Heart of Coal Country

Heart of Coal Country. Gillespie Area Mines. Waves of European immigrants poured into Gillespie in the 1880s to work its coal mines. , In the early 1900s, the Chicago and North Western Railroad opened four mines to fuel its locomotives. Locals knew each town by its mine number: Eagerville (No. 1), Sawyerville (No. 2), Mount Clare (No. 3), and Wilsonville (No. 4). The Little Dog Mine operated here from 1918 to 1968. Although the mines are now closed, Gillespie still celebrates this heritage each June with Black Diamond Days. , The Mine Wars , Miners' wages dropped due to low coal demand during the Great Depression. In 1932, workers picketed and organized the Progressive Miners of America Union at a Gillespie convention. Over the next four years, 21 members were killed during conflicts. Their struggle was memorialized in 1936 with the Mother Jones Monument at Union Miners Cemetery in nearby Mount Olive. , Constant Threat of Death , Miners toiled in perpetual darkness, threatened by cave-ins, gas explosions, and inhaling coal dust and methane. During the last century, 100,000 coal miners died in America, including more than 400 here in Macoupin County. , Captions , Top Left: The Progressive Miners Union occupied the Wilsonville mine for nine days in a 1937 sit-down strike. Miners even organized a band that was broadcast on a St. Louis radio station. Courtesy of Gillespie Public Library, Middle Bottom: Superior Mine No. 1 in Eagarville, circa 1915. Courtesy of Gillespie Public Library, Right Top: Roof collapses, such as this 1908 slate fall, accounted for half of all miner fatalities. Courtesy of Library of Congress