Historical society starts its monthly programs on April 1st at Cooper
~by Chuck Offenburger for the Historical Society
The Greene County Historical Society launches its 2016 series of monthly programs around the county on Friday, April 1, at the United Methodist Church in Cooper. Mary Weaver is coordinating the presentation that day on “Coal Mines of Greene County.”
There will be an $8 lunch at 12 noon, with the free program following at 1 pm. Historical Society members are asked to RSVP about the lunch to their regular community contacts by Wednesday, March 30. The public can make luncheon reservations by calling Ces Brunow at 515-370-5531.
Weaver points out that Greene County has a fascinating history in coal mining. It is a story that is portrayed very well in the museum in Jefferson with written information, videos and a near life-sized constructed model of a miner working in a coal shaft.
In addition, she has had a series of email exchanges with Artage Zanotti, 92, of Charles City in north central Iowa, who worked one summer in the Greene County coal mine. Located about three-fourths of a mile south of Squirrel Hollow county park, that mine was started in 1931 by Andrew Zanotti, the father of Artage, and his business partner Joseph Strachan.
“The mineshaft, I think, was approximately 110 feet deep,” Artage Zanotti has told Weaver. “There was also a shaft south of the mine for a ventilation fan. The coal was soft with high sulfur content. There were springs in the mine and the water was cold and pure. We would take some home to drink. The temperature in the mine was constant all year ’round.”
The miners would use dynamite in the mines to blast loose chunks of coal, which would be loaded into carts and pulled out of the mine by burros.
Weaver said after reading the stories from Zanotti, “I don’t think we can imagine today how difficult mining was in the 1930s and even the ’40s.”
To help tell the story, she will show a brief video that was made at the mine in 1934 by the late Harold Radebaugh of Rippey, showing coal miners in action. In addition, C.J. Muir, a Greene County High School sophomore, who studied the coal mine in an earlier local history class, will read the memories written by Artage Zanotti.
Roger Aegerter, executive director of the Historical Society, will challenge the lunch crowd with trivia questions related to the coal mining history in the area. And before the program, Marilynn Hoskinson will lead the playing and singing of a most appropriate song for the event, Tennessee Ernie Ford’s classic “Sixteen Tons” about a legendary coal miner. That song topped the pop music charts in America in 1955.
History fans should also make note that on Sunday, April 10, the Historical Society will have a special feature program at 2 pm at the museum, with Jed Magee reflecting on the life and career of President Abraham Lincoln. Magee, a former Jefferson attorney who became an Iowa district court judge in northern Iowa a year ago, donated his exceptional collection of Lincoln memorabilia to the Greene County Historical Society. It is on display now in the museum.
