This 1896 image shows the coal mining operation going on at Lost Creek, Iowa, located near Eddyville in Mahaska County. Lost Creek is the site of one of the deadliest coal mining explosions in history. On Friday, January 24, 1902, around noon, 67…
This 1896 image shows what the coal mining operation looked like in Colon, Iowa. Colon, located south of Oskaloosa in Mahaska County, was another town that went from a thriving community to nonexistence in a matter of a few years. Today, the only…
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.
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 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 is a photograph of the Muchakinock Coal Mine in 1896. Muchakinock was located a few miles south of Oskaloosa, located in Mahaska County, Iowa. Today, like many other communities in Mahaska County, there is nothing left in the once thriving…
This is a photograph of the Carbonado Company Store in 1896. Since Carbonado was a coal mining community, company stores like the one pictured here received almost all of its business from the men's families that were working in the mines. When the…
This is a photograph of the Carbonado Coal Mine in 1896. Carbonado, like so many other communities in Mahaska County, virtually disappeared overnight when the coal mining industry dissipated in the county. Coal mining employees went elsewhere to…
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…
