Guthrie Co. IAGenWeb

History

Coal was early mined over the entire eastern part of this county to supply the local demand. As early as 1867 there were banks opened in the bluffs of the Middle Raccoon from its entrance into the county to Fanslers and Panora in the eastern part. The Marshall Mines on Longbranch and the Lonsdale mine on Deer Creek were among the most important then in operation and gave their names to the harizons mined. The Marshall coal was of excellent quality, free from impurities and bright and brittle. The Lonsdale was also a good domestic coal and proved a boon to the dwellers of the prairies.

In 1885 there were twenty-three mines operating along the Middle and South Raccoon rivers and their tributaries in the eastern part of the county. All were purely local. Among the most important was the Clipper mine owned by Marchant and Winters and located near Fanslers. It was 126 feet deep and pierced a two-foot vein which was worked longwall. A feature unusual among the small mines was the use of storage sheds, which equalized the demand. Several of the mines near Fanslers were from sixty to eighty feet deep. Those farther to the east were generally shallow shafts or drifts. A mine which supplied an important trade at Panora was that of D. D. Rees 100 feet deep, working and eighteen-inch vein. About 1891 W. D. Simon opened the Greenbriar mine near Jamaica. It was sixty-eight feet deep to a coal bed two feet four inches thick, and was the only one in the county worked room and pillar. Steam hoist was utilized for some time and was the only installation of the kind in the county. At this time coal was selling for $2.50 to $3.00 per ton at the mine and the miners received six cents per bushel. The mines have always had a brisk trade in the winter and woing to the lack of storage facilities have often not been able to keep up with the demand as the coal was especially adapted for domestic use.

All the mines above mentioned are still in operation and of late years a number of others have been located near Yale in the same field as the Jamaica mines and near Bayard and Bagley. In consequence of these developments the industry has assumed quite an importance, although the output is not large as compared with some of the other counties and the country has never had a shipping mine.