THE COAL INDUSTRY IN MARCELINE
The importance of coal in general cannot be understated. Each community and state and the entire nation relied heavily on coal for heat and power and to keep commerce moving.
Marceline was a significant part of this national movement. In Missouri, coal mining started in the 1840s,[1] but it wasn’t until the 1880s that bituminous coal was discovered in Linn County.[2] The first car of Marceline coal was loaded and shipped from a mine on Thursday, December 12, 1889, and “marked the beginning [sic] pf the carbosiferous epoch in Marceline’s history.”[3]
It was soon discovered that the seam of coal ran between Bucklin and Marceline and was about 2’ 4” to 3’ thick.[4] One report in the Compendium goes on to say, “”Vast fields of coal are known to underlie this section of the state, and our Linn County mines already produce each year about 80,000 tons. (The actual tonnage as shown by mine inspector’s last report is 86,774, the value being $187,913— Editor History.).”
One report indicates that, “Marceline owes its prosperity largely to the coal-mining industry that has flourished there for many years, the Tebo bed being the one mined. There are now two large shipping mines with short spurs from the Santa Fe railroad [Mine No. 1 and Mine No. 2] and one local mine operated by the Landreth Coal Co. … Much of the product not sold locally is utilized by the railroad.”[5]
Marceline Coal Mines
By 1912, Marceline had three mines owned by two companies. Marceline Coal and Mining owned two—Mine No. 1 and Mine No. 2—and the Landreth Coal Company owned the eponymous Landreth Mine. Two other mines were reported near Marceline, Hier Coal Mine and Chariton Coal Mine, but these appear to have not been in business long.
Marceline Coal and Mining Mine Nos. 1 and 2
Originally, the Kansas& Texas Coal Company purchased property to prospect for coal. This company operated until October of 1893, C. J. Devlin began operating it under the name of the Marceline Coal Company. He ran it until 1907, when he went broke during the 1907 Bankers’ Panic or Knickerbocker Crisis. Devlin’s former Mines No. 1 and No. 2 went to the Marceline Coal & Mining Company after the properties were closed out in bankruptcy.
Throughout all the changes, Joseph Hemmings remained superintendent, “and under his masterful direction the properties are still yielding enormous quantities of fuel to drive the wheels of commerce.”[6]
In Marceline, Mine No. 1, located about one mile southeast of downtown Marceline near the Chariton County line, opened in 1889[7] and closed in May of 1915.[8] Mine No. 1’s coal “is largely used by the Santa Fe Railroad.”[9] In 1899 it employed 299 people.[10]
Mine No. 2, located 1.25 mile north of downtown Marceline, opened in November 1905.[11] When Mine No. 1 closed and the Mine No. 2 owners purchased more land around their mine to expand, going from 5000 tons to 7000 tons a month, it ended up hiring an additional 50-60 men, increasing the payroll to about $250,000 a year.[12] Soon after No. 1 shut down, the Marceline Coal & Mining Company either changed its name to or a new company, Miners Co-Operative Coal Co., took over the management.[13] The mine later changed hands, with the Jackson-Walker Coal Co. taking over and shuttering it in April of 1923 when they started “dismantling Mine No. 2, and much of the machinery [was shipped] to their mines in Illinois.”[14]
In 1907, the state inspector’s annual report noted that company “capitalized for $30,000”, that it owns 40 acres with “control under lease” of another 1200 acres around Marceline. On this land, the company runs two mines, both working a 27 inches thick coal seam. The combined output of the mines in 1905 totals 80,371 tons of coal valued at $167199.[15]
Landreth Mine
Around 1889, J. L. Landreth, dropped a shaft with the aid of Rush Floyd and son Joseph, assisted by their neighbor, Mr. Anthony Eligman. The Landreth mine became the second coal mine in the Marceline vicinity.[16] The mine was originally referred to as the Landreth-Eligman Mine and, after two years in business, was reported to have ten miners, one of which was Jas. Hier, who was “in charge of the underground work.”[17] Landreth supplied domestic coal to the city, rather than shipping it elsewhere.
This coal mine, which was located one mile east of Marceline,[18] but some reports list it as being in Brookfield, was successful, and Landreth sold almost exclusively to local consumers.[19]
The 1907 inspection report indicates that Landreth Mine employed 12-25 miners plus additional staff. Its 1907 output was 2,500 tons worth $6875. The coal is “hauled in wagons to Marceline, where it is used for domestic purposes.”[20] Based on ads, the Landreth Mine appears to have closed sometime between 1942 – 1947; however, one report by the Department of Mines and Mining in Missouri for 1937 lists only one mine.[21] This report may be more accurate given a major fire in the Landreth mine in 1934 appears to have been so extensive as to shut down the mine.[22]
Hier Coal Mine
News reports state a fourth nearby mine, Hier Coal Mine, was opened circa 1905 one mile east of Marceline on 80 acres owned by Hugh Green and run by Jas. Hier. Hier employed 2-4 miners at this time and had an output of 847 tons of coal valued at $2416.[23] The inspector reports that when he visited it on 12 July 1907, he “found it idle, owing to a depressed local market” and the mine was full of water, making work difficult.[24]
Chariton County Coal and Coke Company
The Marceline area got a fifth mine in 1921, though only three in addition to this one, were operating by this time. Reports indicate that the company “struck a thirty-inch vein of bituminous coal…one mile south of Marceline [in Chariton County]” and was mined primarily for commercial use.[25] This mine was an re-opening of an old mine shaft, the Mullen Coal Mine, that had been abandoned.[26] This mine operated until at least the late 1930s based on ads they ran. This mine, like the Landreth mine, delivered to consumers directly from the mine.
By 1927, only the Landreth, Chariton County and the Co-Operative Coal Company (which took over Mine No. 2) were still in operation. These mines employed over 100 people.[27]
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REFERENCES
[1] “History of Mining.” Missouri DNR. Accessed 18 September 2023. https://dnr.mo.gov/land-
geology/mining-land-reclamation/history-mining.
[2] Compendium of History and Biography of Linn County, Missouri. 1912. Archive.org. Accessed
21 September 2023. https://archive.org/stream/compendiumofhist00chic/ compendiumofhist00chic_djvu.txt.
[3] Untitled. The Marceline Mirror, 19 Dec 19, 1889.
[4] Compendium.
[5] “Coal Mining in Linn County.” Rootsweb. Accessed 19 September 2023.
https://mogenweb.org/adair/www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/_molinn/coalmine.html.
[6] Compendium.
[7] Untitled. The Marceline Mirror, 11 March 1892 and “The Early History of Marceline.” The Marceline News,
7 November 1930.
[8] “Mine No. 1 Shuts Down.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 21 May 1915.
[9] “Marceline’s Coal Mines: Inspectors’ Annual Report.” The Marceline Mirror, 21 February 1908.
[10] Untitled. The Marceline Mirror, 13 January 1899.
[11] “New Mine Ready for Work.” The Marceline Mirror, 17 November 1905.
[12] “Mine No. 2 to Make Big Increase in Force.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 21 April 1916.
[13] “City Council Let’s Coal Contract.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 5 March 1926.
[14] “J.H. Hemmings Buys Company Store.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 2 November 1923 and
“Mine No. 2 Closed Down Temporarily.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 20 April 1923.
[15] “Marceline’s Coal Mines.”
[16] Landreth Coal Mine. RootsWeb. Accessed 22 September 2023.
https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~sturnbo/folklore/files/landreth/coalmine.htm.
[17] Untitled. The Marceline Mirror, 27 August 1891.
[18] “Marceline’s Coal Mines.”
[19] Compendium.
[20] “Marceline’s Coal Mines.”
[21] The Magic City, Marceline, Missouri: Diamond Jubilee Celebration, June 29, to July 4, 1963. Walsworth Pub.,
1963.
[22] “A $10,000 Fire at The Landreth Mine.” The Marceline News and the Bucklin Herald, 20 July 1934.
[23] Ibid.
[24] Ibid.
[25] “Struck a 30 Inch Vein of Soft Coal.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 26 August 1921.
[26] “Open the Old Mullen Coal Mine.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 1 October 1920.
[27] “Industrial Survey of This City is Being Made.” The Marceline Journal-Mirror, 25 March 1927.