Oregon Coal Mines - "Who'da Thunk It?"
Oregon Coal Mines once prospered along with our gold mines.
We are known for our gold mining history, but few people realize that there's coal in "them thar hills."
The southern Oregon coast wasn't much of a gold producing area, but they did discover vast stores of coal in the early 1850's south of Coos Bay.
One of the largest Oregon Coal Mines was the Beaver Hill mine.
Oregon Coal Mines supplied much of San Francisco's coal supply starting in the mid 1850's.
Oregon Coal Mines prospered up into the mid 1880's, when coal prices plummeted and they ran into employee troubles.
Since most Oregon Coal Mines had been bought by outsiders by that time, the mines began to fold. Oregon Coal Mines once numbered over seventy.
The final blow to coal prices came when ship's ballast was being comprised of coal, when the ships unloaded in San Francisco, they also sold the ballast, thus driving coal prices down and helping to bring about the demise of the Oregon Coal Mines.
Now, Oregon gets its' coal from the Powder River Basin in Montana and Wyoming. It is said that 40% of the United States gets its' coal from this area.
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