Kathleen Coal Mine
The Kathleen Mine was a coal mine that operated in the nearby coal town of Dowell, Illinois, United States, from 1918 to 1946. At peak production, its output was 5,000 tons/day of coal. It was operated by the Union Colliery Company in St. Louis. Many miners who worked in the Kathleen were immigrants from eastern Europe, including Rusyns.
Location
The former mine site lies on the east side of U.S. Route 51, directly opposite the village of Dowell. A spur rail line formerly connected the mine site with the Illinois Central Railroad, which passes through Dowell today.History
The Kathleen was sunk in 1917 and the mine opened in 1918. It was named for Kathleen McAuliffe who was the daughter of Eugene McAuliffe, the president of the colliery company.Upon opening, it was the largest bituminous mine in the world at the time. The tipple was designed by Allen and Garcia Company, an engineering firm based in Chicago. The builders of the concrete tipple at the Kathleen Mine are unknown.
In February, 1920 the Union Colliery Company employed over 300 men with an average monthly payroll of over $35,000.
The mine workers were members of the United Mine Workers union led by John Lewis. Its miners went on strike from 1933 to 1937. They struck for the right to join the Progressive Mining Union. The period was marked with occasional violence related to the unionization movement.
The Kathleen Mine closed on November 21, 1946. Over its life, over 150 men were killed working there.
New Kathleen Mine
A new mine operated by Union Colliery was opened north of Dowell in January 1946. It was named the New Kathleen. This mine closed in 1947. Land scars are still visible from this mine.Disasters
- In February 1921 seven men were trapped and killed in the mine when a fire forced rescuers to seal the mine to contain the fire
- Nine men were killed by carbon monoxide poisoning on August 1, 1936. This was the worst accident in the mine's history. Many of the deaths occurred during rescue operations
The Kathleen Mine Today
The entrance to the mine has been closed. On the site as of December, 2021 is Cobin's Salvage Yard. Although the tipple remains at its original location, the setting has been dramatically altered by the complete destruction of all the other mine-related buildings on the site. These buildings were partially scrapped in the years following the mine's abandonment in 1947, and the surviving building remnants were destroyed as part a mine reclamation carried out in 1999. The terrain around the mine site also was altered to some extent by the mine reclamation, in respect to the moving of gob and the construction of a water detention pond on site. Additionally, all of the machinery and much of the steel structure once present on the tipple have been removed and/or salvaged.The mine has been suspected of causing sinkholes in the nearby village of Dowell.