Mine Index Number: 4617
| Company Name:
|
Jackson County Coal Company
|
| Mine Name:
|
Jackson County Mine
|
| Start Date:
|
Circa 1822
|
End Date:
|
Circa 1865
|
| Type of Mine:
|
Underground
|
| Total acres shown:
|
5
|
| Acres after map date:
|
|
General Area of mining acres shown:
|
|
|
|
Shaft, Slope, Drift or Tipple Location(s)
| Type
|
County
|
Township-Range
|
Section
|
Part Section
|
| Drift
|
Jackson
|
9S 2W
|
9
|
SW SW NE
|
Geology
| Murphysboro
|
|
|
|
5.25
|
Underground
|
Geological Problems Reported
Production
| Company
|
Mine Name
|
Date
|
Production (tons)
|
| Jackson County Coal Company
|
Jackson County
|
circa 1822-1840 Sources disagree on the years of operation. Jackson County Coal Company, according to the 1878 History of Jackson County, began operations in 1822, the first systematic mining in the area. (William Boon mined circa 1810 to 1812, but his mining career was not long-term or consistent. Boon had a blacksmith shop and later became a state senator.) By all indications, this 1822 mining was not extensive, a drift that did not excavate a large amount of coal or a large area, and little is known of the circa 1822 mining.
|
Unknown
|
|
|
| Jackson County Coal Company
|
Jackson County
|
circa 1850-1865 According to the Newsam history (p. 121 and 122 of Historical Sketches of Jackson County, Illinois, 1894), Jackson County Coal Company opened their first mine in SW 9-T9S-R2W about 1850. The miners lived near the drift entrance to the mine in a town named Dorchester, but commonly known as Scotch Town. Dorchester had a lifespan of about 7 years, from 1850 to 1857, and by 1894, no trace of the town existed. This circa 1850 mine was the site of the first Jackson County railroad for mule-drawn cars, with rails made of wood with iron straps nailed onto the tops. The 1850 mine also piled coal that waited for high water of summer to remove the coal to the Mississippi River, and used a steamboat for this task in 1851. This mine closed when the high water failed for the steamboat and railroad expansion was too expensive for the mine to support. The Jackson County Coal Companies listed here may not have had the same investors although sharing the same name of operation. In both cases, the Jackson County Coal Company operations slowed and the Mt. Carbon Coal Company (or its successor, Grand Tower Mining, Manufacturing and Transportation Company, mine index 2490) took ascendance in mining operations.
|
Unknown
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|
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Production Notes
Coal Report production (if available)
Sources of Data
| ISGS map library, 4103.J31 i5.1-37
|
ca. 1931
|
1:31680
|
1:31680
|
Secondary source
|
Annotated Bibliography (Data source - brief description of information)
| Directory of Illinois Coal Mines (Jackson County) - Mine names, mine index, ownership, years of operation.
|
| ISGS field notes (Jackson County) - Drift location, thickness.
|
| ISGS map library, 4103.J31 i5.1-37 sheets 3 and 5, Federal Land Bank Report work map - Drift location, mine outline.
|
| Newsome, E., 1894, Historical Sketches of Jackson County, Illinois - General area of mining, years of operation.
|
| Brink and McDonough, publishers, 1878, History of Jackson County, Illinois - Years of operation.
|
Mine Notes
Mine Images
Photographs
