Sometimes there were as many as 30 coal mines operating at the same time in Mystic. Each might have its own railroad spur. There might be 40 carloads of coal per day hauled out of Mystic. Some of the old-time coal operators were Lee Bros., the Lodwick Brothers, Horridge, Orr, Porter, Vennell, Calgan, Barrett, Beggs and Mc Grann. Mine owners would generally submit plats and apply for their land to be incorporated into the city. This was usually granted and caused the city to grow very fast geographically as well as in population. Today the town is still two miles wide and one and one half mile high.
Most of my information about the many coal mines in Appanoose County comes from a very informative book titled “Underground Coal Mines of Centerville, Iowa and Vicinity.“ It was published by Donald L. Koch, the State Geologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources in about 1986. The book has detailed information on 228 mines and includes a map which shows the area undermined for each of these mines.
The book shows 36 mines in the town Mystic and about 10 more in the surrounding rural area to the north and west. I am going to describe about half of the more significant mines and skip over some of those mines which operated for only a year or two and ended up with small or unknown acreage mined.
I am attaching a modern map of Mystic with the one-time locations drawn in for the main line of the Burlington Railroad, as well as the spur tracks to some of the larger mines. Walnut Creek is also shown as it meanders through the south part of Mystic. The map shows the location of the mine tipples as well as the approximate underground area of some of the larger mines. The scale is three inches to the mile. My readers should keep this map for reference for the next several weeks as I describe the various mines.
Mystic is extremely hilly, particularly in the vicinity of Walnut Creek. Mine owners would often locate the shaft of the mine in these gullies and low areas to reduce the depth of drilling. Since the coal depth was very shallow in the Mystic area, they would often start in one of these gullies and use a slope entrance right into the side of a hill. Today, most of the mines in the gullies are a wilderness, overgrown with slag and young trees.
Correspondents
Related Photos
Share your thoughts!
Mining in Mystic: map details
- Correspondents
-
- Ground Hog Day traditions around the world
-
Life Saver celebrates 100 years in existence
I hope everyone had a nice time ringing in the New Year! Now, everyone will have to get used to writing 2013 on everything. It always seems like it takes a while to get use to doing that.
-
Life Saver celebrates 100 years in existence
I hope everyone had a nice time ringing in the New Year! Now, everyone will have to get used to writing 2013 on everything. It always seems like it takes a while to get use to doing that.
-
The wonder of Wonder Bread and then along came ‘Twinkies,’ ‘Ding Dongs’ and ‘Ho Hos’
It seems the weather has finally changed to more seasonal, colder conditions for this time of year. I guess this change, helps get everyone into the Christmas spirit as they go about their holiday shopping.
-
Pancake Day parade ‘quite unique’
-
Good turn out for Royal Neighbors ice cream social
Wasn’t that nice how we received some much needed rain fall last weekend? We ended up with almost two inches of rain in our gauge last weekend from those rain storms. By Monday, some of our grass in our yard began to turn green again after the long, dry summer.
-
Sign up for ‘Miss Exline’ competition by Friday, June 15
I hope everyone enjoyed the Memorial Day weekend. The flags lining Main Street and along the Exline Cemetery, sure looked nice furling in the wind, over the holiday. It is hard to believe it is the month of June already.
- History of ‘Taps’ and other fun facts
-
Planning under way for July 4
I hope everyone is enjoying the nice weather we have been having lately. You can see as you travel around that the farmers are sure busy working in their fields, getting their crops in.
-
Exline city-wide cleanup May 4-5
- History of telephone service in Appanoose County; Easter eggs still available to purchase
-
Spring clean up days coming in May
I hope everyone survived the pranks that some people play on April Fool’s Day. Isn’t it something how earlier in the week we had more summer like weather, so early in the springtime?
The recipe for this week, I thought was appropriate for this time of the year. -
May fundraiser, dance has a change of date
April is here and the flowers are blooming. We are enjoying the nice weather. Friday, April 6 will be our Easter lunch with games.
-
History of telephone service in Appanoose County; Easter eggs still available to purchase
The early springtime weather sure has been enjoyable. Some people say we may have a cold snap to interrupt this stretch of good weather. We just have to hope we do not get any late spring snow storms like we have experienced in the past.
- Easter Egg fundraiser to be March 25
- More Correspondents Headlines
