The first detection of coal in North America was made in Illinois by Jacques Marquette. In 1673, he noted deposits along the Illinois River. Nonetheless, it was only in 1800 that settlers first began to mine this combustible mineral. It was used for blacksmithing, home heating and other domestic needs, chicagoname.com writes.
Development of the coal industry
Like agriculture, mining was one of the main industries that contributed to the improvement of the economy not only of Chicago but of the entire state of Illinois. Coal extraction was mostly in the suburbs.
In 1848, the first underground excavation of solid minerals began in Belleville. The emerging industry expanded along transportation lanes to facilitate approach to major trade hubs such as St. Louis and Chicago. Nevertheless, in Southern Illinois, coal excavation did not begin to develop until the Civil War, when the railroad was built. It provided convenient transportation.
The first mines were long tunnels. Miners used a technique known as “room and pillar”. According to this scheme, they made openings or “rooms” during mining. The coal that was not touched but left to support the roof of the mine was named “pillars”.
People actively used the excavated coal as the main source of fuel, but did not think about the enormous impact on the environment. The main aim of the miners was to extract the mineral and get out of the mine.
As of 1865, workers at the mines in Braidwood generated about 230,000 tons of coal per year. Most of it was sent to Chicago. At that time, the main company in the city was the Chicago & Wilmington Coal Company (C&W), which hired almost 1,000 people to extract sedimentary rock from shallow deposits. Most of the first miners were immigrants from Scotland and England.
Gradually to the collapse
In 1880, coal extraction in Will County started to decrease as miners exploited the easily accessible areas of surface local reserves. Production hit its peak in 1882, when 2,000 miners lifted about 650,000 tons from the Braidwood mines.
Over the following years, mining slowed. In addition, a disaster in 1883 caused great damage to the local industry. Back then, rain and melted snow flooded the Diamond Coal Company mine. The abrupt flood claimed the lives of 61 people.
Over the next few years, the local mines were getting worse and occupied a small share of the larger Illinois coal industry.
As of 1892, Will County mines yielded only 114,000 tons. In the late 1920s, the Northern Illinois Coal Company (NIC) started using earthmoving machinery to extract coal by moving huge amounts of soil and rock.
Over the next 25 years, nearly 30 million tons of coal were mined in Will County’s quarries, making it one of the top open-pit mining regions in Illinois. In 1960, the last mining activities in the Chicago suburbs were closed.
During the period of our ancestors’ activity, there were a lot of abandoned and destroyed mines. In addition, as a result of mining, they have begun to sink. The Illinois State Geological Survey reports that about 201,000 acres of urban developed land are in close proximity to former mines. This means that people are putting themselves in great danger. At any moment, their homes could go underground.