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MINING
(WRITTEN BY LYNN KOSTENBAUER-SPRING 1954)
MINING IN JOHNSON COUNTY FOR THE PAST 88 YEARS
“It can be found all along the route from Powder River to the Upper Yellowstone,
and the red buttes which dot the country for miles northward are grand repositories
of the same article. Lignite and the lower grades of wood coal are the prevailing
type, but a vein ws opened close to Ft Phil Kearney soon after its establishment in
1886, which was advantageously used in welding of iron and will prove no less
valuable for winter fires.
Limestone is attainable from the mountain, although somewhat difficult of
transportation at present. Clay is abundant and of such quality as to make a firm
plaster coating upon simple exposure to the sun.
While the discoloration of the red buttes has been traced to the presence of iron,
and it is also found in many of the red sands, no ores have yet been exposed, nor
have indications been made of its presence in any available supply. All other
building materials are plentiful and the tall pines furnish clear lumber of any
required length or breadth without a knot or blemish to mar their uniformity of
beauty. Where some Indian fire has spread and struck a forest, so as to benumb its
growth, the house builder finds his sound dry timber which readily takes the plane
and the handsome finish and the perfection of its seasoning in that dry atmosphere
is a work of short duration.
The altitude at Ft Phil Kearney is over six thousand feet above the level of the sea,
while half as high again above it rises Cloud Peak, completing the landscape and
covering all with its purity and beauty.” (From the diary of Mrs. Carrington
and it is the first account of coal mining in the county.)
Interview with Burnt Johnson:
The Billy McCan mine was opened in 1885 for the transaction of business. This mine
was located approximately 1/2 mile east of the present day Rock Creek bridge,
about 2-1/2 miles north of Buffalo on highway 87.
The Mitchell mine was also in operation from 1890 on until 1900, when it took fire
from gob-clay on the floor takes moisture from the roof and takes fire from
spontaneous combustion. After the fire went out, gas and water filled the mine
making it unusable.
When this mine first became filled with gas Mr. Danny Michell was doubtful that his
mine had too much coal gas in it and set out to prove it. He walked boldly into the
mine and was carried out feet first-killed as he was by coal gas.
Another incident that happened at the Mitchell mine is that George Washut was
working around this mine in later years when his dog began chasing a rabbit. The
rabbit ran into the old Mitchell mine, followed closely by the dog. Neither ever
came out, apparently killed by coal gas or bad air.
Interview with Roy Munkres:
Munkres and Mathers had been hauling and floating cord wood from the mountains
to Ft McKinney and the then small hamlet of Buffalo. Soon afterwards, they bought
in partners with James Westman in a coal mine located approximately 100 yards
south of the present day stock yards, paying $1,700.00 for their shares. They then
sold their wood business to Roy Killkenny.
THE WESTMAN COAL MINE
(From an article taken from the Buffalo newspaper in 1890)
It is probable few of our citizens have any idea of the extensive improvements that
have been made this year in the coal mine known as Westman’s. E.A. Pearce
located this coal claim in 1885 and operated it alone for one year, living there in the
manner of the pioneers in all western enterprise. Then, James Westman purchased
the claim and opened the vein further into the hill, as the demand for coal and the
output was about equal to that of either of the other coal claims worked near town.
The coal was drawn up an incline by means of a whim from depth of about 70 feet.
The vein then worked was about 3 feet thick and quite a number of galleries and
rooms had been worked in the vein when Mr. Westman, finding he needed more
capital than he had at his command, associated himself with Mr. Munkers and Mr.
Mathers. This firm is well known for the thoroughness with which it does anything it
undertakes and the present development of the Westman Coal Mine is another
example of its push and energy.
With the increased means, more extensive operations were begun. The first of
which was to sink a shaft in the old workings to see what was beneath. This shaft
was sunk to a depth of 50 feet and disclosed the fact that there were several layers
of coal below the one then being worked. The layers are from 4 to 7 feet in
thickness. The bottom layer proved to be of such superior quality and thickness that,
though the expenses of sinking the incline to reach it would include a large outlay
of time and labor, it was decided to abandon the old level and develop this larger
vein. It is the work of this development this article is written to describe.
The freshet, which last July washed away the foot bridge from across Clear Creek in
town, also washed away all the surface works of the mine such as coal bins, track,
whim, etc. All of these have been replaced in a more substantial manner and in a
position where another flood would not be likely to reach them. A Chicago Standard
scale has also been put in. To describe the works as one would see them now, it is
best to commence with the two story brick lodging house for the men. This is
commodious and comfortable and removes the necessity of the workmen boarding
in town. A new stable 24’ X 40’ is being built to accommodate the teams used in
hauling coal. The new coal bins are large, strongly built, and entirely enclosed.
The entrance to the mine is on a level with the top of the bins, a track running from
one to the other. There is a car standing on the track and if you will enter it, you can
take a toboggan slide of 325 feet on wheels, but to prevent accidents, the men in
charge will attach a steel cable to it before you start. This cable is wound around a
large drum, the whim, 6 feet in diameter, around which passes a steel band having
a lever at one end by which the speed of the descending car is controlled. To draw
the car up, a horse is hitched to a lever attached to the drum and walking in a circle
winds the cable around the drum. The track in the incline is made fast to ties about 2
feet apart and is very solid.
About 200 feet down the old level is reached. This is boarded up and here
commences a wooden box by the side of the track which carries the foul air back
from the mine and into the old level, from which it escapes by means of an air shaft,
but when the “back entry” of the new works is completed, it will be connected with
the air shaft direct and thus, remove the necessity of this return box and keep the air
in the mine as fresh as it is possible to have it.
On the old level is the only place where any water is seen to enter the mine and
this is merely surface seepage. This is conducted to a deep shaft sunk for the
purpose of carrying it off and any that passes this point is caught in a tank at the
foot of the incline and pumped off, thus making the present works perfectly dry. The
lower level is 325 feet long and the main gallery is now dug 300 feet back into the
earth. From this, there are now started two other galleries, one on each side at right
angles. The one on the left is finished far enough in that direction to permit the
starting of the back entry at right angles to it, and this entry is being pushed back
parallel to the main entry, as rapidly as possible, to connect with the air shaft, so as
to complete the ventilation of the mine by forming a constant draft down the
entrance around these galleries where it becomes heated, and then up through the
air shaft which stands up along side a chimney to a considerable distance above the
ground. The gallery to the right of the main one is started directly toward town and
should the demand require it, there is no doubt but what the mine would be
extended under the town. All of the coal being mined now came from these
galleries of preliminary works, but when these are completed, the works will be
divided into rooms 25 feet wide with 15 foot walls between. Without any stretch of
the imagination, when one is in the mine, it is easy to believe that the capacity of
the mine is only limited by the demand upon it. The rooms are high enough for a
tall man to walk erect in without touching his hat against the roof. And of this roof it
is well to speak. It is composed of slate and above that is 5 feet of coal with a layer
of soapstone 1 foot thick above that. The substantial roof does away with the need
of using timbers for support in the galleries. The territorial mine inspector, on his visit
to the mine said it was the best situated mine in that respect he ever saw.
There are now seven miners working here, but part of them are engaged more in
getting everything into permanent shape than getting coal out for the present year
and when the increased demands of cold weather come, a larger force of men will
be employed. The mouth of the mine to which we will ascend is being enclosed with
a substantial building, so that when snow flies everything will be under shelter until it
starts on its trip to town or the post.
From an interview with Roy Munkres:
The first company mine was dug in 1915 and went to a depth of 125 feet, being a
shaft mine. This mine was abandoned because of its location. Railroad cars could be
loaded easier from a new mine closer to the tracks and then this old mine could be
used as an air shaft.
The new mine was dug in 1921 to a depth of 150 feet. It also was a shaft mine. The
miners in the new company mine were paid $.90 a car for loading. A car has
approximately two ton of coal in it. Later prices were raised to $1.00 a car.
In many drillings for oil and water, vast areas of subterranean coal have been
found. In some areas of Johnson County, veins of coal 50 feet thick have been
discovered.
Interview with Burnt Johnson:
Burnt Johnson and William Kostenbauer were working in the new company mine in
June of 1938 when a flood came down Sand Creek. Burnt went out the air shaft
steps to pull Bill and the work mule out of the shaft on the hoist. When Burnt got
near the top of the air shaft he encountered a large head of water from the top. He
rushed to pull Bill and the mule out as they would have drowned otherwise. Just as
Burnt reached the outside, the steps which he had just come up collapsed. Soon
afterwards, the mine was abandoned and never has been worked again.
Interview with William Kostenbauer:
In 1931, George Washut and his sons dug a mine very close to Highway 16 about
3 miles east of Buffalo. This mine was dug out in 1941 and George and his sons dug
a new mine about a mile off the highway. The Kostenbauer brothers bought this
mine in August of 1943.
In 1932, Joe Barantha? hired Math Kostenbauer to dig a mine. Rudy Pichlmaier then
bought this mine in 1934, selling out again in 1936 to the Buffalo Coal Company
owned by Northern Wyoming Land Company. In 1944, this mine was closed down
on account of fire from gob, as many other mines in this vicinity have been ruined.
The Clear Creek Coal Company, mentioned before as the George Washut mine,
owned now by the Kostenbauer Brothers, was run by electricity made by a steam
boiler and turbine, which was abandoned in 1949 and new diesel engines now run
the turbines.
Interview with Mrs. Meldrum:
On the subject of oil, as some people think, Buffalo is built on an oil dome. Near
the present day mill and near Clear Creek, Charlie Fisher’s father had an artesian
well drilled. While they were drilling, a driller lit a match to light a cigarette and was
blown into the air from a terrific explosion. Later, the residents of Buffalo lit the gas
again and let it all burn off. This well only went 300 feet deep and oil unusually
follows gas up. So, the conviction that Buffalo is on an oil dome might be true.
GOLD FEVER IN THE SOUTHERN BIG HORNS
Buffalo
While Sheridan prospered by mining the upstate New York investors, Buffalo grew it’s own crop of plungers to look for gold out across the southern Big Horns. From time to time, they were joined by a few Sheridanites who had gold-fever too.
In 1883, there was a brief rush to the Walker Prairie, but no one came away with any consequential amount of the gold. One local named Dan Wlker, left his bones up there as a result of a gun fight over various matters.
The year 1891 saw Joe DeBarthe, a Buffalo newsman, (editor of Frank Gruard Reminiscences) and what he thought was a strike at KelleyCreek. Just like his contemporaries in the Big Horns, DeBarthe was working a secondary placer below an exposure in that damable cement formation.
The BaldMountain excitement off to the north, combined with DeBartha’s discovery, set off a minor local rush to KelleyCreek that spread out over the southern part of the mountains. Sheridan outfits, too began to cast their eyes further south.
The Stockwell Brothers, who then own Beckton Stock Farms (but still has not completed the payments to George Beck) found an interesting looking igneous dike that cut across Stockwell Creek. They sunk most of the equity they had in the ranch, into it. When that played out, the elder brother committed suicide. A.G., the younger, looked for more backers and found them in the Wallops. At the turn of the century, they put in a small stamp mill on Stockwell Creek but made nothing out of it, and A.G. quit mining , to become one of the best of that fine early crop of the Big Horn Forest Reserve. He ultimately became its Deputy Supervisor, but that is another whole story.
W.H. Edlman, promonent Sheridan businessman, back some prospectors who turn up color on Edelman Creek, deep in the central part of the mountains,. W.H. then financed the building of cabins and kept quite a crew of men busy in 1896-97 trying to develop these prospects.
Edelman was one of the most persistent stayers in the area, for he was doing more work there as late as the years just before World War I.
Down in Buffalo, the results of gold fever were spreading through the business community. As we said earlier in the series, the allotment behaves in a strange and powerful ways. In Bufffalo, some unlikely-seeming individuals caught it.
They included banker, W.J. Thom, merchant, GA. E. Moeller, cattleman F.G.S. Hesse and others. People who wouldn’t lend a nickel on a range-bull that wasn’t up to grade but would bet on any show of color that someone brought off the mountains.
There was one rush to the KelleyCreek country in the mid 1890s, another in 1906-07, and yet another in 1913. Newspapers puffed the 1906 period finds, but the state geologist who visited them said they visited then say they “didn’t warrant going to very much expense. N.H. Darton of the U.S. Geoglogical Survey found a little three stamp mill pounding away there but thought it was wasting its time on the cement.
Altogether, more than a dozen mining companies were formed in Buffalo at the peak of the excitement. Some of them turn to the search for other metals, and are part of another story.
Buffalo had its own more-or-less home-grown promoters, too. One was Roy Peck, who stuck with the gold rushes persistently but eventually made his money in the Salt Creek Oil Fields.
Another was much more colorful. This was Frank Sparhawk, a genuine old frontiersman, who by the early 1990 was a real-estate agent in Buffalo. He was a literate man and wrote and soke in glowing terms of the money to be made in the Big Horns. He was doubless a cool customer when dealing with investor, for he was well known for his alertness and fast responses. One time in the 1880sFrank, better known as Sparrowhawk” was running the stage station at Crooks Gap, out northwest of Rawlins.
A column of black cavalrymen of the 9th or 10th Regiment came through on the way to FortWashakie. The senior sergeant major of the outfit stomped into the station in a rattle of spurs and saber, his brass buttons sparkling in the dim light. He said to Sparahawk: “Give me some coffee, black as the Devil and hot as Hell and stirred with a pistol.
Sparhawk poured the coffee from the ever ready pot on the stove, whipped out his Cold and stirred it vigorously and then looked up at the sergeant and asked “Would you like some smoke in it, too, sir?
So it is not too surprising that Sparhawk helped turn the interest of the Buffalo Crowd from gold to copper early in the new century.
Country Journal, 10/27/, P. 27, Home Grown Plungers, Bob Murray. Vertical files Sheridan County Library, Sheridan, WY
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