Columbia Quadrangle

Mining in the Columbia Quadrangle

Mining in Monroe County was undocumented by the Coal Reports for many years. The 1899 Coal Report stated that the coal was 3 feet thick and found at Columbia and New Hanover, but that it had “not been worked for two and a half years”. The number of mines that would have been in operation is not known, as they were never listed in the production tables of the relevant years of the Coal Reports. According to the Worthen report (1873), Snyder’s land in SE 27-T1S-R9W “has been worked in a small way for several years” (St. Clair County) and Gall’s coal mines in NW 3-T2S-R10W had been worked more extensively than any others, “though others have been opened at various points and after being worked for a short time have been abandoned”. This also happened in the Great Depression, as the Coal Report of 1932 indicated 7 mines produced a total of 4,232 tons, and in 1933, 2 mines produced a total of 505 tons. (Individual mines producing less than 1,000 tons per year were not listed.) It is obvious that mines operated here that were not recorded, but most would be of small extent and limited periods of operation. The coal was generally what is referred to as “pocket coal”, a coal with a very local distribution, often a small lense that pinches out in a very short distance. The coal was mined from the surface in stream beds, via drift entrances into hillsides and from shafts.

The Pickett Mine (mine index 2999) operated for 6 years and has a known location, but no maps of the mine are known to be in existence. Taylor Mine was known to have operated (John Taylor was the last of three operators working for one year each), but there are two locations known as Taylor Mine (mine indexes 7582 and 7583).