FIRST -- Meeting of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors - Midlothian, VA
Posted by: 
bluesnote
N 37° 29.276 W 077° 38.623
18S E 266262 N 4152285
This is one of many historical markers at the Midlothian Mines Park.
Waymark Code: WM13VY4
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 02/26/2021
Views: 0
The plaque says, "1835 Mid-Lothian Coal Mining Company is chartered.
1836 The Company organizes with 3,000
shares valued at $100 each with 1,000 shares being sold to raise $100,000 capital. The Wooldridge family contributes 404.5 acres valued at $300,000. Four shafts are sunk: Pump Shaft, Middle Shaft, Grove Shaft and Wood Shaft.
1837 These pits produce only 70,000 bushels of coal. About 2,660 tons are moved by the Chesterfield (Gravity) Railroad.
1838 In March, 42 African-Americans, mostly slaves, are killed at Black Heath mine in the new 700-foot shaft.
1839 A 36 foot thick coal seam is hit 722 feet deep in Pump Shaft. Work in other shafts is stopped to mine this seam.
1840 Three hundred thousand bushels are extracted (11,400 tons) from Pump Shaft from the labor of 150 men and boys and 25 mules.
1843 The Reverend J.B. Jeter preaches sermons underground in mine.
1846 Miners, free blacks and slaves establish Mid-Lothian African Church, now the First Baptist Church of Midlothian.
1850 The steam powered Richmond and Danville Railroad opens Coalfield Station at Midlothian. The old Chesterfield (Gravity) Railroad is replaced.
1855 An explosion at Pump Shaft kills 55 men. Heavy flooding enters mine.
1856 Attempts to end the flooding problem by tapping into old mines fail with 10 men drowning.
1861 Mines are pumped out, but then catch fire. Equipment and supplies are abandoned.
1863 Richmond and Danville Railroad Spur line hauls coal from Grove Shaft to Richmond.
1867 Post Civil War attempts to revive mines fail. R.S. Burrows of New York provides $180,000 to fund construction of Sinking Shaft, over 1,300 feet deep, but no coal is found.
1868 R.S. Burrows purchases site and under the direction of mining engineer Oswald Heinrich, the beginning of operations is plagued with many problems.
1870 At the first meeting of the Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors, a county seal is adopted showing: “a coal miner leaning on a pick under a pine tree with a flowing river at his feet.”
1873 Operations begin at the re-opening of the Grove Shaft.
1876 An explosion of firedamp, a methane gas blast associated with coal mines, kills eight at Grove Shaft. Heinrich leaves the company.
1880 Approximately 13,122 tons of coal is produced from a seam measuring 4 2/3 feet thick.
1882 The Grove Shaft again explodes, killing 32 men.
1905 James River Coal Corporation builds a new incline track railroad only 900 ft. south of the Grove Shaft.
1906 Murphy Coal Corporation takes control, but because of lawsuits, ends coal mining in 1923.
1923 Coal mining operations gradually ceased."
FIRST - Classification Variable: Place or Location
Date of FIRST: Not listed
More Information - Web URL: Not listed
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