| Stockton and Wright Townships, located on the western and northwestern side of Greene County, were known for many years to have vast deposits of coal under them. The rest of Greene County has some coal, and some mining has been done in these other areas, but not to the extent that has been done in the Linton and Jasonville area. For more than 100 years this area has been mined extensively of large amounts of bituminous coal, which was shipped by rail, to supply the large steel mills of Chicago, Gary, and even Pittsburgh. Electric power plants also became large users of coal. It was not until the coming of the railroad, to Greene County, that this area could be opened to coal mining. The first mine to be opened, after the coming of the railroad is believed to have been Old Island City, which was located about two miles southeast of Linton. The Greene County coal branch from Bushrod through the coalfield toward Dugger and Sullivan was begun in 1884 and completed to Dugger, a distance of eleven miles, in 1885. The track was extended on to, or near Sullivan, over the next few years, a distance of twenty miles from Bushrod. There were, over the years, at least two dozen large coalmines that shipped coal over the Bushrod branch. This branch was part of the vast Pennsylvania Railroad System, which ran from Pittsburgh to St. Louis and the old I, & V was operated as the Vandalia Railroad. Before 1900 there was no railroad through Midland and Jasonville. The railroad, which was known for years as the Milwaukee, began as a line of track, which ran between Westport and Elnora. It was called the Richmond and Evansville railroad. From Elnora its trains ran over the so-called Indianapolis and Evansville railroad to Evansville. It was later a part of the big four between Terre Haute and Evansville. In 1897, a group of promoters from Chicago, which included John R. Walsh and his brother, acquired the Evansville and Richmond railroad. The group had acquired some stone quarries at Bedford and needed coal for the quarries and the railroad. Mr. Walsh planned and surveyed a line from Elnora northwest to a point near Sullivan, thus tapping that county�s coalfields, which were already in operation. Linton coalfields, which had been opened by the building of the I.C. railroad through the town, had already made it quite a mining center. The proposed Elnora Sullivan line would have missed them several miles to the south, so they set out to induce Walsh to build to Linton and northward to Terre Haute. The city of Terre Haute would be an important asset to the railroad, already having other important lines to join up with, and it was, at the time Indiana�s third largest city. Only Indianapolis and Evansville had more population. Linton�s business and coal interest were successful in their endeavor, after promising the builder to furnish free right of way through Greene County, a distance of more than twenty miles. Landowners, anxious for a railroad donated the land for right of way, or sold it at an extremely low figure. The money required was raised through popular subscription. Construction was begun soon after the right of way was secured. It crossed White River, just south of Ilene, crossed the old I. & V. at Beehunter and was extended toward Linton. The rail construction reached Linton early in 1900 and continued on to Jasonville. The first locomotive crossed Main Street in Jasonville on March 31, 1900. It was a work train, building track north towards Terre Haute. This track opened Jasonville to the rest of the world. Before the coming of the train the only way to get to or from Jasonville was either by horseback or a horse drawn vehicle. Once the track leaves Wright Township, it enters Lewis Township, in Clay County, and it also reaches its highest elevation at Coalmont. John R. Walsh is credited with the founding of Coalmont in 1900. Its name is derived from its location in the coal belt plus its elevation, Coal + mount or Coalmont. This elevation was to have a very negative effect on coal traffic on the railroad as the old steam engines had a very difficult time pulling vast numbers of coal cars up the incline from Jasonville. This limited the number of cars that could be added to each train, but this was not all bad, if you were waiting for a long coal drag to clear the tracks so you could cross. In addition to owning the railroad, the Southern Indiana Railway Company had a large interest in the many coalmines, which were opened as a result of the railroad. The Midland Mine, which began operations about the first of July 1901, was said to be the largest coalmine in the State of Indiana. It was 285 feet down to the coal. The coal vein itself was seven feet thick, and it had a solid slate roof overhead. The mine tipple was 90 feet above the ground. The mine employed 200 men, when it was in full operation, and was able to load 100, 33 ton flats or Gondolas each day. The first Jasonville mine, of any size, also opened in 1901. This was the P. Fry mine, named for Philbert Fry who raised the local capitol to sink the mine. The mine did not prove to be a very successful venture for its investors, but it was discovered to have coal that was far superior in quality to the Midland and Gilmour mines. |
| Chapter 2 The History Of Coal Mining In Wright Township |
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