This is Mazon Monday post #282.  What’s your favorite Mazon Creek fossil?  Tell us at email:esconi.info@gmail.com.

For the Braidwood, Wilmington, and Coal City area, 1974 marked the end of an era with the closure of the last operating coal mine—Peabody Coal Company’s Pit 11. The mine had been in operation since 1951, originally opened by the Northern Illinois Coal Company (NICC), which is also known simply as “the Northern.” Coal mining in the region began in 1864 when a water well unexpectedly struck coal at a depth of 65 feet. This seam, now known as the Coalchester Coal #2, proved highly productive, and by 1872 more than 50 mines were active in the area.

In 1928, the Skinner Brothers operated a slope mine just north of Braidwood, on land now within the Wilmington Recreation Club. “The slope mine ran at a 33 degree angle from the surface to the coal 65 feet below the surface.  The slope was about 200 feet long” (see The Braidwood Story, page 70).  Fossils from the Skinner mine were later studied by Dr. Noé for his book Pennsylvanian Flora of Northern Illinois (see Mazon Monday #149). The Skinner Brothers eventually sold their mine to the Northern Illinois Coal Company, which numbered its pits from 1 to 15, as shown on the map above. Pit 1 corresponds to the present-day location of Cinder Ridge Golf Course, north of Diamond, Illinois, along I-55.

The Northern Illinois Coal Company was purchased by the Sinclair Coal Company in 1949.

L. Russell Kelce was a member of the fourth generation of a family that mined coal for more than a century. Russell and his brothers, Merl and Ted, became dynamic industry leaders and served consecutively as President of Peabody Coal Company from 1955 to 1965, a period of dynamic growth that saw Peabody emerge as the largest U.S. coal producer.

Born in Pittsburg, Kansas, Russell Kelce left high school at the age of 15 to work in the mines and help support his family after his father was injured in a mine accident. He became a very young Mine Superintendent at age 19. After serving in World War I, Russell and a partner started a small strip mine in Oklahoma with $230,000 of borrowed money. Russell repaid the debt within 18 months and from that point forward his credit and his reputation were good for any acquisition he wanted to make. He affiliated his company with Sinclair Coal Company and, along with Grant Stauffer, the principal in Sinclair, he embarked on a rapid expansion program, opening new and acquiring existing mines. Russell and his family accumulated a controlling interest in Sinclair, and he became President and Chief Executive Officer in 1949.

In 1949, Sinclair made a big move east of the Mississippi, acquiring Northern Illinois Coal Corp., which had several large surface mines and enormous coal reserves in Indiana and Illinois. Sinclair was now the fifth largest coal company in the United States. In 1955, Sinclair, grown to the third largest producer, made another giant step by merging with Peabody Coal Company, while retaining the Peabody name.

Russell Kelce assumed the presidency of the merged Peabody and started the company on a major expansion that continued for 15 years. Smaller coal companies were acquired, new mines were developed, and sizable technological and equipment investments were made at existing mines. Years before any requirement by state or federal laws, Russell launched Peabody on its Operation Green Earth, a highly successful reclamation program that returned almost 50,000 mined acres to productive use over a 10–year period. Although Russell did not live to see the results of his foresight, his brothers, Merl and Ted, carried out his vision and enhanced it with their years of practical knowledge. Merl succeeded Russell as Peabody President in 1957 and led Peabody to the position of number one United States coal producer in 1961. Russell’s son, Bob, followed the Kelce tradition by joining the Peabody operating organization and serving on the Peabody Board of Directors.

Throughout his career, Russell Kelce demonstrated exceptional skill at efficient management structure and provided innovative incentives that shared the success of the company with its managers, including those at the mines. In addition to his lifelong involvement in coal, Russell Kelce was also a railroader, a cattleman, a farmer, an oilman, and an industry association leader. He left behind a great legacy of fair dealing, personal integrity, and love of country and community.

The Sinclair Coal Company merged with Peabody Coal Company in 1955.

Despite being ranked eighth among the country’s top coal producers in the mid-1950s, Peabody began to lose market share to companies operating cost-efficient surface mining operations.^[13] To address the situation, it entered into merger talks with Sinclair Coal Company. A merger between the two companies occurred in 1955, resulting in the transfer of Peabody’s headquarters to St. Louis, Missouri. The merged company retained the Peabody name.^[15] Under the leadership of chairman Russell Kelce, the company expanded production and sales.^[13]

Here’s an article from the Wilmington Advocate on September 13th, 1974.  It was submitted by Rich Rock and appeared in the December 1974 edition of the ESCONI newsletter.

PEABODY TO CLOSE DOWN ITS ESSEX MINING OPERATION
– The Wilmington Advocate 9-13-74
– Submitted by: Richard Rock

The Essex Coal Mine of Peabody Coal Company will soon begin to phase out.

Fred Nahas, office manager for the Essex mine for 40 years, said the final date for the strip mine operation has not been set yet but he estimated “75 per cent of the 93 employees will be laid off within the next two or three months.” Those remaining will be employed in the reclamation work require by the State at the locations where the coal has been stripped.

Mr. Nahas stated the company could have continued operations for another two years until Commonwealth Edison Company takes possession and uses part of the land (the section in Will County) for a huge cooling lake for its proposed Braidwood Nuclear Station.

Peabody employees will have an opportunity for jobs in other company owned mines in Illinois or other states where either the sulphur content in lower or where there are still buyers for the coal.

Mr. Nahas said the Northern Illinois Mine has been in operation since 1951, (stripping began in 1946), and its employees have come primarily from nearby communities such as Coal City, Essex, Braidwood, Braceville, Wilmington, South Wilmington, Gardner, and surrounding areas.

It has been reported that Essex Coal contains two and a half to three percent sulphur and the State limit allows about one per cent., Stringgent pollution, controls on burning coal containing sulphur contributed to the company’s decision to phase out operations presently.

Companies to whom Peabody has been selling coal “don’t have the millions to invest to remove the sulphur at the point of burning.” Nahas said. The result has been that sales from the Northern Illinois mine have decreased.

The company plans to dismantle its equipment and ship it to other locations in Southern Illinois or Arizona.

Charles Knippel is present superintendent, having transferred from the firm’s River King mine near Marissa about two months ago. In. August, 1973, Gov. Dan, Walker presented a safety record award to the Northern Illinois mine for 1,122 days work without a lost time accident.

Thus, with the impending closing of the Essex mine, the Grundy, Will and Kankakee County area will be without a coal mine in over one hundred years. As a matter of fact, there are no coal mines operating in Northern Illinois. The first coal mines in the area began opera-tions in the Braidwood area in the early 1870’s, quickly spreading to the Diamond, Braceville, Carbon Hill, Coal City, Clarke City, Torino Eileen, Suffernville, South Wilmington and surrounding areas. Millions of tons of coal were taken from deep mines in the area.

The last coal mines to operate in the area were Verona, Number Seven Mine west of Coal City, the Skinner Gin Mine east of Coal City, and the South Wilmington mine.

The name Coal City was derived from the large amounts of coal produced in the area.

On March 18, 1928, the Sunlight Coal Company began strip mining of coal between Coal City and Wilmington. The company later became Peabody Coal Company and continued operations moving southward to the Essex-South Wilmington area, as coal deposits became depleted in this area.

Approximately twenty-five men from Coal City are currently employed at the Essex mine.

An era when coal was used exclusively has almost passed gas and electricity having taken its place. For a hundred years in our area, hundreds of families owed their livelihood to coal production.