Coal's History in Ohio

The coal-mining industry of Ohio is rich in history. Its beginnings were meager, occurring at a time when thoughts of statehood were being shared by the influx of pioneers, and Tecumseh, the famous Shawnee Indian chief, and Simon Kenton, the well-known Ohio frontiersman, were still participants in Ohio's life. Ohio's coal-mining industry grew slowly and steadily until coal became Ohio's most important economic resource. The growth of this industry in many respects paralleled the growth of the state. Shortly after statehood, politicians and business interests worked hard to develop Ohio's agricultural and industrial potential. Among the early legislation passed in Ohio were acts which authorized a variety of internal improvements, such as the construction of canals and railroads. These improvements were promoted to attract settlers and stimulate commerce. Ohio's coal-mining industry is one of many industries which benefited from such improvements.

From its modest beginning in 1800, Ohio's coal production increased steadily but very slowly until the mid-1800's, never exceeding 1 million tons annually until 1853. During the first half of the 19th century, Ohio's early coal miners, primarily of English, Scottish, and Welsh descent, cut and loaded coal entirely by hand and moved the coal to market by means of wagons, carts, flatboats, dogs, mules, or goats, where it was sold at prices ranging from 75 cents to $13.63 per ton.  Gradually coal replaced wood as a fuel for boilers for salt production, blast furnaces, steam mills, sawmills, some oil and gas drilling rigs, steamboats on the Great Lakes and the Ohio River, and domestic purposes.

During the mid-1800's, Ohio experienced a transformation from an agricultural to an industrial economy. This change provided great impetus to the development of Ohio's coal industry, making Ohio one of the largest coal-producing and coal-consuming states in the nation. Ohio's industrialism was triggered by the manufacture of equipment for railroads, machinery for increased farm mechanization, and supplies for the Civil War, and by the recognition of coal as an abundant, accessible, and inexpensive fuel, especially for the generation of steam power.

Most of Ohio's early coal production was localized, and production rates were very small. However, with the development of the canal and railroad systems, Ohio's coal-mine operators were able to market their product farther and farther from the mines, eventually marketing Ohio coal on the national and international level. Railroad lines criss-crossed Ohio, especially the eastern Ohio coal fields, to facilitate shipment of coal and to have a readily accessible supply of fuel. The development of the railroad lines enabled existing mines to continue to grow and stimulated the development of new mines.

Word spread that there were opportunities for work mining coal in Ohio. As a result, many European immigrants, looking for employment and a better way of life, took up residence in Ohio's coal-mining communities. Work was not always plentiful, but it was often strenuous and dangerous, and always dirty.  Countless stories could be told of Ohio's coal miners: their endurance, courage, heroism, and ingenuity. Many of Ohio's coal miners were immigrants, some were children who were learning the art of coal mining from their fathers, most worked under difficult and risky conditions, few became rich, but all could take pride in knowing that through their efforts Ohio became one of the industrial leaders of the nation.

From Civil War times to the Great Depression of the 1930's, Ohio's coal production steadily and rapidly increased because of improved methods of transportation and mining. Between 1850 and 1880, Ohio's railroad system grew at a tremendous rate, facilitating the movement of coal to market as well as becoming a major consumer of coal for steam-generated locomotion. By the late 1800's, mechanized mining equipment had been successfully introduced into many of Ohio's underground coal mines. From 1800 to about World War I, most of Ohio's coal was mined by underground mining methods. During the World War I years, Ohio's coal industry realized production levels which would not again be equaled until the late 1960's. Because of the war effort and increased mechanization, in 1918 the ranks of Ohio's coal work force swelled to its greatest levels of more than 50,000 individuals, more than 12 times its 1993 level of 4,116 employees.

Ohio's coal production slumped and remained essentially stagnant during the interwar period in the late 1920's and the 1930's, but in the years following World War II production increased steadily until 1970. This increase in production occurred in spite of a major decrease in the number of operating coal mines after World War II. Between 1950 and 1970, the number of underground mines decreased by 90 percent. The increase in coal production during this period also occurred in spite of a 83 percent decrease in the size Ohio's coal-mine labor force between World War I and 1970. The number of operating coal mines and coal miners in Ohio decreased when surface mining became the principal method by which Ohio coal was produced. Surface mining made a dramatic rise after World War II because the development of very large and efficient earth-moving equipment such as the Mountaineer and the Big Muskie enabled the near-surface coal to be mined more easily, more quickly, more inexpensively, and with fewer people than underground mines. Although from World War I to 1969 coal was a cheap source of fuel (the price per ton of coal was low and relatively static, never rising above $4 per ton), coal's dominant hold on the fuels market was repeatedly challenged and somewhat eroded by petroleum in the form of diesel power. However, as utility companies became major consumers of coal for the steam generation of electricity, Ohio's coal industry survived these challenges in the competitive fuel market, and Ohio's coal production soared, peaking at 55 million tons in 1970.

Since 1970, however, Ohio's annual coal production has declined nearly 53 percent to the 1993 level of