Saginaw Valley Coal
Inscription
Coal was first mined in Michigan in the 1830s in Jackson County, and that area led in production through the 1880s. In the next decade dozens of mines were opened in Bay, Saginaw, and Shiawassee Counties, producing thousands of tons of coal annually. The hamlet of St. Charles, in the center of this new coal field, expanded rapidly, “touched by the magic hand of good luck.
” More than one thousand people were here by 1900, and the state coal mine inspector maintained his office here for years. After World War I a series of labor strikes and diminishing returns from the mines led to a decline in the state’s coal production. Swan Creek Mine, the last producing coal mine in Michigan, closed in 1952.
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More markers in Saginaw
Saginaw Club
Saginaw, MI
Organized April 18, 1889, the club’s membership was comprised of most of the leading business and civic figures of Saginaw.
Saginaw Post Office
Saginaw, MI
In 1889, at the urging of Saginaw Congressman (later governor) Aaron Bliss, the Congress appropriated one hundred thousand dollars for...
Presbyterian Church of South Saginaw
Saginaw, MI
Begun in 1865 as a Sunday school for children of this area, the Presbyterian Church of South Saginaw was formally organized on November...
First Presbyterian Church
Saginaw, MI
The Reverend Hiram L. Miller and twelve others founded this church, the first in the Saginaw Valley, on March 1, 1838.
Saginaw Oil Industry
Saginaw, MI
“Oil men optimistic as first well shot, shows results,” reported the August 29, 1925, edition of the Saginaw News .