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The Pittsburg-Weir Coalfield, also known as Weir-Pittsburg Coalfield and Cherokee Coalfield, is a coalfield located in Cherokee and Crawford counties in the southeast corner of Kansas. The first underground shaft mine was built in the region in 1874 near Scammon.
Shaft mining, the overwhelmingly dominant method of underground mining in the coal field, permitted the commercial exploitation of the deeper-lying Weir-Pittsburg (Cherokee) seam by sinking vertical shafts downward to the seam and then extending tunnels into the coal seam.
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During its heyday, around 1915, mining accounted for over 9,000 jobs in Crawford County and produced almost 5 million tons of coal. By the 1930's coal mining has began a steady decline in the area. Below are images of postcards, photos, articles and links that tell the story of a long ago important part in the development of Pittsburg.
The most important coal mining in the state was in southeast Kansas where coal beds within the Cherokee Group were extensively mined in portions of Cherokee, Crawford, and Bourbon counties. Most important of the coal beds was the Weir-Pittsburg coal, and the extensive distribution of underground mining of this coal by room-and-pillar methods.
This memorial serves to honor the miners that worked in the coal mines in the Pittsburg and surrounding areas. Search Find the location of a name on the stones, or search the census records for info about your loved ones.
Two mine disasters stand out boldly in the history of coal mining in the vicinity of Pittsburg. The one occurred at Frontenac the afternoon of November 9, 1888; the other at Stone City, some eight miles southwest of Pittsburg, about midday, December 13, 1916.
Aug 7, 2010 · The Weir-Pittsburg Coalfield would eventually be home to more than one hundred coal camps. At one time, this region produced a third of the nation's bituminous coal and smelted lead and zinc ore in such quantities that southeast Kansas became an industrial giant.
