Pike C: Spurgeon, IN: Enos Coal Mine

(Satellite, [ResearchGate])

Hinton (search for Enos) has eight fascinating photos from when stream still was the primary mover. Not only are the shovels steam driven, but temporary railroad tracks were laid to haul the coal from the coal bed to the tipple. That is, haulage trucks had yet to be invented.

The 1360 Experience posted
* "A photo of the Enos Coal Mining Company's load out tipple facility" "1948 range?"
The tipple was designed to run around 800 tons a hour and eventually be able to wash three different sizes of coal. This tipple was unique as it was connected to "dinky" railroad tracks that ran from the pits. The railroad that Enos Coal's Rail spur was connected to started in 1921 with a company called AW&W Railroad and gave support to both Enos Coal Company as well as Patoka Coal Company. A rail line was built to both mines and went down the AW&W Crossing to have the coal put on the open market. They would store or empty the coal in a coal yard that would be accessible to the Southern or Big Four Railroad for distribution.

Enos Mine is near the bottom of this map excerpt. I included all of the AW&W railroad. According to a comment on a Museum Of The Coal Industry photo of Big Red below, the Enos mine stretched all the way from the south end of Pike County up to the AW&W terminal north of Winslow. This mine became Old Ben #1 (southern terminal) and #2 (northern terminal). See those notes for more information on the AW&W. 

(Update: comments by Terry Rowland on a post of a photo of Big Kate confirmed that Old Ben bought Enos around 1970.

Terry Rowland: I think the machine has always worked within a 10 mile radius of where she was set up. The Enos coal company was bought out by Old Ben around 1970 plus or minus a few years. The name changed to Old Ben 1 around 1972, it was eventually bought out by Zeigler Coal Company and shut down. Then bought out by Kindall Mining and eventually being shut down around1999. The machine was then purchased by Black Beauty who just moved it across a county road, property line, and put it back to work. The mine called the Somerville mine ran the machine until it was shut down in December of 2019.

Terry Rowland: The Enos Coal Company also owned the Blackfoot 5 mine located at Winslow which was eventually renamed Old Ben 2 with new office, shop and wash plant located between Winslow and Petersburg. They ran a 1450W, and 2 1370 Draglines as well as a 1050 stripping shovel with a Manitowac pullback.

)

1958 Vincennes Quad @ 1:250,000

One of several Indiana coal mine photos in MiningArtifacts

IndianaStoryTeller
Big Red working in the early 60s
"I can remember in high school during the mid 70s when Big Red crossed over Highway 61 in Campbelltown to work on the other side of the highway.  They worked for months building a road for her to walk on.  My friends and I even skipped school that day to watch it.  And we weren’t the only ones!"

IndianaStoryTeller
Big Red in the background at Old Ben: Indiana Historical Society
"I remember a few years ago taking the Senior Citizens out to watch the dragline go back across Highway 61 on the Petersburg side of the beltline.  I don’t think they shared my enthusiasm but they were always up for an outing."

 

Museum Of The Coal Industry posted

We are starting a new feature...Mine of the Month.

This month we are featuring the Blackfoot #5 Mine.

The original Blackfoot Coal and Land Corporation was established in 1918 and operated in the area around Coe, Stendal, and Augusta, Indiana.

The company was bought by the Enos Coal Company in 1962, and Enos started up Blackfoot #5 north of Winslow, Indiana.

The primary stripping machine was a Bucyrus-Erie 1450 named "Big Red". The origin of that name is unknown, so if anyone knows the story, we'd love to hear it! Big Red was really the first of the large capacity draglines in this area.

We'd love to hear any stories or additional information about Blackfoot #5!

Museum Of The Coal Industry posted

Rick Kinnarman posted two photos with the comment: "Enos Coal Company in Spurgeon IN. Early 20's steam shovel and laid tracks to haul Coal to tipple with rail cars. Mine ran from 1921-2001."

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2

southern.railfan
"One of the last obstacles faced by this Enos Coal Company stripping shovel in a 10 mile, two month cross country trek was Southern's tracks in Pike County, Ind. To get the 10 story high monster across the tracks required the removal of a section of rails and the piling up of about six feet of earth over the road bed. Finally, wooden mats were laid on top of the earth providing the needed support to keep the shovel from demolishing the roadbed with its tremendous weight."