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In 1889, Commissioner Frank H. Betton, of the Kansas Bureau of Industrial Statistics, reported on Kansas coal mining activity for the previous year:
“…. Some $2,000,000 capital is shown by these reports to be invested in the state in the mining of coal, and during the year ending June 30, 1889, about 41,000,000 bushels was produced. The industry employed over 5,000 men and paid over $2,000,000 in wages. ….”
The main coal mining areas of the state, at the time, were in Cherokee/Crawford Counties, Osage County, and Leavenworth County.
Source: The Pittsburg Smelter, Friday, 27 December 1889, Vol. X, No. 52.
Born in 1944 at the old Mt. Carmel Hospital, Pittsburg, Jerry D. Lomshek has been a lifelong resident of Crawford County and the Chicopee area. The grandson of a Slovene immigrant coal miner, he became interested in history at a young age, and began researching family and local history at the age of 14. This being a lifelong passion, he has amassed a mammoth amount of local historical data over the years. He has lectured and written several manucripts concerning the history of Southeast Kansas. From his service in the Navy, and as a registered nurse, he spent 45 years involved in various aspects of health care. Since retiring, he has devoted his time to further local historical research and various community involvement.
