[Granville-Hough] 19 Jul 2009 - Steckelberg Coal

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

Date: Sun, 19 Jul 2009 07:14:35 -0700
From: Granville W Hough <gwhough at oakapple.net>
Subject: SteckelbergCoal - 19 Jul 2009

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. 
    At some point, Polish mining families began to move from 
Pennsylvania to Henrietta, and they probably brought a lot of on-hands 
knowhow to the operations.  They also introduced a Catholic element into 
the otherwise Protestant groups of Henrietta.  I believe that Aunt 
Dorothy could remember when her father Henry  stilled worked for the 
mine that he would go around each day in a flatbed truck to collect the 
Polish miners.  Carol could remember the harsh and uncompromising 
attitude of the one Catholic priest toward her Catholic friends and 
classmates.
    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, "Toodles," who 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.  "Toodles" then hopped into 
the chair, sniffed around disdainfully, then settled down for a nap.  
Grandma Carol 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.

PPS.  For those who find Steckelberg to be a strange German name, just 
recall that the most recent addition to the Hough descendants, is a 
young Thornhill, son of Amanda (Hough) Thornhill.  You will find that 
Thornhill is as close as you can get to an English version of Steckelberg.