This is a picture taken at the Givin coal mines in East Des Moines Township, Iowa, in the late 1800's. Many communities, like Givin, have little or no presence in Mahaska County today. Once the coal industry diminished, the people in communities…
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 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 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 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 of a train passing the Rock Island School in Mahaska County in the early 1900's. When the opportunity arrived, many school teachers would taken passenger trains to and from work in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries.
On September 16, 1899, a horrific train wreck happened in Tioga, White Oak Township, Mahaska County, Iowa. This happened when a passenger train coming from Belle Plaine crashed directly into a freight train in Tioga. Four passenger train workers…
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 circa 1910 photograph taken of Rock Island Railroad depot in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Oskaloosa serviced a number of railroad companies in the middle to late 19th Centuries, and into the 20th Century, causing an influx of people migrating to not…
