Coal Mining

(Abby Brown stands in front of a colonial brick building with symmetrical spaced windows and doors. Each window and door has an intricately patterned fanlight above it.)

[Abby Brown] Our history and farming here in Iowa is easy to see with corn, and soybeans, and tractors, and silos lining our current landscape. But one of the first products taken from this land is something you can't see at all: coal.

(Map marking Appanoose County in south central Iowa.)

(Hands cupping large, black rocks.)

Appanoose County is just one of several southern Iowa counties that would have had coal mines. Here at the Appanoose County Historical and Coal Mining Museum we can experience what one of those coal mines would have been like and see just how much the county has changed.

(An historical black and white photograph of single story houses built in two rows along a dirt horseshoe shaped road. A rail line runs in front of the homes.)

(An historical black and white photograph of a wooden structure built high in the air with shoots like slides off of each side.)

As far back as the 1850s, coal mines were part of this county. Coal could be used to heat homes and to fuel trains on the railroad. There are pictures,

(An historical black and white photograph of three men on a coal rail cart. One sits in front wearing overalls, a long shirt and a helmet with a light. Two others look over blocks of coal from the back end of the rail cart.)

artifacts,

(Two mine picks hang on the wall. T-shaped wooden handled tools.)

and coal mine replicas in this museum,

(A dollhouse sized building with two stories. On the bottom story are two tunnel shaped openings. A replica of a cart rail track and coal carts are attached to the end of the building in line with the second story of the building.)

and even people who can tell their own family histories from the coal mining days.

Both of your grandfathers were miners, who else was doing this work?

(Dave Kauzlarich is wearing a brown and black plaid shirt with long sleeves. He has short brown hair with streaks of gray.)

[Dave Kauzlarich, Coal Mining Expert] Well a lot of, so-called, farmers.

[Abby] Okay.

[Dave] Because the mines only worked from about September to March or April, and then they shut down through the summer months.

[Abby] Okay. Why?

[Dave] Well there wasn't as much use for it for heating.

[Abby] Okay, sure. So the workers would crawl inside these mines, which were like tunnels.

(Three men recline on short, squat coal carts so as to duck under a square shaped opening.)

[Dave] Yes. Around here, for the most part, is around 33, 35 inches high and that's what you were in except for what they called an entryway which was the main way in and out and that was five feet high.

[Abby] Oh nice!

[Dave] Yes you know I was no problem there. But otherwise it was this low area and that's why these cars are not very tall.

[Abby] The last coal mine in Appanoose county closed in 1971, but all that coal mining has had a lasting impact. The immigrants who came to work in the mines created families that are a valuable part of the community and still live here. And this museum gives us a glimpse into what life was like in the coal mining era.

Every county in Iowa has an amazing story to tell. Thanks for exploring Appanoose County with me.

Funding for FIND Iowa has been provided by The Coons Foundation, Pella and the Gilchrist Foundation.