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The Consolidation Coal Company was created in 1875 and purchased by the Chicago and North Western Railroad in 1880 in order to provide a local source of coal. The company originally operated at Muchakinock in Mahaska County, Iowa, until the coal resources of that area were largely exhausted. In 1900, the company purchased in southern Mahaska County and northern Monroe County, Iowa. The company built the town of Buxton in Northern Monroe County, and moved its headquarters there. Consolidation's Mine No. 18 in Buxton was probably the largest bituminous coal mine in Iowa.〔Greg A. Brick, (''Iowa Underground'' ), Trails Books, 2004; Chapter 42, page 143-144.〕 In 1914, Buxton was the largest town "populated and governed entirely or almost entirely by Negros" in the United States.〔Monroe N. Work, ed., "Negro Towns and Settlements in the United States," (''Negro Year Book 1914–1915'' ), Negro Year Book Company, Tuskeegee Institute, 1914; page 298.〕 Consolidation was one of the very first northern industrial employers to make large-scale use of African American labor. It recruited Southern workers who were part of the Great Migration of the early 20th century, when more than 1.5 million African Americans moved north out of the rural South. ==Muchakinock== Also spelled Muchachinock〔(Fourth Biennial Report of the State Mine Inspectors to the Governor of the State of Iowa for the Years 1888 and 1889 ) Ragsdale, Des Moines, 1889; see for example, page 73.〕 and more rarely Muchikinock.〔Report: Contested Election Case – J. C. Cook vs. M. E. Cutts, (United States Congressional Serial Set ), Section III, Washington, DC, Feb. 19, 1883.〕 Coal mining along Muchakinock Creek dates to 1843, when local blacksmiths mined coal from exposures along the creek. By 1867, there were small drift mines all along Muchakinock Creek down to Eddyville, where the creek flows into the Des Moines River. In 1873, the Iowa Central Railroad built a branch along Muchakinock Creek. The Consolidation Coal Company was formed in 1875 by the merger of the Iowa Central Coal Company, the Black Diamond Mines of Coalfield, in Monroe County, Iowa, and the Eureka Mine, in Beacon, Iowa. By 1878, Consolidation Coal Company had 400 employees, and in 1880, it was purchased by the Chicago and North Western Railway.〔James H. Lees, "History of Coal Mining in Iowa," Chapter III of (''Iowa Geological Survey Annual Report, 1908'' ), Des Moines, 1909; page 666-558〕 The coal camp at Muchakinock was about south of Oskaloosa 〔Topographical Map of Mahaska County, Iowa, (Huebinger's Atlas of the State of Iowa ), Iowa Publishing Co., 1904.〕 and it quickly developed as one of the most prosperous and largest coal camps in Iowa.〔"Iowa's Pioneer Coal Operators," (''Eighth Biennial Report of the State Mine Inspectors to the Governor of the State of Iowa for the Two Years Ending June 30, 1897'' ), Conway, Des Moines, 1897; page 76.〕 Consolidation Mine No. 1 was opened in 1873. The Muchachinock post office operated from 1874 to 1904, with an official name change to Muchakinock in 1886.〔Muchakinock Post Office (historical), in the (USGS Geographic Names Information System )〕 In 1880, there was a labor dispute in Muchakinock, and J. E. Buxton, Consolidation's superintendent, sent Major Thomas Shumate south to hire African Americans as strike breakers. Shumate hired "lots of crowds" of "colored men" from Virginia. Whole families arrived with each "crowd". "Bringing these men to the mines, and the employment of colored miners was a new thing". The first "crowd" arrived in Muchakinock on March 5, 1880. By October 6, 1880 Shumate had brought in six "crowds". The "third crowd" filled one railroad passenger car. It left Staunton, Virginia on May 12 and traveled via Chicago and Marshalltown, Iowa, arriving in Muchakinock on May 15. Rail fare from Virginia to Iowa was $12, taken as an advance against each miner's monthly wages.〔 The new African American employees proved so satisfactory that they were retained, and in years to come, much of the wealth of the company was attributed to their labor.〔Negro Governments in the North, (The American Review of Reviews, XXXVIII ), New York, Oct. 1908; page 472〕 In 1884, the Chicago and Northwestern completed a branch from Belle Plaine to Muchakinock.〔(Annual Report of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company for the Twenty-Sixth Fiscal Year Ending May 31, 1885 )〕 By then, Mines 1, 2, 3 and 5 were in operation in Muchakinock. No. 6 was a shaft mine, newly opened just north of the camp.〔(Second Biennial Report of the State Mine Inspector to the Governor of the State of Iowa for the Years 1884 and 1885 ); pages 38, 57.〕 By 1887, the African American workers in Muchakinock had organized a mutual protection society. Members paid fifty cents a month, or $1 per family. 80% of this paid for health insurance, while the remainder went into a sinking fund to cover members' burial expenses. The coal company acted as banker to this society.〔(Portrait and Biographical Album of Mahaska County ), Chapman Brothers, Chicago, 1887; pages 522–523〕 By 1893, Consolidation Mines No. 6 and 7, located about south of Oskaloosa, produced 1550 tons of coal per day, employing 489 men and boys. No. 6 had a shaft, while No. 7 had a shaft. Both mines worked the same coal seam, using the double-entry room and pillar system of mining.〔John W. Canty, Biennial Report of the Second District, (Sixth Biennial Report of the State Mine Inspectors to the Governor of the State of Iowa for the Two Years Ending June 30, 1893 ), Ragsdale, Des Moines, 1893; pages 50–51〕 Mine No. 8 was three miles (5 km) northwest of Muchakinock. The Bituminous Coal Miners' Strike of 1894 lasted from late April through May of that year. All of Iowa's coal miners went on strike, with the exception of the miners at Muchakinock and Evans (8 miles north along Muchakinock Creek). Tensions were high enough that the company management armed Muchakinock's black miners with Springfield rifles. By May 28, tension was so high that Companies G and K of the Second Regiment of the Iowa National Guard were sent to Muchakinock to preserve order. On May 30, large bodies of armed strikers, from 400 to 600 men, were congregating in Mahaska County, apparently intent on forcing the nearby mining camp of Evans to strike as the first stage of an attack on Muchakinock. In the end, no shots were fired.〔Thomas J. Hudson, Iowa Chapter VIII, Events from Jackson to Cummins, (The Province and the States, Vol. V ), the Western Historical Association, 1904; page 170〕〔The Natioinal Guard – Iowa's Splendid Militia, (The Midland Monthly, Vol. II, No. 5 ) Nov. 1894; page 419.〕〔Service at Muchakinock and Evans, in Mahaska County, During the Coal Miners' Strike, (Report of the Ajutant-General to the Governor of the State of Iowa for Biennial Period Ending Nov. 30, 1895 ), Conway, Des Moines, 1895; page 18〕 African Americans headed numerous institutions in Muchakinock. There was a "colored" Baptist church in town, under Rev. T. L. Griffith.〔T. L. Griffith, The Colored Baptists of Iowa, (The Baptist Home Mission Monthly, Vol. XXI, No. 7 ), July 1899, page 286.〕 Samuel J. Brown, the first African American to receive a bachelor's degree from the State University of Iowa, was principal of the Muchakinock public school.〔(Who's Who of the Colored Race ), Frank L. Mather, Chicago, 1915; page 45.〕〔Robert B. Slater, The First Black Graduates of the Nation's 50 Flagship State Universities, (The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education ), No. 13 (Autumn, 1996); pages 72–85〕 B. F. Cooper was noted as one of only two "colored" pharmacists in the state.〔Two Colored Pharmacists, (American Druggist and Pharmaceutical Record, Vol. XXX, No 12 ), June 25, 1897; page 357〕 Muchakinock reached a peak population of about 2,500, but by 1900, the coal of the Muchakinock valley was largely exhausted, and the Consolidation Coal Company opened a new mining camp in Buxton. The founding of Buxton in 1901 led to a "great exodus," leaving the town nearly vacant by 1904. Today, acid mine drainage and red piles of shale are all that remain of the mines along Muchakinock Creek.〔(Muchakinock Creek – Improving water quality for the future ), Iowa Department of Natural Resources, 2005; page 3.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Consolidation Coal Company (Iowa)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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