USA > Missouri > Macon County > General history of Macon County, Missouri > Part 14
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"The black damp is a fairer enemy. When in it your lamp burns low, and you get timely warning. A pure eurrent of air is the antidote for both conditions. If you have ever heard a miner pray in public you will have noticed that he thanks the Almighty for an abundance of atmosphere.
"What I have said about the damp is from my experience in Wales. There is very little of it in the Missouri coal mines."
Keota was opened up in 1900 by the Kansas & Texas Coal Com- pany, which at that time operated two mines. Later on this company was absorbed by the Central Coal & Coke Company. This and the Northwestern Coal & Mining Company are the two large concerns of the district. The Central Coal Company employs about 1,000 men. Keota's population is elose to 500. It is a thriving town, with a good farming trade and healthfully situated. At present this list comprises the local officers of the Central Coal & Coke Company: Arthur Vail, superintendent of mines; Isaae Rice, foreman of Mine No. 66; Mon- roe Barnes, foreman of Mine No. 25; James Weeks, foreman of Mine 61; George A. Wandt, manager of mine officers; Gomer L. Thomas, manager of general store.
The postmaster at Keota is Dr. F. B. Daily. O. E. Thomas is justice of the peace.
The coal company has lately erected, at a cost of $75,000, a coal
128
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
washer, something new in this distriet and a contrivance of great importance in the mining industry. E. O. Jones is the foreman of this branch of the work.
The last mining report issued by the Bureau of Mines, Mining and Mine Inspection was for 1908. During that year Richard S. Thomas of Bevier was chief coal mine inspector.
The following table is taken from the last official report :
MACON COUNTY.
Coal, how disposed of.
Name of company or person operating.
Capitalization. ...
mined in 1908 ....
Total tons of coal
by pick work ....
Tons of coal mined
Total value of coal,
Prices received at
Winter ..
Summer.
Shipped by rall.
wagons.
miners. . .
Consumed by
mines. .
Used at the
Cent. C. & C. Co. No. 10. |$7.000,000| 16,403|
$22,964|$1.40 |$0.67|$0.67|
S2
116
646
Cent. C. & C. Co. No. 24.
27,019
27,019
37,826
1.40
.67
.67
25.835
12
1.172
Cent. C. & C. Co. No. 25.
133.699 135,699
187,179!
1.40
.67
.67 131,136
63
2,500
Cent. C. & C. Co. No. 28.
94,642
94,642
132,499 1.40
.67
,67
92,516
80
2.046
Cent. C. & C. Co. No. 61.
164,096 164 096;
229,734
1.40
.67
.67 159,001
56
540
4,499
Cent. C. & C. Co. No. 66.
128,755|128.7551
180,257
1.40
.67
.67 126,135
239
181
2.200
Gates, J. N ..
800
1,560
1,560
3.900
2.50
2,00
1.560
Gronoway. D.
1,250
1,250
2,375
1.90
1.25
1.25
1,236
14
llelmet Mining Co ..
25,000
10,220[
10,220
17,067
1.67
.85
9,763
148
309
Hurd & Hurd.
3,000
4.000
4,000
5,600
1.40
1.12
1.12
4,000
Isaacson & Underwood.
800
976
976
1.561
1.60
.85
976
James Bros.
3,580
3.580
7,160
2.00
.95
.95
3,580
2,057
43
438
Lunsford, H. & A. G ..
512
512
896
1.75
1.50
1,50
504
S
N .- W. C. & M. Co. No. S.
150,000|127,729|127.7291
187,761
1.47
.67
.67
123,192
1,281 1,281
1.975
N .- W. C. & M. Co. No. 9.
128,061|128.061'
184,40S
1,44
.67
.67
126,402
1,659
Smith & Hall.
3.510
3,510!
6.142
1.75
1.00
1.00
3,500
10
Vestal & Wyatt.
834
834
1,251
1,50
1.00
834
Totals
851,130|851,130 |$1.217.584
813.169|18,171 2.284 17,506
4,000
1,746
1,746
3,928
2.25
1,30
1.30
50
1,606
50
40
Jones. Jno. H ..
2,538
2,538|
5,076
2.00
.67
.67
Following is a summary of the Macon county coal mines, as found in the inspector's last printed report :
Central Coal & Coke Company. This company owns and operates six mines, embracing several thousand acres of coal land. The com- pany is capitalized at $7,000,000. The officers are C. S. Keith, presi- dent; J. C. Sherwood, vice-president; F. E. Doubleday, manager of mines, and Arthur Vail, division superintendent. The mines are known as Nos. 61, 66, 24, 25, 28 and 10. Mine 61 is equipped with modern ma- chinery, good tipple and a commodions engine house and boiler room, a large dynamo supplies power for electric haulage, two six-ton motors bring the prodnet to the mine bottom. The coal is hoisted from a shaft 125 feet deep. The coal seam averages 412 feet ; overlaid with a soap- stone, sand-rock and slate roof.
Mine No. 10 has first-class equipment. Coal shaft, 137 feet. Ven- tilation is provided by a 12-foot fan. The equipment of Mine 24 is first-class; good tipple and top houses, commodious engine house, boiler room and blacksmith shop. The machinery is of the best, includ-
1908.
the mines ..
Prices paid per ton for mining
coal-pick work
Hauled away in
16,403
15,559;
Dennis, J. H ..
129
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
ing a Litchfield first motion engine, which hoists the coal out of shaft 124 feet deep. Coal averages from 41/2 to 5 feet ; 14-foot fan. Equip- ment of Mine 28 is also first-class. Up-to-date tipple, engine and boiler room and blacksmith shop, Wright-Adams engine, self-dumping cages and safety catches of latest pattern; 12-foot fan.
Mine 25 is a slope; coal is pulled up over an incline plane to a landing, where it is dumped into railroad cars. Steam power is used for hauling the product to the surface and for running the fan. Coal averages from 4 to 41% feet; 12-foot fan.
Mine No. 66 is similar to No. 61. The shaft opening is 57 feet and the coal has an average thickness of 41% feet overlaid with soap- stone, sand-rock and slate roof. The equipment of mine is up-to-date in every particular, and is provided with every facility for rapid and eco- nomic handling of the production. At the inspection in January, 1908, all the top structures were found in good condition; 14-foot fan.
Northwestern Coal & Mining Company. This company is one of the largest in the state, owns 850 acres of coal lands in Macon county and is capitalized for $150,000. Officers: John H. Bovard, president; S. B. Ladd, vice-president; C. G. Thurston, secretary and treasurer. Officers at the mines : Louis Larson, superintendent ; E. Simpson, fore- man of Mine No. 8; Perry Aldridge, foreman of Mine No. 9. Both mines are in active operation, No. 8 being located a mile south of Bevier, and No. 9 three-quarters of a mile southeast of No. 8. Both mines are connected by a spur switch more than a mile in length from the Missouri & Louisiana railroad, which delivers the product to the Bur- lington railroad at Bevier.
In mine No. 8 the equipment is up-to-date in every particular, and every care is taken to keep them so. Top structures were found in good order. Mine No. 9 is equipped in up-to-date manner, has a good tower, a commodious engine house and a first motion Litchfield hoisting engine. Ventilation by 14-foot fan. Underground works in these mines are given every possible attention. All abandoned rooms and entries were securely filled up on date of inspection.
Other mines briefly mentioned by the inspectors were the Grono- way mines at Macon and the Isaacson & Underwood mine, three and a half miles west of Bevier.
The Home Coal Company of Macon began operations the first of November, 1909. It controls several hundred acres of land. The oper- ating shaft is in the southeastern part of town, on a spur connecting it with the Burlington railroad. The company was capitalized at $10,000, and is officered as follows : Ben Davis, president ; J. P. Moore,
130
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
vice-president and treasurer; Waldo Edwards, secretary and attorney ; Charles White, former general foreman for the Central Coal & Coke Company, mine manager, and Thomas Evans, mine foreman. The com- pany has what is known as a geared engine, 60 horsepower, double cage and first-class tipple and upper works. The coal vein is from 22 to 25 inches and is operated on the long wall system. Sixty men are employed, including miners and day men. The company supplies the domestic trade about Macon, but is arranging to handle outside trade on an extensive scale. The coal is of excellent quality, being found at 80 feet below the surface. This is the first steam mine to be operated about Macon, and from its very start it has had more orders than it could handle.
Robert Richards of Bevier is now State Inspector of coal mines, having been appointed to succeed R. S. Thomas.
In October, 1875, there was considerable excitement up the Chari- ton valley about Mercyville, now Elmer, concerning gold discoveries. A correspondent of the Macon Republican writes this in the issue of October 14 about the situation :
"New Cambria, October 11. Great excitement! Our hotels are crowded with strangers going to and returning from the gold regions, this being the most accessible point. Doubt no longer exists that gold can be found in paying quantities. It has been found in dust as high as fifty colors to the pan. Nuggets have been found varying from the size of a grain of wheat to that of a grain of corn. The number now prospecting in the vicinity of Mercyville is estimated at from 400 to 800, the people coming here from all parts of Missouri, Illinois, New York Ohio, Iowa and many other states. All agree that the prospect for gold is as good as that of California or any other western state or territory. Your correspondent, having a desire to know the true facts, visited the region himself last week and looked the whole field over, until he was thoroughly satisfied that it was no humbug. He saw the par- tieles washed out in different places, and has now in his possession a specimen the size of a half grain of wheat. Anybody can see it by calling at my office in this town. I have also some beautiful specimens of fine stones of the order of diamond, ruby, agate, etc., all of which will compare favorably with any found in foreign countries. Every person I met was jubilant and all were busy arranging to engage in mining for the precious metal. Old miners are cursing themselves because they had in days gone by spent all their means to prepare themselves to go to the far west to dig for gold, when at the same time, had they but known the truth, they could have found it right at
131
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
their own doors in paying quantities. Hurrah for old Macon! The good time has come !- A."
The character of mining prosecuted at that time was known as placer, like that of California in the early days. The excitement up at Mereyville finally died down when the gold ceased to appear, though from time to time small discoveries have since been made.
The following sketeh relative to mining for valuable mineral in Macon county is prepared for this history by G. A. Yager, secretary- treasurer of the Pioneer Gold Mining Company, New Cambria :
"Back in the seventies California miners who had returned to their Macon county homes noticed the black sand in the brooks that empty into the Chariton river on the west side.
"The old-fashioned rockers were set to work, quite a little gold was washed out, excitement ran high for a while, but when the state geologist (Mr. Winslow) reported it to be a 'glacier deposit, such as could be found in many places in the Mississippi valley, but not in pay- ing quantities,' the boom died.
"Had Mr. Winslow been an old miner instead of a young, inex- perienced man, his report would have been different. The gold was rough and little work, showing local origin ; glacial gold is worn smooth. Had the truth been known at that time, prospecting would have brought to light the hidden vein found many years later.
"There is a strip of country, beginning at Hammock's Mill, run- ning north and west some miles, which is of a different formation from the country east, south and west, where the coal is found. It is strongly mineralized, but the vein being of blanket formation, show- ing no outeropping, nothing was done to prospect for mineral. Perry Baldwin, who owned a large traet in this belt, formed a company of New Cambria people forty-three years ago to prospect for coal on his land. A shaft was sunk 100 feet. Rock was struck and work stopped. Years later a contract was made with well-drillers to sink to coal for $225. They sunk twenty-seven feet, found no coal, but struck a forma- tion their drill would not touch. To save the $225 they salted the hole with coal, reported a 31% foot vein, got their money and left for parts unknown.
For the want of capital no more work was done by the company. After they had passed away, a son of Perry Baldwin became possessor of the land. By this time coal was in demand. A 31%-foot vein, 123 feet from the surface, on the railroad, is valuable. The present Mr. Baldwin started sinking for the coal eight years ago. The drill-hole was followed but no coal found. The rock showed mineral all the
132
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
way, yet little was thought of it; coal was what they were after. Thomas Mordecai, of Lingo, who had worked in the shaft, believed it carried gold and other minerals. He persuaded Mr. Baldwin to send samples of the ore to Denver to his friend, David J. Reed, an experienced miner. The ore proved to run $15 per ton in gold, silver and by-products.
"In March, 1908, Mr. Reed formed a partnership with G. A. Yager, who is interested in mines and land in Colorado and Nevada. Work was carried on for six months. The large vein was thoroughly tested by them and other experts and found to be pay ore. They purchased 160 acres of this land, formed and incorporated the Pioneer Gold Mining Company, and sunk one of the finest shafts in Missouri.
"A mill will be erected in a few months and Macon county will produce the first gold in Missouri."
CHAPTER IX.
SCHOOLS AND ACADEMIES-THE BLUE BACK SPELLING BOOK-SINGING -GEOGRAPHY-AN INSTRUCTOR WHO TAUGHT MANNERS-W. A. MATHIS-F. THEO MAYHEW-MCGEE COLLEGE-ST. JAMES MILITARY ACADEMY -- COLONEL BLEE'S MAGNIFICENT ENTERPRISE-CONSOLI- DATED SCHOOL AT ELMER-THE MACON HIGH SCHOOL-SCHOOL STATISTICS.
At a late meeting of the North Missouri school-teachers, held at Macon, there were several instructors who were characters in the days of the busy birch rod and the blueback spelling book. Some of these men had taught the young idea, how to shoot, fifty years ago, and were still on the job, in the rural districts. There were no women teachers who had grown old. The early-day instructor of Missouri was invari- ably a man, and his importance was such that he did not have to take a back seat for congressmen or senators. He was scarce, and valued accordingly. Such a treasure in a fairly large district could command $25 a month and his board to boot. In those days $25 was a heap of money, and the princely salary was as much of an element contributing to the teacher's social standing as his learning.
"On the first day of school it was the custom of the teacher to read before the scholars a long list of written rules which were to govern during the term," remarked Prof. J. K. Cox, who attended and after- wards taught the Middle Fork district school, down on Salt river. "There were as many articles and subdivisions in these rules as in the Revised Statutes, and they were broken about as frequently. I remem- ber one severe law decreed that 'boys and girls shall not be allowed to play together ; the boys must play on one side of the house and the girls on the other.'
"A crossing of the dead line by either sex might mean a severe flogging or a long stay after school travailing with arithmetic, accord- ing to the method of the teacher.
"Penmanship and spelling were treated as arts by the pioneer school-teacher, and he followed all sorts of schemes to interest the scholars-there were no 'pupils' then-in them.
"It was while the spelling fever was at the boiling height in our
133
134
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
school that I contracted my first distressing case of love. Her name was Jennie something-so many came after that I have really for- gotten her last name-and I thought her corn-colored hair pure gold and that stars had to go to her eyes for inspiration to illuminate the earth. Of course, I had a rival; a slim, smooth-talking fellow who had been reared over about Hannibal and who had about him the fasci- nating air of having seen a real city. We thought 'Mark Twain's' village on the Mississippi a wonderful place, then-something like we regard Chicago and New York now. My rival's name was Bob Latham, and he not only made me lose sleep about Jennie, but he was some pumpkins as a speller. I rather prided myself on my ability in that line, and so did Miss Jennie, in a mild way.
"Bob had been beating my time fiercely for nearly a week, when the master notified us he was going to close the winter term with a big spelling match and give the winner a medal. Glory day to youth! Never did we work so hard to prepare ourselves with the old blue book. At noon on the day of the combat Bob, Jennie and I were still on the firing line, though a score of good spellers had gone down. We were then getting 13-inch words from the pedagogue's battery, and the excitement was running as high as a tie play between the Cubs and the Giants. Finally the word 'plebeian' came thundering across the breast- works to Miss Jennie, who spelled it with serene confidence, but left out the ‘i.'
" 'Next,' said the inexorable master.
"Well, the next was your humble servant, and his quick decision in that awful emergency has been a source of gratification to him through all the years.
"' 'P-]-e-e-b-e-i-a-n,' said I, with confidence as great as Jennie's. Of course, that put me out of the running, and when the word had traveled to Bob he grabbed it exultantly and landed it all right. But when school was out there was one thing he didn't land, and that was Miss Jennie. She knew that I could have spelled the word, and as she walked home with me what she said made me forget the cold and the numerous heavy chores awaiting me at home. I don't recollect of her ever deigning to notice Bob after that."
F. Theo. Mayhew was given a district school near Callao because in the eyes of the directors he was red-headed and looked like he was a good scrapper. Mayhew wasn't a large man, and one of the big boys soon brought his capacity to an issne. They fought all over the school room, and at last the red-headed teacher had the boy lying across a desk and at his mercy. While holding his victim, the teacher ordered
135
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
another boy to bring the switches. Mayhew decided he would settle then and there for all time the mastership of the school. The bad boy wasn't a game loser. While taking what was coming to him his yells resounded throughout the district. A big six-foot woodsman, smoking a cob-pipe, sleeves rolled up from arms that looked like hams, darkened the door. Mayhew stopped a moment to glance at the visitor, who he recognized as the father of the boy he was licking. The scholars, too, eyed him apprehensively.
"Need any help, teacher?" asked the big woodsman, quietly.
The big man was a member of the school board and at the next meeting he introduced a resolution raising the teacher's salary.
Among the archives of Macon county is a curious document signed by one of the early-day teachers of the county and sent to the superin- tendent, telling why he wanted to resign his job. It was written by a young man, who had been sent to a rather wild and woolly distriet in the hopes that he might work a reformation. After trying it for some time he eased his mind along with his resignation, which read as follows:
"Prof. Thompson-Honored Sir: I am in trouble and want to quit. I am in need of fixing-bad. The school's all right; it's just myself that needs medical attention. The first hostile act occurred when I put curtains up at the windows. Before I had a chance to see whether they would keep the sun out or not, I was waited upon by one of the directors and the clerk, who curtly ordered me to 'take them things down!' They explained that such luxuries gave the children high falutin notions, and made them feel above their surroundings.
"There is a ladder which the directory uses to fix the chimneys when the wind blows 'em down, and they insist that during its period of inaction the ladder be hung up in the schoolroom over the pictures of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. I remonstrated. They overruled me.
"Then the children began bringing their hounds to school with them, and every day there were six or eight of the beasts lying under the desks, snapping at files or else fighting among themselves. I am a bit nervous, and this annoyed me. I told the children to leave their dogs at home. They said they brought them along for protection, going through the woods. I borrowed an old shotgun and next day there were a couple of good dogs awaiting the undertaker. The balance got away before I could reload. I was haled up before the board and notified that on the next offense the value of the dogs, $5 each, would be taken out of my shadowy salary. The way I figured it, if a few more
136
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
dogs attend school I will be out something like $100 at the end of the term, and in debt to the district. Hence my resignation.
"I like the atmosphere out here in the woods. The frog chorus, which sweeps up from the bottoms, is the most soothing music to which I ever listened. I sleep well and enjoy the appetite of an anarchist. There are many things about this job that will appeal with surprising strength to some ambitions pedagogue who is fond of dumb animals and of kids who can yell like a freight engine. I have enjoyed these things, and now I want to stand aside and give some other good man a chance. It is not fair for one person to hold on to a snap all the time. So please let me off-right away -- or sooner. Faithfully and earnestly yours, D. E. Williams."
In an address to the teachers concerning the pioneer school days, former County School Commissioner Robert G. Mitchell said :
"I suppose some of you older teachers have heard of the 'singing geography' system, but it may be new to some of these younger ones. Time was when the pedagognes of the backwoods, despairing of all other schemes for pounding rivers and continents into young hoosiers' heads, found in it a hope and success. Spelling and geography were twin essentials in the pioneer curriculum. Pity their importance is not as highly regarded today. A boy or girl who can spell accurately and is conversant with the physical divisions of earth comes mighty near knowing enough to get through life.
"The chart method of teaching geography was introduced in the schools of Macon county in 1834 by John Thompson, the first teacher the county ever had. This was simply the use of wall charts, the stu- dents being lined up to study them. But it was found difficult to impress these charts on the homespun youth, and another and more successful scheme was followed by Prof. Rufus White, who came here from Louisville, Ky., six years later and started a school at Bloom- ington, which was then the county scat. Professor White's method, which had been first used in Kentucky by John Clark, was called "the association of ideas," a name that nowadays might fit an organization that delved into the occult, or promoted dress reforms.
"This system can best be understood by reference to Colonel Sellers' diagram of the Salt Lick branch of the Pacific railroad, which he was showing his wife. The various towns, hills and rivers were indicated by pipes, tumblers, salt cellars, pickle dishes, inkstands, can- dlesticks, etc., placed in their respective positions on the dinner table. A strap or a shoestring served the teacher to indicate the course of a
13%
HISTORY OF MACON COUNTY
river, a tomato can might be Pike's Peak, a cob pipe might do for Mount Vesuvius and a wasp's nest, dug out of the corner of the building, would be naturally associated with Washington. Were the system in use now Professor White might find a windmill would serve his purpose better for the latter town.
"The idea that memory of names and places had to be fixed by some extraneous system was so general among the early-day instruc- tors that they labored constantly for improvement in that direction. Out of this belief developed the practice of singing geography. Prof. Abner T. Rollins of Maine came to Missouri in 1844 as a grand master of the singing system. He had something of a voice, and when he started his rival school to Professor White's 'association of ideas' he acquired an early and enthusiastic patronage. It was a good deal easier to sing towns and gulfs and continents into the youthful mind than to carry about a cargo of tin cans, monkey wrenches and boot- jacks to illustrate 'where they were at.' So the Maine Yankee's acad- emy of vocal culture became popular. The method was to write this sort of an example on the big blackboard by the stove :
AIR-"BONNIE DUNE."
Let North America be first, In our descriptive rhyme rehearsed; Its northern bound, the Arctic waves, Its east the Atlantic Ocean laves.
The Gulf of Mexico we see
Upon its southeru boundaries; Its western sides Are washed by the Pacific tides.
We now recite what oceans, bays,
Seas, gulfs and straits this land displays;
With the Atlantic sea begin That hems the Eastern border in.
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