Lucas, Iowa
| Lucas, Iowa | |
|---|---|
| City | |
Lucas, Iowa
|
|
 Location of Lucas, Iowa |
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| Coordinates: 41°1′47″N 93°27′42″W / 41.02972°N 93.46167°WCoordinates: 41°1′47″N 93°27′42″W / 41.02972°N 93.46167°W | |
| Country | USA |
| State |
 Iowa
|
| County | Lucas |
| Area | |
| • Total | 0.98 sq mi (2.54 km2) |
| • Land | 0.97 sq mi (2.51 km2) |
| • Water | 0.01 sq mi (0.03 km2) |
| Elevation | 892 ft (272 m) |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 216 |
| • Estimate (2012) | 213 |
| • Density | 222.7/sq mi (86.0/km2) |
| Time zone | Central (CST) (UTC-6) |
| • Summer (DST) | CDT (UTC-5) |
| ZIP code | 50151 |
| Area code(s) | 641 |
| FIPS code | 19-47100 |
| GNIS feature ID | 0458673 |
Lucas is a city in Lucas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 216 at the 2010 census.
The Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company established a station at Lucas in 1866, named after Lucas County and Robert Lucas. A plat for the town was filed on May 9, 1868 and the town was incorporated on March 18, 1887. The town grew slowly until coal was discovered in the area.
In 1876, the Whitebreast Coal and Mining Company began working a 250-foot (76 m) shaft one mile (1.6 km) east of Lucas. This proved successful, and in 1878, they platted a company town there, which they named Cleveland 41°1′57.21″N 93°26′38.71″W / 41.0325583°N 93.4440861°W. By 1880, Cleveland had a population of 380, and the first mine was producing 650 to 700 tons of coal per day by the labor of 280 miners and 33 mule drivers. A second mine was opened 3/4 mile from the first, and the two mines sold coal to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, and several other railroads to the south and west. The Cleveland post office was open from 1877 to 1891 and then reopened between 1899 and 1908. Very little remained of Cleveland by the 1930s.
In 1893, the Lucas Coal Company was working a two-foot coal seam 83 feet (25 m) down, employing 24 men.
The Big Hill mine in Lucas worked a 4-foot-thick (1.2 m) coal seam 274 feet (84 m) below the surface using room and pillar methods, with a shaft not far from the Burlington station. This mine was closed in April 1904 and stripped of equipment, but by mid-1905, plans were in place to reopen it. The reopening lasted until 1907, when the mine was again closed, as the rock directly above the coal was sandstone and it was saturated with water. This mine is noteworthy because John L Lewis got his first coal mining job here, before going on to head the United Mine Workers of America.
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Wikipedia