FROM HILLS TO HEARTHS:
Family Operated Wagon Coal Mines in the Upper
Green River Valley
Page 2
Compiled by Jonita Sommers
[Salli Mine] [Twitchell
Mine] [Batty Mine] [Schneider
Basin]
[North Piney Creek] [Cottonwood
Mine] [Kleinstick Mine]
SALLI
MINE
Julius Sayles, a Welshman, had a coal mine/cabin according to a 1901
Government Land Office map. In 1902, Sayles filed on 120 acres, but never
proved up on it. In 1906, Alfred R. Schultz, U.S. Geological surveyor,
surveyed a seam of coal which was 5.5 to 6 feet thick in the Adaville Formation
on LaBarge Mountain. It was sub-bituminous coal which had 9,833 BTUs at
the mine. Most of the coal was not any good for using in forges. Sayles
had a mine entry 180 feet long where he sold coal for $1.50 to $2.00 per
ton at the mine.
According
to a 1910 record, this acreage was subjected to a coal patent. Sayles had
a very productive garden with all kinds of vegetables. He liked kids and
had wooden gifts for them when they came to the mine. A homestead entry
ws applied for in 1914, but was relinquished when Sayles was crushed to
death by a rock that fell from the ceiling of his mine. Dave Salmon, a
local rancher, came to the mine for coal and found Sayles a few hours after
the accident happened. Sayles willed everything to Lawrence Z. Bess. Bess
proved up on 80 acres from 1915 through 1920 and acquired the patent. Matt
Salli was living at the mine in 1916. Subsequently this mine became known
as the Salli Mine. Salli worked the mine with two other Finlanders, Cabe
Benice and Oscar Peterson. Salli acquired a warranty deed from Bess for
the mine in 1920. Around this time, Matt Salli married Mrs. Sanna Perna
Hacklin, a Finnish widow of Victor Hacklin, who was killed in a mine cave-in
at Cumberland in 1910 or 1911. Sanna had five children named John, Decia,
Mayme, Ila and Velma. Lila Salli was born in 1922. Mrs. Salli had a pet
magpie which could talk. She also had a beautiful garden with interesting
wooden structures in it. Matt Salli had a Finnish bath which people came
to use for 50 cents a bath. Matt was also a very good carpenter and made
money with this skill. Mrs. Salli was a good cook, also.
When they ran the Twitchell mine, they acquired a piano and Matt could
play the accordion so music was popular in the evening. The Wyoming State
Coal Mine Inspector inspected this mine from 1932-1936. Matt named his
coal mine the Viola Coal Mine. Andrew Kiskila worked in the mine for Matt
until he died. In 1932, Matt's post office was Tulsa and he mined 154 tons
with one employee while in 1933, he mined 88 tons of coal in 45 days with
one employee. One hundred four tons of coal were mined in 1934 with one
employee working 20 days. Matt did not report mining coal in 1935, but
in 1936, Matt's post office ws LaBarge and he mined 113 tons of coal in
13 days with one man. In 1938, he mined 38 tons and during 1939, he mined
28.5 tons with one employee. Matt Salli died in 1939 or 1940 and the mine
closed.
TWITCHELL
MINE
W.J. McGinnis started a coal mine after the McGinnis family's first
winter in the area during 1887-88 near what is known today as the Twitchell
Mine, just west of Calpet.
Mr.
McGinnis never sold the coal. He just shared it with his neighbors. After
a tunnel was started, McGinnis built an ore cart and carved wheels out
of wood for it. The rails were made from aspen trees. McGinnis became so
busy with his land that he did not continue the mine.
Oliver M. Twitchell acquired a patent for 80 acres in 1917 and Rose
Twitchell, his wife, received a patent for 40 acres in 1919. Rose was a
wonderful cook and became known for her great meals she fed the men at
the mine whether they were miners or people buying coal. Rose was an extremely
hard worker. In the Dec. 6, 1917 Pinedale Roundup, Oliver Twitchell
had an ad for coal which was selling for $3.00 per ton.
Matt Salli managed the mine in 1926-27. Seven hundred twenty tons of coal
were sold in 1927 as well as in 1928 when the mine was worked for 200 days
with one employee. The coal sold for $5.00 per ton at the mine, $7.00 per
ton delivered to Tulsa, and $10.00 per ton delivered to Big Piney. There
was an advertisement in The Kemmerer Republican in 1930 to sell
the mine. It said $26,000 worth of coal had been sold in seven years. Gust
Manalukos operated the mine in 1930 with one employee and produced 101
tons of coal. Between 1938 and 1940, Oliver Twitchell sold the mine and
80 acres to Dan Shickich and Dan mined 882 tons, but the Wyoming Coal Mine
Inspector did not report coal being mined again until 1946 when 1450.5
tons was loaded by hand from what Shickich called the Service Mine. The
slope was extended while a new hoist, scale, timber, gravel for the road,
tipple, and a large mine fan were purchased in 1947 when 316 lump, 398.5
nut/egg, and 967.5 slack/pea, equaling 1682 tons of coal, was mined by
five men. A house was built and scales were put in during 1948 when 2714.5
tons were mined in 215 days. The mine was rockdusted and used permissible
powder along with electric cap lamps in 1949 when 2136 tons were mined
by nine men in 162 days. There was one fatal accident which was reported
in the State Inspector of Coal Mines annual report as follows:
On January 19, 1949, Mike Degani, age 61, single, was instantly
killed at about 3:45 p.m. The accident occurred in the 2 South Entry, No.
1 Room of the Service Coal Mine, operated by Dan Shickich, Kemmerer, Wyoming.
Mr. Degani was drilling a hole at the face for blasting. A large
piece of rock measuring 9 feet long, 8 1/2 feet wide, 21 inches thick,
fell, striking Mr. Degani and killing him instantly.
This Department recommends that due to the extremely bad roof
conditions, a systematic method of timbering will have to be adopted. At
the last inspection the recommendation was made and a chart drawn showing
the timber must be set at four-foot intervals. This recommendation must
be complied with immediately.
Mike Dusik, Deputy Coal Mine Inspector
In 1950, there were two nonfatal accidents while seven men using
permissible electric cap lamps mined 2573 tons with 471 lump, 558 nut/egg,
and 1544 pea/slack. Joe Evezich, miner, had broken bones on the instep
of his left foot while brushing rock when a large piece of rock fell on
February 18, 1950. John Magdie, coal miner, was pushing cars when a car
in the back came and squeezed his leg between the two cars fracturing his
right knee on December 23, 1950. A new mine was opened in 1951 and a new
tipple was built so five men could mine 798 tons of coal in 99 days with
one nonfatal accident. To blast the coal, 220 pounds of permissible powder
was used. One hundred forty-six tons were produced in 1952 with 50 pounds
of permissible powder. The last year of production was 1953 when two men
mined 40 tons of coal in 16 days. Dan Shickich's daughter sold the land
to Margy Brawley and it is now part of the JF Ranch.
BATTY
MINE
Mary Emeline Twitchell, Oliver's sister, married Joseph D. Batty in
Beaver City, Utah on January 23, 1898.
They
came to the LaBarge area where Batty had a coal mine on the old wagon road
which goes up Deloney Canyon at the bottom of Tip Top. In 1906, Norris
W. Griggs owned the mine which had an 8-foot thick vein of coal which was
in the Adaville Formation. This coal was not very good for forges. The
thermal heat unit of the coal at the mine was 9718. Coal was taken out
of the 155-foot long mine by ranchers whenever they needed it. The rancher
did his own mining and took as much as was needed. An ad in the September
25, 1907 Pinedale Roundup stated O.M. Mitchell again leased N.W.
Grigg's coal mine in Dry Piney Basin for five years. It would be open from
October 15 to December 20 to sell good clean lump coal for $2.75 per ton.
There was a long chute with a new screen. Norris Griggs had several mine
claims in the area including gold and copper. He had a ranch where Bill
Barney lives in 1997.
SCHNEIDER
BASIN COAL COMPANY
John Brady, a deputy sheriff from Kemmerer, had the first coal mine
in Snider Basin on Darby Mountain. John Ray acquired the mine from Brady.
Ollie Nielson worked for Ray in 1918 or 1919.
An
Article of Agreement, usually a contract dealing with surface minerals,
was filed in August, 1926 between copartners in the Schneider Basin Coal
Company. John Ray furnished the coal lease while A.R. Daniels provided
one gray mare branded Lazy P Bar on the left shoulder, one bay horse branded
Hat L on the left thigh, two bay horses branded Triangle C on the left
thigh and KM on the left shoulder, one 3 1/2 inch Bain wagon, two sets
of harness, one No. 5 Common Sense bob sled and log chains. Steve Daniels,
a nephew of A.R. Daniels, worked at the mine. His pay was one horse along
with a gun. Six men worked the mine and hauled coal to the first oil rig
at the Narrows. Edwin Shooter mined 200 tons of coal at the Snider Basin
Prospect with two men in 1931 while Jack Harlan loaded by hand 18 tons
with one employee in 1932. Shorty Kleinstick also ran the mine at one time.
During the Depression, Chuck Davis and Paul Virostko worked the mine. Kenny
Pearson hauled coal for Chuck Davis. Ollie P. Nielson, who came to the
area in 1909 and worked for Oliver Twitchell, opened the mine in 1937.
He mined 553.5 tons of coal with one employee. During 1940, Nielson with
two men produced 88 tons lump and 60 tons pea/slack which equaled 148 tons
of coal from the Kemmerer Formation of the Blind Bull Vein. The coal was
hauled to the Budd #1 Well on the Corder Place to thaw it out after it
blew. The oil company went broke and in turn, Nielson was not paid so he
had to close the mine.
NORTH
PINEY CREEK
J.L. Fleming,
a rancher on North Piney Creek, operated a mine just above the mouth of
Apperson Creek where it joins North Piney Creek. This mine was never commercialized
and did not operate after WWI. The North Piney ranchers would take a wagon
up a cow trail and up the creek bed to the mine where they loaded their
own wagons. In 1914, Link Schideler had found a 10-foot bed of coal for
a distance of 500 feet east of Bare Mountain near the fork of the north
tributary of North Piney Creek, but it was covered by a land slide.
George Edwards had a small mine on Edwards Creek, just
above where the creek joins North Piney Creek.
Frank Springman, postmaster of Stanley in 1914, recorded
this mine to Alfred R. Schultz. The coal is from the Blind Bull Formation.
Mrs. Edwards, George's sister-in-law, had a garden with great vegetables
and beautiful flowers. She would give away the flowers, carrots, turnips,
etc., but the potatoes from the huge garden along the hill were harvested,
put into 100 pound sacks, stored in a big underground room with a rope
ladder used to descend and ascend, and sold to the local stores for supplementary
money. Her two sons, Frank and Red, who were good mechanics, helped her
with the garden.
COTTONWOOD
MINE
According to the Pinedale Roundup in 1904, Sam Smith and William
Alexander, whose ranch is known as the O.M. Winkleman place on Cottonwood
today, brought a load of coal in from the Cottonwood mine. In 1906, Sam
Smith was operating this 20-foot drift mine which had a 6.2-foot thick
vein of coal. The coal is bituminous coal from the Adaville Formation in
the McDougal Field. The thermal unit at the mine is 11,999 while the moisture
in the coal is 9.6. The volatile matter is 38.71, the fixed carbon is 46.9,
the ash level is 4.77 and the sulfur is .32. A road had been built to the
mine.
A Finlander,
Jon Lindstrom, also had a coal mine in this area. Herbert B. "Shorty" Kleinstick,
whose post office was Halfway, and Norm Bleamer, whose mother sold their
ranch on South Horse Creek in 1928 to Roy Lozier and Phil Birch after his
father, W.F. Bleamer, died in 1926, invested the money in the Cottonwood
Coal Mine, mined 138 tons of coal with three men in 1932. Kleinstick was
still mining at this location in 1935. Kleinstick came to this area from
Wisconsin. He was a very ingenious person and could build anything from
nothing.
KLEINSTICK
MINE
In 1936, Kleinstick opened a new mine one mile south of the Cottonwood
Coal Mine which became known as the Kleinstick Mine even though on paper
it was the Cottonwood Coal Company. He said at this time if the Forest
Service did not build a road over McDougal Gap, he would. Kleinstick did
build the road with his cat. The first coal lease was from 1938 to 1958.
Kleinstick paid $1000 for this 80-acre lease. In 1938, 311 tons of coal
were mined. Kleinstick's address was Daniel in 1939 when he mined 700 tons
with three men. Five men mined 538 tons of lump coal in 87 days with 425
pounds of black powder. In 1941, 401 pounds of black powder were used to
produce 596 tons of lump coal with two employees in 80 days, while in 1942,
401 tons were mined with 400 pounds of black powder. Four hundred thirty-eight
tons of coal were mined with two men using 420 pounds of black powder in
1943. Three men used 460 pounds of black powder to produce 511 tons of
coal during 1945 and 1946. Big Piney was the post office for the Cottonwood
Coal Company Kleinstick operated in 1947 when it produced 800 tons with
two men in 95 days. Two hundred fifty pounds of permissible powder were
used by four men to mine 668 tons in 50 days during 1948 while in 1949,
four men mined 997 tons. During 1950, five men mined 1797 tons of coal
with 650 pounds of permissible powder, but in 1951, 1128 tons were produced
in 100 days with five men using 500 pounds of permissible powder. A new
lump bin tipple was built along with the improvement of the slack and nut
shaker in 1952 when 346 tons of lump, 122 tons of nut/egg, and 528 tons
of pea/slack were mined which equals 1016 tons with 330 pounds of permissible
powder. One thousand tons of lump coal were mined by three men using 300
pounds of permissible powder and they loaded it mechanically in 1953 while
942 tons of lump coal were produced with a cutting machine and 450 poiunds
of permissible powder in 1954 by three men. In 1955, 83 tons were used
at the mine while 266 tons were lump, 69 tons nut/egg, and 192 tons pea/slack
when three men worked 66 days in July through October. The coal lease for
1956 stated Norm Bleamer's operating agreement terminated. Norm Bleamer
went to work for the Wyoming Highway Department and moved his family permanently
to Daniel. While Alice Bleamer lived at the mine, she cooked for all the
men and did their laundry. One man still mined 235 tons of coal with 100
pounds of permissible powder in 47 days in 1957. Two men produced 372 tons
with 100 pounds of permissible powder in 46 days while in 1958, five men
in July through October for 90 days used 400 pounds of permissible powder
to produce 920 tons of 230 tons lump, 345 nut/egg, and 345 pea/slack. A
second lease was issued in 1958 through 1978. For 95 days two men mined
983 tons with 500 pounds of permissible powder in 1959. Coal production
was not recorded for 1960 and 1961. Two men spent 1600 man-hours underground
with 125 pounds of permissible powder to produce 125 tons of coal in 100
days. The mine was not operated in 1963, but the coal was tested. The coal
was High Volatile C bituminous in the Blind Bull Formation in the McDougal
Field of the Hams Fork Region. The thermal unit was 12,212 while the moisture
was 9.5, volatile matter was 43.9, fixed carbon was 44.5, ash was 2.2,
and sulfur was .79. During 20 days, 1964, two men spent 320 man-hours underground
using 50 pounds of permissible powder to produce 284 tons. Shorty Kleinstick
was a wheeler-dealer, but he was also very creative. He could design and
build things that were very effective. From 1938 to 1964, the Kleinstick
Mine produced 14,880 tons of coal.
Next
(Newspaper ads from "Big Piney Examiner," Feb.
9, 1922)