Marion County's coal story runs from steamboats taking on fuel at Coalport to electric shafts at Electra and Everist. This page follows it through two county histories, the 1881 History of Marion County, Iowa and the 1915 History of Marion County, Iowa, and Its People, naming the mines, operators and camps they record. The 1915 book ranked coal mining second only to agriculture among the county's industries, and its town sketches show which places rose on it.
Written from 2 county histories, all free to read on the Internet Archive: The History of Marion County, Iowa (1881); History of Marion County, Iowa, and Its People (1915). Everything below comes from those books, and where they give an opinion, we say so.
Coalport and the First Coal on the Des Moines
The 1915 history says what it knew of the first diggings rested on the recollections of old settlers. One of them, J. W. Harp, an early settler of Red Rock Township, said steamboats on the Des Moines River regularly took on coal at Coalport, in Polk Township, beginning in 1847. The book also quotes a 1909 geological report by Calvin calling Coalport the most important coaling station between Eddyville and Des Moines in the steamboat days.
Professor Hall visited Coalport about 1856 or 1857. His 1858 report placed a heavy seam in the bluff on the south side of the river, in section 14, township 76, range 19, and noted that a Mr. Welch was running a mine there. When C. A. White came through in 1867 on the third state survey, he found Bousquet and Thompson working coal six to seven feet thick. The 1881 history, quoting White, describes two beds in the bluff only ten feet apart: a lower one about two feet thick and hardly workable, and an upper one of six to seven feet of excellent coal, where H. F. Bousquet had opened his mine. On this evidence the 1915 author judged it almost certain that the county's first mined coal came from Coalport.
Small Banks Around Knoxville, Otley and Marysville
According to the 1915 history, the beds of Liberty Township near Marysville were worked in a small way in the early 1850s, and about the same time considerable coal came from the upper veins near Knoxville. White's 1867 rounds recorded mines run by Roberts, Fisher and Barnes near Otley, the Nossaman mine southwest of Pella, and F. J. Brobst's mine at the edge of Knoxville. The 1881 book adds that Brobst worked a four-foot bed which, in White's words, no doubt underlay the whole town, and that a Mr. O'Neal had a mine about two miles north of Knoxville on Whitebreast Creek. In Liberty Township the 1867 operators were Jacob Kline, John Yenser, G. F. Clemons, A. B. Lyman and a firm called simply the Mill Company.
The 1881 history gives more on that Cedar Creek field. Kline's mine, a mile above Marysville, showed nearly ten feet of coal, though it was really two beds with a thin parting of shale. At Marysville, Yenser, D. F. Leiby and the Mill Company all worked the same bed at five to six feet, Clemons opened it a couple of miles below the village, and Daniel Sherwood worked a four-foot bed a couple of miles southeast of Attica.
Still, in 1871 W. P. Fox, writing in the Knoxville Voter, called Marion the least developed coal county in the state, with no large mining company at work. He praised a bank about three miles southeast of Knoxville owned by Luther Burt and Wm. O. Burt, who held some 27 acres, where the vein measured four to six feet; Fox ranked its coal above any he had seen in that part of the county.
“"In the early days of steamboating, Coalport was the most important coaling station between Eddyville and Des Moines."…”
Flagler and the Railroad Mines
The 1915 history dates the first real, systematic mining in the county to the Union Coal Company at Flagler, opened about 1874 or 1875, around the time the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy (then the Albia, Knoxville and Des Moines) reached Knoxville. The company's old Flagler mine, which the 1915 author called one of the greatest coal mines in Iowa, employed forty to fifty men and produced 140 to 160 tons a day from a vein eight to nine feet thick. The Oak Hill Company worked the same vein at Flagler, and both mines used the slope plan. In May 1877 the Union Coal and Mining Company laid out the town of Flagler on its own land, and by 1915 the station shipped considerable quantities of coal and farm products.
In Knoxville itself, J. T. James opened a mine only eight blocks north of the courthouse and ran it until about 1890, while W. A. Gamble mined in North Knoxville. Both veins averaged about four feet, and the coal went out chiefly over the Rock Island. S. L. Collins later owned the James shaft, which was 109 feet deep.
In the 1880s the White Breast Fuel Company employed 250 to 285 men at its No. 11 mine at Flagler and a mine at Swan. Swan closed in 1888 and No. 11 in 1892, on account of low and faulty coal. About three years before the end, No. 11 had been working a vein fourteen feet thick, which the 1915 book counted among the largest ever found in the state. It proved to be a pocket shaped like an inverted wash basin, thinning in every direction to less than three feet. The same book quotes Park C. Wilson, state mine inspector from 1880 to 1886, who judged Marion's coal deposits the largest of any Iowa county. B. L. Miller's survey of 1898 to 1899, a main source for the 1915 chapter, found mining centers north of the river at or near Pella, Otley, Dunreath and Morgan Valley, and south of English Creek at the O. K. Coal Company mines, Hamilton and Marysville.
Bussey, the O. K. Mine and the Everist Camp
Both books agree Bussey was laid out in July 1875; the 1915 history says it was platted for Jesse and Isabelle Bussey. The 1881 biography of J. Bussey, a lumber and grain dealer, says he was born in Greene County, Pennsylvania, on August 8, 1820, came to the township in the fall of 1867, and bought the land the town was built on. His wife was Isabelle Jimeson. Bussey had about one hundred people in 1881 and 669 by 1910, and James A. Bussey was elected mayor at the first town election in June 1899. The 1915 book says the town shipped an immense amount of coal from the mines around it.
Much of that coal traced to J. A. Powers, who came to Liberty Township in 1890 at twenty-six to prospect. He raised capital to open the O. K. mine a mile south of Bussey, served by a Burlington spur, and the 1915 book says the O. K. was the county's largest producer from 1895 to about 1902. Powers then headed the Mammoth Vein Company, organized in 1903, and the town of Everist grew up around its shaft three and a half miles west of Bussey, on veins averaging about eight feet.
By 1915 the Empire Coal Company ran the Everist mines. They used both slope and shaft methods, were electrically equipped, and employed 90 to 300 men depending on the season and the trade; as many as 800 cars of screened coal had come out in a single day. The book is not consistent on the rail link: its coal chapter calls the spur to the Wabash at Tracy about seven miles long, while its railroad chapter gives a Wabash branch from Tracy to Everist of a little over eight miles.
“As high as 800 cars of screened coal have been taken from these mines in a single day.”
Marysville, Hamilton and the Cedar Creek Country
Marysville, on the north bank of Cedar Creek, was laid out in February 1857, the 1881 history says. Jonathan Wilder built the first house, and the post office was first called Ely. The town stayed partly dormant for some years, but after the discovery of vast quantities of coal lands nearby it began building up quickly. Welch and Company put up a woolen factory in 1872, and the weekly Marysville Miner first appeared on February 7, 1871; the 1881 author credited much of the town's prosperity to the paper. Marysville then had about two hundred people, a Methodist Episcopal church organized in 1867, and Gavel Lodge of Masons, organized February 13, 1868. The books disagree on its Odd Fellows lodge, No. 307: the 1881 history says February 8, 1876, the 1915 history February 1875.
Hamilton is older. Proprietors including Jacob Hendricks and Isaac Wilsey had it surveyed in 1849, on June 2 by the 1915 account and June 1 and 2 by the 1881 one. Most came from Hamilton County, Ohio, which gave the town its name. Nathaniel Linn built the first house, a double log cabin, in the winter of 1849 to 1850, and both books say it sat on packed snow until a thaw let it settle. The town was long nicknamed Jake's Ruin, after Hendricks, and Dr. J. T. French practiced there from 1851 to 1857. Hamilton had about 200 people in 1881 and 391 in 1910, and the 1915 history says a number of mines were worked near town, with a daily stage to Buxton in Monroe County.
New Shafts After 1900: Electra, Anderson and Ramsay
The Consolidated Indiana Coal Company prospected the field around Dallas and bought some five thousand acres. Once the Allerton division of the Rock Island was certain, it sank a 200-foot shaft walled with seven inches of reinforced concrete at the new mining town of Electra, about two miles southeast of Dallas, named because electricity powered nearly every operation. The company claimed enough coal to hoist a thousand tons a day for forty years.
In the fall of 1910 B. F. Evans and his two sons began buying land in eastern Knoxville Township, about three miles south of Flagler. By May 1911 they had drilled forty-two prospect holes, all hitting coal at sixty-five to seventy-five feet. The main shaft, in section 22, township 75, range 19, was begun June 27, 1911 and finished that September, but waiting on a rail spur pushed the first shipment to September 1912. This was the Anderson Coal Company, which State Mine Inspector Rhys said in 1912 had a very promising future. It employed 40 to 120 men and put out 90 to 270 tons a day.
George H. Ramsay, who had mined for years in Mahaska County, came to Knoxville in November 1912 after buying the D. B. Cherry coal lands. He built up about two hundred acres within two miles of the city, where thirty-eight prospect holes showed a vein of four to seven feet. Work on his shaft No. 3 began April 28, 1913, and the first blasts in the coal were fired on the evening of July 1, under a tipple sixty-five feet high.
Finding Mining Families in These Records
These books name operators and founders far more often than working miners, but they point to useful records. The 1915 history lists Odd Fellows lodges at Hamilton (No. 78, organized August 3, 1855, the first in the county), Marysville, Bussey, Tracy and Percy, and Integrity Lodge No. 584 of Masons at Bussey. In January 1893 the Hamilton Odd Fellows laid out a cemetery just east of the original town plat. Physician D. L. Cole came to Bussey in 1878 and married Bell Bussey there on June 13, 1880.
The 1881 book also records the Old Settlers' Association of Marion County, organized at the fair grounds near Knoxville on August 11, 1880; signers of its call included Dr. J. T. French and S. L. Collins. One warning from the 1915 history: Knoxville's early city records were destroyed in the fire of 1887.
Finding your ancestor in Marion County
- Census records (free through 1950) list each person's occupation and town, so a mining family shows up decade by decade.
- Death records: search our Iowa database by surname.
- The county histories themselves: the biographical sections of The History of Marion County, Iowa and History of Marion County, Iowa, and Its People hold hundreds of family sketches.
- Newspapers on the Library of Congress's Chronicling America carried obituaries, accidents, and local news.
Tell us one grandparent's name. We'll take a free first look at the records and email you back.
Ask about my family →Frequently asked questions
Where was coal first mined in Marion County, Iowa?
The 1915 history judged it almost certain that the first coal came from the vein at Coalport in Polk Township. An early settler, J. W. Harp, recalled steamboats on the Des Moines River taking on coal there from 1847, and Professor Hall's 1858 report noted a Mr. Welch running a mine at the spot.
Which company began systematic coal mining in Marion County?
The 1915 history credits the Union Coal Company at Flagler, which opened its mines about 1874 or 1875 as the Burlington line reached Knoxville. Its old mine employed forty to fifty men and produced 140 to 160 tons a day, and in May 1877 the company laid out the town of Flagler on its land.
How did the Everist coal camp near Bussey begin?
J. A. Powers, who began prospecting in Liberty Township in 1890 and opened the O. K. mine south of Bussey, led the Mammoth Vein Company, organized in 1903. Everist grew up around its shaft three and a half miles west of Bussey. By 1915 the Empire Coal Company ran the mines with 90 to 300 men.
Do the two county histories ever disagree about these towns?
Yes. The 1881 history says Marysville's Odd Fellows lodge No. 307 was organized February 8, 1876, while the 1915 history says February 1875. They also differ slightly on Hamilton's survey, June 2, 1849 in the 1915 book versus June 1 and 2 in the 1881 book.