Starkville Coal Mine
Location: Las Animas County, Colorado
Years of Operation: 1896-1922
Total Production (Tons): 6,519,927
The Starkville Mine was opened in 1865, by the companies named Scandanavian, and Bateman. The name Starkville however originated from Albert G. Stark who was involved in a legal dispute concerning ownership of the area in the 1870's. The Coal producing lands ownership was Transfered to the Trinidad Coal and Coke Company which was a subsidiary of the AT&SF Railroad. CF&I acquired the lease from AT&SF Railroad in August of 1896. However there is a dispute within the records detailing the lease as which company leased the lands to CF&I either the Trinidad coal and Coke Company or Cherokee and Pitsburgh Coal Mining Company.
The Leased lands held a large acreage of coal lands along with 138 beehive mines, and two slack coke ovens. No records of the predecessor mining operations productions have been located at present. Even so CF&I after taking possession of the lands installed an additional fifty slack coke ovens. In 1900 through 1901 a washing plant including a coal crusher was installed at the mine along with an electric power plant. In 1902 there were a listed 650 men employed at the mind producing around 40,000 tons of coal per month. Even with the move towards progress a traditional problem of mining occurred around 10:00pm October 8, 1910. The mine suffered an explosion killing 56 miners.
At full output CF&I's coke production from the mine rounded out to be about 8,000 tons per month. Seventy percent of the coke produced was shipped to the steelworks In Pueblo, Colorado, and the rest was sold commercially. Coke production however stalled between 1911 and 1916 due to lack of demand. Starkvilles production of coke was ended in 1918 after producing 1,205,047 tons throughout its production life time under CF&I. After the decommissioning of the coke ovens they were dismantled in August of the same year. The Starkville mine continued operation until March of 1921 when production was terminated. Roughly half of the coal produced was used for coke, while the remaining half was sold directly to railroads and other commercial customers.
The Starkville Mine was opened in 1865, by the companies named Scandanavian, and Bateman. The name Starkville however originated from Albert G. Stark who was involved in a legal dispute concerning ownership of the area in the 1870's. The Coal producing lands ownership was Transfered to the Trinidad Coal and Coke Company which was a subsidiary of the AT&SF Railroad. CF&I acquired the lease from AT&SF Railroad in August of 1896. However there is a dispute within the records detailing the lease as which company leased the lands to CF&I either the Trinidad coal and Coke Company or Cherokee and Pitsburgh Coal Mining Company.
The Leased lands held a large acreage of coal lands along with 138 beehive mines, and two slack coke ovens. No records of the predecessor mining operations productions have been located at present. Even so CF&I after taking possession of the lands installed an additional fifty slack coke ovens. In 1900 through 1901 a washing plant including a coal crusher was installed at the mine along with an electric power plant. In 1902 there were a listed 650 men employed at the mind producing around 40,000 tons of coal per month. Even with the move towards progress a traditional problem of mining occurred around 10:00pm October 8, 1910. The mine suffered an explosion killing 56 miners.
At full output CF&I's coke production from the mine rounded out to be about 8,000 tons per month. Seventy percent of the coke produced was shipped to the steelworks In Pueblo, Colorado, and the rest was sold commercially. Coke production however stalled between 1911 and 1916 due to lack of demand. Starkvilles production of coke was ended in 1918 after producing 1,205,047 tons throughout its production life time under CF&I. After the decommissioning of the coke ovens they were dismantled in August of the same year. The Starkville mine continued operation until March of 1921 when production was terminated. Roughly half of the coal produced was used for coke, while the remaining half was sold directly to railroads and other commercial customers.
