operated the mine for years.
Back to the Spadra field, a
condition that has seen a decided change through the years is that years
ago each mine was a complete camp, or colony. Row upon row of houses,
all alike were erected and the mine with its own water supply, electric
lights, and other conveniences, was a small town. Now the buildings
have rotted or have been moved away and the various workmen, the biggest
per cent of them owning automobiles, drive to work each day, some as far
as 15 miles.
The field has been unusually
lucky in the matter of accidents, and while several men may be killed
during a season, a catastrophe has never occurred, and because of the
safe and superior construction, such an event has never been given
serious consideration. Each mine has an airshaft some distance remote
from the cage or main shaft, and should it be impossible for the men to
leave the shaft by the cage, they can make their way safely out by the
airshaft.
Every mine has a nickname,
and the employees seldom use the correct firm name, but will speak of
the Golden Goose, Tightwad, Green Persimmon, Blue Bird, Fernwood,
Sunshine, or Canned Head.
The mines in the Spadra
field are Diamond Anthracite Coal Company, E.H. Johnson Coal Company,
Kemp Coal Company, Harding Coal Company, Clark Coal Company, Blue Blaze
Coal Company, D.A. McKinney, Collier – Dunlap Coal Company, RaJaDa
Anthracite Company, McAlester Fuel Company, ,and Sterling Coal Company.
The coal mining industry in
Johnson County represents an invested capital of over two million
dollars. These mines furnish employment for approximately 1,500
laborers, with an annual payroll of over one and half million dollars,
so it can be readily seen that it is in industry that the citizenship
through this century and the century that is to come may boast of and be
justly proud.
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