Much of the information presented here was obtained from the book "Tales From the
Trees" published in 1981 by Ailene Hayes Schneider. Excerpts from an article by
Lisa Spencer in the book are also included based on interviews with Frank Wyepski
, a retired miner.
Anyone traveling through Central Illinois can't help notice the huge slag piles
that look like purple mountains. These mountains were created from the residue
of the mine and were called "Jumbo" by the local people. Minonk had two jumbos
that became identified as landmarks. Anyone returning to Minonk would know they
were home whenever they could site the jumbos. Unfortunately, the jumbo north of
Minonk was leveled and used as fill for the new Interstate built near Minonk in 1991.
The Minonk coalmines were opened in the middle 1860's. For many years it was the
main industry in Minonk employing 400 men at its peek. There were two mines.
The first mine was located at the north edge of the city and the newer one was
a half-mile north. The mine was 550 feet deep and mining was conducted almost
3 miles to the southwest. The soft coal was considered of high quality and was used
primarily for heating homes and producing steam for the industries throughout
Illinois. Normally, the mines were shut down for the summer due to the reduced demand for
coal. W. G. Sutton was the last owner of the mine when it shut down in 1950.
The photo to the left is looking southwest from the top of the jumbo over the
coal mine towards Minonk. The circled area shows St. Barbara's Church that
was built by the Polish back in 1890. The church is no longer standing.
The miners equipment consisted of a two-compartment lunch bucket, a carbide
lamp and a pick. The carbide lamp was attached to the miner's cap. The lamp produced light
by burning a gas created from the combination of water and carbide in the lamp. After
lighting the wick the miner could control the amount of light by adjusting the flow
of water. The miners 's pick was sharpened each night by the blacksmith. Each day
the miners would spend 20 minutes being lowered into the mine.
Each then would go to their individual rooms where they would complete their "gobbing", a process
in which rocks are layered on top of each other to form a support wall where
they would be digging. Coal would be loaded into a cart and then hauled by a
mule to an electric train, which transported it to a hoist, which carried it to
the surface. Water continuously seeped into the mine and had to be removed by pumps daily from 2:00 am to 7:00 am.
Working conditions in the mines were harsh as it is with all mines. But all of
the miners took pride in their work. Life was not easy for the earlier miners
as many of them lived in makeshift shacks built by the mine owners on the road
leading to the mine. Many of the miners would go to the local saloons after work and
fill their large tin buckets with beer before returning home.
1894 Strike
While there were periodic strikes for better wages and working conditions none
resulted in any violence except for the strike in May 1894. Below is an excerpt
from the newspapers describing the strike.
Minonk, Ill., May 28. - Last Saturday 200 Poles, Belgians and Huns from the
coal shafts in this town squatted on the embankments at the junction of the
Illinois Central and Santa Fe tracks. The crossing is over 100 yards from
the station. These 200 sallow-faced and savaged-eyed strikers were stationed
at the junction for the purpose of preventing cars with coal from going to
Chicago. They piled ties on the tracks and thrust coupling pins into the
frogs of the switches. These obstructions were removed when the passenger
trains or trains bearing anything but coal steamed slowly up to the crossing, but
they were quickly and securely replaced the instant the railroad company
attempted to move the coal-laden cars standing on the siding.
To quell the strike the Illinois Militia was called. Three strikers were arrested
and fined. The trains began to move again. However, the angry miners and
their families appealed to Mayor Simpson for relief stating that their families
were starving. They had not eaten for 3 days and had no money for food.
At a meeting the deputy sheriffs brought in to keep the peace voted to give part
of their pay to the needy miners and their families.
Company Store
The miners were also victims of the company store in which the miners would
exchange script for the over-priced goods. Below is an excerpt from the local
newspaper about those conditions.
They are reported as living for days on a crust of bread and families have
gone three days without food. The causes of this, the strikers say, lie in the
miserable working conditions of employment. Lured here by promises of steady
work and good pay, they have not averaged in actual value received for the
hardest kinds of work, twelve and fourteen hours a day, more than 90 cents.
The Miner T. Ames estate, which owns the mines here, insists upon the men trading
out most of their pay in the estate's truck store, discharging those who refuse
to do this. Several of the leading merchants here said today that the prices
at this store were much higher than at other places in town, offering in proof
that the miners never use cash at the truck store, going elsewhere for less
expensive goods. One man said that 40 per cent was the average profit the
Ames estate made on the goods.
With the increased unionization of the mineworkers, the mine's company store ceased
to exist sometime in the earlier 1900's.
World's First Street Lights
Local residents like to mention that Oak Street in Minonk was the first
electrically lighted street in the world. Evidence to support this belief
appears in an article written by Seymour Berkson for a Chicago newspaper.
Knowlton L. Ames, prominent Chicagoan and head of the Booth Fisheries
Company was born in Minonk. It was through the efforts of his father,
the late Minor T. Ames, that Minonk was the second town in the United
States to have municipal electric lighting.
A friend of his working at the time for Thomas A. Edison in his electrical
laboratories. One day he came to visit Ames. After he saw the mine he
offered to install electric lights in the shaft more or less as an experiment.
That was in 1882. It worked so well, Ames gathered a group of subscribers
and had electric lights installed throughout the town.
Local legend has it that a transformer was installed at the original mine and
light bulbs were strung south from the mine along Oak Street to Seventh, then
west to the Mine Store at the corner of Chestnut and Seventh streets.
Clay Pit
At the south west of the original mine was a deep pond called the "Clay Pit".
The pond was originally dug as a reservoir to provide water for the clay and tile
works south of the coal mine. This pond was used
by the local children for swimming for many years. In the 1920's a young man
drowned in the clay pit. Automobiles were brought to the pond and their
headlights were pointed to the area were the divers were searching for the
body. Old timers who remember this event said that it was a quite eerie
and gloomy scene. Nevertheless, people continued to use the pond for swimming.
Years ago circuses and carnivals came to Minonk and they would set up their
tents in this area south of the Jumbo. There are stories of a circus elephant
that died at one of these events and was buried in the clay pit.
The clay pit was filled in sometime in the 1970's and is now the site of a
mobile home park.
MINE MULES
A rememberance by Barth Weistart
The mine closed last Saturday noon
The mules were brought to the top
that afternoon and are now enjoying
a well-earned vacation in the sun-shine
and fresh air.
The Minonk News April 4, 1912
I recall walking with my father to see the mules that had been brought out of the mine for the summer. They were pastured in the Sutton field at the North end of Oak Street and just south of the Jumbo. The field had been the site of the No.1 Mine and the Chicago and Minonk Tile and Brick Company in the 1800's. In the 1940's, a three sided barn was located between the bricked in air shaft for the No.2 Mine (orginally this was the No.1 mine mainshaft) and the clay pit. The barn was used to house the mules during their summer break. The mine usually closed down for a month or two during the summer because of the low demand for coal.
The mules were taken down in
the mine on Tuesday and work resumed yesterday morning. There is
not much demand for coal now and
it is expected that the miners will
only work a few days each week for
a while.
The Minonk News May 9, 1912
The mules were given unique names. There was Blackie a large Jack who let very few approach him. Dad was one who could approach and pat Blackie. This came from years of working together in the mine. Two other mules were Gee and Haw. In the days of working animals, gee and haw were commands used to tell animals to go to the right or left. In the long straight passages of the mine, commands to go right or left were probably little used.
In their stalls and field, the mules could be seen lifting there heads and smelling the air. Dad said they were fascinated with the smells of the world- the flowers, the hay, the rain, the trees. Their life was dark passages 500 feet underground filled with smells of gasses and coal dust. Their month or two above ground was a gentler but foreign environment.
After three years, the mules were totally blind. Being brought up into the light was a shock to their systems and detrimental to their eye sight. Some mules wore blackout blinders to save what little sight they had left. Miners in the Cherry Mine Disaster, who were sealed in a totally dark passage for 21 days had to wear sacks over their heads when brought out of the mine because of the intensity of the light. Eventhen, several complained of headaches for days afterwords.
Mules would resist going back into the mine although most accepted their fate and returned to the enviroment with which they were most familiar. Until the latter part of the 1800's, mules were the power that ran the mines. They were used to pull coal cars from the working face of the mines to the shaft to be hauled to the surface. Mules on the surface would pull up the cage with the coal cars. Slag (rock,clay and other matter dug with the coal) was also brought to the surface and dumped to form The Jumbo. The first Jumbo, which is now part of a freeway overpass, was a pristine example of technological change. The north portion of the Jumbo had a gradual rise attaining greater distance than height. This portion of the Jumbo was formed by the load of slag pulled to the top by mules. With the advent of machines with wenches, mules weren't needed to dump the slag. Greater heights in forming the Jumbo were attained by using machines. The south portion of the Jumbo had a much steeper incline contrasting the use of machines over mules. Few if any Jumbos in the Minonk area, so dramatically reflect our countries change from muscle power to industrialization.
John M. Boland who is employed in
the coal shaft as driver, was kicked in
the face by a mule Thursday evening
of last week. His nose was broken,
and his face brused. His injuries were
dressed by Dr. Fred Wilcox. The
mule got away after kicking John, and
it took the boys a good while to round
him up.
The Minonk News January 25, 1895
Working with the mules could be hazardous both for the driver and the mules. Mine tunnels followed the coal veins so they were not always flat. A mule pulling a coal car up a slope was not a problem. Going down a slope was! The car had to be braked or it would roll into the mule. Early brakes were pieces of wood pressed against the metal wheels. The brakes were often insuficient, broke or worn out. The driver had to sit on the front edge of the car and press his foot against the steel rail to slow the car down. One slip and a foot could be mangled. This procedure was wearing on shoe leather. Many drivers would use old car tires to retred their shoes. The car tire soles were an improvement and more durable.
K.L. Ames recently bought some
new mules to work in the mines, and
last Thursday while assisting the
blacksmith put shoes on one of them,
Mike Shea was kicked in the face. His
upper jaw was smashed in, and it will
likely cause Mike to be disfigured for
life. Mike has the sympathy of large
circle of friends for his untimely
trouble.
The Minonk News October 14, 1897
Pictures of mules in a mine are rare. Minonktalk has just such a picture in its collection. Look under History- Old Photos-Coalmine Mule.
You won't see many like it. Also, at this same location, "Minonk Jumbo" will give a visual of the slag pile made by mule strength and the slag pile (to the right) made by machine power.