DIY History | Transcribe | Campus Culture | Reuben Gaines' memoir, undated

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Page 54

54 PAGE 54 Buxton. 54

"I cannot leave now because I have an investment to protect which when the mines were in operation was worth $50,000.00 to day my investment is not worth fifty cents but I may be able to salvage fifty per cent of the lumber when and if I can get some one to do the work". "You should move out in any direction I do not believe there is anything much left around here to steal that is editable. Stop looking for a miracle because all the Kings Horses and all the Kings men will not reopen the mine again. Do not use this as a (rerun) because I had already used it back in 1905 when I was about to drown in the DesMoines River." The 1926 Strike was the direct cause of the mine closing. In other words it was the last straw that had broken the Camels back or the last drop of water that over ran the cup. but the Coal Company also had other adverse conditions. they lost a quarter of a million dollar suit in Court on the Lacont[illegible letter] Coal washing outfit. Years before there was quite some trouble about closing no. 12 mine and at one time the officers of Monroe County drove out to Wayne Township and closed their mine down because the Coal Company had failed to pay a $30,000.00 dollar Tax on time. I was never able to find out why such action had been taken against The North Western Railroad who has millions upon millionsand who would be well secured against the principal and penalty and such action as this could only be classed as an agravated annoyance.

But most discussions will wend their way back to the Buxton Coal fields and heyday of mining in that area, and with good reason: "I was there when they came and I was there when they left". Muchakinock---- Buston --- Haydock. Were three ghost towns I have lived through. I was part of those communities that tried business opertunities,-- some successful,-- some not, and some that almost worked. There was the shadow of ambition in these discussions of ambition and prosperity. Ambitions nurtured in one of the most prosperious Coal Camps in the state. Ambitious persued, under the uncertain horizons of the future of the Coal Industry in Iowa.

[illegible couplets, possibly erased? appear in the rest of the page. -transcriber KB]

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54 PAGE 54 Buxton. 54 "I cannot leave now because I have an investment to protect which when the mines were in operation was worth $50,000.00 to day my investment is not worth fifty cents but I may be able to salvage fifty per cent of the lumber when and if I can get some one to do the work". "You should move out in any direction I do not believe there is anything much left around here to steal that is editable. Stop looking for a miracle because all the Kings Horses and all the Kings men will not reopen the mine again. Do not use this as a (rerun) because I had already used it back in 1905 when I was about to drown in the DesMoines River." The 1926 Strike was the direct cause of the mine closing. In other words it was the last straw that had broken the Camels back or the last drop of water that over ran the cup. but the Coal Company also had other adverse conditions. they lost a quarter of a million dollar suit in Court on the Lacont[illegible letter] Coal washing outfit. Years before there was quite some trouble about closing no. 12 mine and at one time the officers of Monroe County drove out to Wayne Township and closed their mine down because the Coal Company had failed to pay a $30,000.00 dollar Tax on time. I was never able to find out why such action had been taken against The North Western Railroad who has millions upon millionsand who would be well secured against the principal and penalty and such action as this could only be classed as an agravated annoyance. But most discussions will wend their way back to the Buxton Coal fields and heyday of mining in that area, and with good reason: "I was there when they came and I was there when they left". Muchakinock---- Buston --- Haydock. Were three ghost towns I have lived through. I was part of those communities that tried business opertunities,-- some successful,-- some not, and some that almost worked. There was the shadow of ambition in these discussions of ambition and prosperity. Ambitions nurtured in one of the most prosperious Coal Camps in the state. Ambitious persued, under the uncertain horizons of the future of the Coal Industry in Iowa. [illegible couplets, possibly erased? appear in the rest of the page. -transcriber KB]