Birth of a Texas Ghost Town: Thurber, 1886–1933

Chapter 2 Coal and Brick

Chapter 2 Coal and Brick T hurber coal and Thurber brick were well known throughout the state of Texas, and even though coal mining was the chief industry of the area, the production of brick was of importance too. Both industries were developed by the Texas & Pacific Coal Company , and by far the greater part of Thurber’s population derived a livelihood from one or the other of the two industries. As already stated, it was in 1886 that Harvey and William Johnson decided to mine coal in the northwestern corner of Erath County, and within a few months after they made this decision, they sank the first shaft less than one-half mile southeast of Thurber. Prior to this, the mines of the Indian Territory, Arkansas, and Alabama supplied Texas with fuel. A large amount of capital had been spent in prospecting and rewards had been offered by the Texas railroads for the discovery of coal along their lines.1 The Johnsons located their mine within three or four miles of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, and this railroad bought almost all coal taken from the Johnson Mine. After the Johnson Company had sold about thirty-five thousand tons of medium grade bituminous coal to the Texas & Pacific Railroad Company, labor difficulties arose and the Johnsons sold the Pedro Herrera Survey, a tract of 2,312 ½ acres, and all improvements to the newly-formed Texas & Pacific Coal Company. The new owners continued to develop the two mines which had been 15 sunk by the Johnsons, and in addition opened thirteen other mines in Erath, Eastland, and Palo Pinto counties. All mines were designated on company records by numbers; that is, Mine #1, Mine #2, etc. Numerically speaking, the last three mines to be developed should have been Mine #13, Mine #14, and Mine #15, but in order to avoid the use of the number 13, these three were known as New #1, New #2, and New #3. The following chart shows when each of the fifteen mines was opened and the location of each: Table 1 Mine Date Location #1 18861 About one-half mile southeast of Thurber. Erath County. #2 18882 Less than one mile northwest of #1. Erath County. #3 18883 About 600 yds. west of New #3. Erath County. #4 18904 Less than one mile north of #1. Erath County. #5 18925 One mile west of Thurber. Erath County. #6 18936 About one mile south of #5. Erath County. #7 18947 Less than one mile north of #5. Palo Pinto County. #8 18968 About one-half mile west of #7. Palo Pinto County. #9 18989 About one mile south of #8. Erath County. #10 190010 About one-half mile northwest of #8. Palo Pinto County. #11 190311 About one-half mile south of #10. Palo Pinto County. #12 190712 About one mile south of #11. Erath County. New #1 190813 One mile south of #12. Eastland County. New #2 191014 Two miles west of #11. Eastland County. New #3 191115 Less than one-half mile west of Thurber Quadrangle. Erath County. 1. Annual Report of Texas & Pacific Coal Company, 1889, p. 4. 2. Ibid. 3. Annual Report of Texas & Pacific Coal Company, 1890, p. 3. 4. Annual Report of Texas & Pacific Coal Company, 1892, p. 8. 5. Annual Report of Texas & Pacific Coal Company, 1892, p. 8. 6. Annual Report of Texas & Pacific Coal Company, 1894, p. 3. 7. Ibid. 8. Annual Report of Texas & Pacific Coal Company, 1896, p. 3. 9. No definite date for the opening of this mine is available; therefore, 1898 is an approximate date. 10. Annual Report of Texas & Pacific Coal Company, 1900. 11. Gomer Gower to M.J.G., July 22, 1946. 12. Ibid. 13. Ibid. 14. Ibid. 15. Ibid. Coal and Brick 16 Coal Mine Number 10 at Thurber. Courtesy, AR 88, Special Collections, The University of Texas at Arlington Libraries, Arlington, Texas. Occasionally a name would be given to a mine, but names never became as popular as the numbers. Mine #9 was named “Warfield” in honor of Mary Warfield Ward, a cousin of Wallis Warfield, the present Duchess of Windsor.2 At the time Mine #11 was being sunk, Edgar L. Marston and his small daughter, whom he called “Little Sister,” visited the site of the new mine. When Marston introduced the child to Ben Matthews, the pit boss, Matthews promptly said, “In your honor we...