Final Survey Report: Phase Two of Coal Mining Related Resources in Region Four Survey, September 31, 1990

Oklahoma Historic Preservation Survey, Department of History, Oklahoma State University

Introduction: "From 1870 to 1920, the exploitation of coal shaped the social and economic evolution of southeastern Oklahoma, including Haskell and Coal Counties. During this half century, the coal industry thrived primarily by supplying locomotive fuel to the region's railroads. Hundreds of mines -large and small, corporate and individually owned - tapped the plentiful bituminous deposits close to the surface and deep underground. Thousands of miners, some recent immigrants to America, occupied the mining camps and towns. However, the coal industry, both nationwide and in southeastern Oklahoma, entered a period of decline in 1921 which only deepened with the Great Depression. It was during the post-1930s also that the technique of strip mining rose to prominence in Haskell and Coal Counties. The cost efficiency of excavating coal lying just below the surface with steam shovels suited the economically strained times. World War II temporarily revived the ailing industry, but by 1950, it was well on its way to extinction. Then, the energy crisis of the 1970s revived Oklahoma's coal industry once again, albeit only for about a decade. Even today, much coal lies beneath the region, a sleeping giant awaiting the call to supply future energy should the need arise. coal mining obviously has left a considerable imprint on the landscape and built environment of Coal and Haskell Counties. Abandoned mine mouths, numerous strip pits, the ruins of powder houses and other mine buildings, commercial buildings, and even cemeteries all remain as reminders of this once dominant industry. Often, these surviving physical links to the past occur in isolated rural areas, forgotten and overgrown with bush. Recognizing the importance of these resources associated with the state and region's industrial past, the State Historic Preservation Office made the Phase II of Coal Mining Related Resources in Region Four Survey one of its priorities for Fiscal Year 1989. Growing concern over localized problems of subsidence and groundwater contamination were also motivating factors in undertaking the survey, as was the need to facilitate the joint state-federal effort to reclaim abandoned mine sites. Done on a reconnaissance level, yet in an unusually thorough manner due to the use of the predictive model, this survey provides a valuable tool for land-use management in the two counties. It also provides the necessary foundation for ultimately preserving significant historic coal mining resources. In all these tasks, the Oklahoma Historic Preservation Survey has been an enthusiastic partner with the state Historic Preservation Office." Funding was provided in part by a 1989 Historic Preservation Fund grant administered by the Oklahoma State Historic Preservation Office (project number OK-89-004, grant number 40-89-40062) and the State, Tribal, and Local Plans and Grants Division, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.

Final Survey Report: Phase Two of Coal Mining Related Resources in Region Four Survey, September 31, 1990

Collections