[Granville-Hough] 25 Jan 2009 - Coal Mining in the family

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2009 12:49:35 -0800
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: Re: Coal Mining in the family - 25 Jan 2009

Some time ago, grandaughter Susanna Hough and I 
discussed the Steckelberg coal mining operations.  It was a family type 
business, where the owners worked both in the offices and in the mines. 
  Henry started his day by going around the city and picking up his 
Polish miners and others in a flat-bed truck.  He then was overseer down 
in the mine.  I never heard of anyone getting black lung, but Henry 
could tell he was allergic.  His brother-in-law, "Bim" Lincoln, had TB 
and worked in the mine until he was unable to do it any longer.  Carol 
and I saw Uncle Bim Lincoln in an Oklahoma Hospital after the war, and 
he seemed to be very sad and depressed.  The sulfa drugs developed 
during the war had stopped the TB, but there was still lung damage.  I'm 
sure the coal dust did not help him, but just settled in his lungs. 

 Neat!  So they owned the mine, they didn't go down inside it and get
 black lung and that sort of thing?  That's scary that the whole town is
 sitting on top of land that has holes like swiss cheese.

 ~Suzi

Steckelberg Coal Mine

   I looked through some old Steckelberg pictures and found a picture 
postal card showing Henry and Will Steckelberg preparing the shaft for 
their first coal mine.  For Kendrick and Susanna Hough, Henry was 
their great-grandfather and Will their great, great uncle, and the 
year was between 1910 and 1920, I do believe. Will died quite young of 
heart attack, and Henry died in his sixties of the same malady; so 
neither ever made a personal narrative of their developing a coal mine 
in Henrietta, OK.  They were two young farm men from Pioneer, NB, with 
no experience in anything except farming, though I believe Will had 
had a short course in business.  We do not know how they got 
interested in the project, how they financed the land purchase and the 
mineral rights, or how they learned what they had to do to start a 
coal mine.     Grandma Carol Hough could remember little about the 
coal mines, except that the Steckelberg holdings belonged to the 
children of Will, Henry having sold out when he discovered he was 
allergic to coal dust.  Aunt Dorothy Neville is the best source of 
information we now have.  She believes that sister Emma (great great 
aunt Emma Steckelberg, Professor of Languages at Chadron, NB, and 
first female magna cum laude graduate of the University of Nebraska, 
was one source of funds.  I found old papers concerning a loan to Will 
Steckelberg from his father August Steckelberg, the original 
Steckelberg immigrant from Germany, so he may have been a supporter, 
as well.
   What puzzled me was how Henry and Will learned all the things you 
have to do to develop a mine; how to build the shafts, get the coal 
out, and provide air to the workers.  Aunt Dorothy said there were 
earlier coal mines in Henrietta, and two families she mentioned were 
the Camerons and the Wells.  (Two Cameron sisters came to see David 
soon after he was born.)  She believed Henry and Will worked with 
these other miners to learn the necessary skills.   She recalls that, 
early on, Henry and Will formed the Southern Coal Company; but was 
later the Atlas Coal Company.  (Someone else probably had the Southern 
Coal Company name.)
   Henry soon learned he was allergic to coal dust and became the 
salesman for the operation.  Later, he wanted to get back to his true 
love of farming, and he sold out his interest to Will.  After Will 
died, his widow and children continued to operate the mine.  After 
they closed the operations, they were able to get into other businesses.
   The coal miners of Henrietta never got rich, and they were soon in 
competition with petroleum products for railroad operations and for 
heating.  I do not know when they went out of business, but it was 
probably the advent of WW II.  Aunt Dorothy has been to the old mine 
shafts, and each shaft is accompanied by big piles of tailings and 
other debris which had to be removed to get to the coal.  On her last 
visit, she said the abandoned shafts had no guard rails and animals 
and humans could fall in at will.
   The whole town of Henrietta is riddled with underground coal mine 
shafts.  There has been no known falling in of houses, but the gradual 
settling has caused new homes to have doors which did not close, or 
windows which were somewhat askew.  If ever there is an earthquake 
there, it could be catastrophic.
   So, for Kendrick and Susanna, this is a little about the 
coal-mining days of your great grandfather, Henry Steckelberg.  He 
eventually got back to eastern NB, where he was proud of his purebred 
Hereford livestock.  He died of heart attack out in his pasture 
looking after his cattle, probably where he wanted to be.

   P. S.  I do remember a funny story about the Cameron sisters.  They 
kept up old customs of tea and cookies in the afternoon, and Grandma 
Carol was invited to come when she was about 13.  She was trying to be 
as grownup as possible and sat in the chair which seemed in place for 
her.  In walked the Cameron cat and sat down in front of Carol and 
glared at her with a fixed and unwinking stare.   Carol got afraid she 
was going to be scratched when one of the sisters suggested she move 
to another chair, which she did.  The cat then hopped into the chair, 
sniffed around disdainfully, then settled down for a nap.  Grandma 
Carol had made a social mistake of sitting in the cat's chair.  She 
was careful never to sit in that chair again though she did have 
afternoon tea with the Camerons.  That is the background of their 
coming to see David when he was a tiny tot.