This is an early 1900's photograph taken of a steam-operated derrick operating in the outskirts of Oskaloosa, Iowa. Derricks were used to help pick up derailed box cars on the sides of the railroad.
This is a picture taken at the A.M. Ellis Coal Mine in 1926. Today, the Oskaloosa golf course is located there. By this point, coal mining was just becoming more modernized, but was and still is a dangerous occupation.
This is a picture taken at the A.M. Ellis Coal Mine in 1930. Today, the Oskaloosa golf course is located there. By this point, coal mining was just becoming more modernized, but was and still is a dangerous occupation. Note the equipment being…
This is a picture taken at Sam Smith Coal Mine back in 1895. The Sam Smith coal mine was located southwest of Oskaloosa College, which today is on the 1300 block of High Avenue West. Today, many buildings and facilities in Oskaloosa were once the…
This is a picture taken at Sam Smith Coal Mine back in 1895. The Sam Smith coal mine was located southwest of Oskaloosa College, which today is on the 1300 block of High Avenue West. Today, many buildings and facilities in Oskaloosa were once the…
This is a picture taken at the Old Excelsior Mine Shaft #2 back in 1886. The mine was located three miles south of Oskaloosa, Iowa, in Mahaska County. Today, many buildings and facilities in Oskaloosa were once the site of a coal mining operation. …
This is a photograph taken of an original mining share certificate, dating back to December 4, 1868. The owner of the share certificate is Daniel Nelson. Nelson and his wife Margaret were lucrative farmers on the north side of Oskaloosa in the mid…
This photograph illustrates the hilly terrain found in the southern part of Iowa. Coal mines would operate on and within these slopes. This is a photograph of a coal mine slope in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1896.
This photograph illustrates the hilly terrain found in the southern part of Iowa. Coal mines would operate on and within these slopes. This is a photogrpah of a coal mine slope in Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1896.
This photograph gives an inside look of a coal mine in 1896, Oskaloosa, Iowa. Coal mines were unsafe and unhealthy places to work. Many men developed a disease known as the black lung, which ultimately led to a coal miner's death.
