Site of Thurber's First Coal Mine
Thurber, Erath County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Two hundred yards southeast of this site, at the base of the hill and at a depth of 65 feet, the first coal mine in this area was placed in operation by brothers William W. and Harvey E. Johnson. After Harvey's death in 1888, and because of labor and financial difficulties, William Johnson sold his mining interest to R. D. Hunter's Texas and Pacific Coal Company. Railroads provided a ready market for coal, and the company town of Thurber (named for investor H. K. Thurber) became completely unionized after a 1903 strike. The company employed 2,500 miners of 18 nationalities. (1995)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Just southeast of this spot, brothers William and Harvey Johnson sank the first coal mine in the area, tapping seams 65 feet down. After Harvey's death and mounting financial trouble, the operation passed to R. D. Hunter's Texas and Pacific Coal Company, which grew the surrounding company town of Thurber into a fully unionized settlement employing some 2,500 miners of eighteen nationalities. Railroads hungry for fuel made the coal valuable, and a landmark 1903 strike cemented the union's hold.
Why it matters
Thurber was one of the most thoroughly unionized company towns in the American Southwest, a vivid case of how immigrant labor, industrial coal, and organized workers shaped the Gilded Age economy before oil and abandonment left it a ghost town.
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Related people
- · William W. Johnson
- · Harvey E. Johnson
- · R. D. Hunter
- · H. K. Thurber
Related events
- · Thurber strike of 1903
Themes & tags
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