DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about coal mining in Las Minas and the Santo Tomas coal field out in Webb County. Now, before there was oil, before the Permian Basin was a household name, there was coal. And out in Webb County, in a stretch of South Texas scrubland that most folks today drive right past without a second glance, there was a whole world humming along underground.
Cannel coal. That was the prize. Mined from the Santo Tomas coal field, and mined hard, from 1881 all the way to 1939.
Fifty-eight years of men going down into the earth and bringing something valuable back up. And around those mines, towns grew. Four of them, collectively known by a name that tells you everything you need to know — Las Minas.
The mines. You had Minera, also called Carbon. Darwin, also called Cannel.
Dolores, also called San Jose. And Santo Tomas itself. Each town planted right there in the vicinity of the points of access to the mines, because that's where life was, and that's where work was.
Now, when word got out that the coal coming out of this field was quality coal — and it was — well, the whole machinery of ambition started rolling toward Webb County. Engineers. Investors.
Laborers. Miners. Railroad developers.
All of them drawn to Las Minas like iron filings to a magnet. And what they built together didn't just change those four little towns. It changed Laredo.
Consider this: in 1880, Laredo's population stood at three thousand, five hundred and twenty-one people. By 1890, that number had jumped to eleven thousand, three hundred and nineteen. You sit with those numbers a moment.
That is not gradual growth. That is a city transforming itself in real time. And the Santo Tomas coal field's production was driving it.
From the 1880s to the 1930s, Las Minas directly impacted Laredo's growth and its infrastructural development. The railroads tell the same story. The first railroad into Laredo was built in 1881.
By 1891 — just ten years later — four railroads had reached the city. Four. And by 1896, coal from Laredo was selling for three dollars and twenty-five cents per ton by the railcar load, after arriving in Mexico and in North Texas.
That coal was moving, and it was worth something. Now, who were the people doing this work, living in these towns? Many of the inhabitants of Las Minas were Mexican or Mexican American.
But citizens also migrated in from the eastern and midwestern United States. This was a community drawn from many directions, held together by the common gravity of the work. And the conditions?
They were hard. No electricity. No running water.
Underfunded schools. Disease. Mine fires.
The kind of challenges that don't make it into the triumphant version of history, but that the people of Las Minas faced anyway, and overcame. What they left behind is worth naming. Los Matachines de la Santa Cruz.
Pastorela troupes. Baseball teams. Political participation.
Labor organization. Cultural and civic legacies that shaped not just Las Minas itself, but the neighboring town of Laredo for generations to come. The coal is long gone.
The mines closed in 1939. But the community those miners built, the culture they carried down into the earth and back up again with them every single day — that didn't close with the shafts. It's still there, still shaping Webb County, if you know where to look.
What the marker says
Cannel coal was mined from the Santo Tomas coal field between 1881 and 1939 and several mining towns, collectively known as Las Minas, developed during this time. The towns were located in the vicinity of the points of access to the mines. The towns consisted of Minera (Carbon), Darwin (Cannel), Dolores (San Jose) and Santo Tomas. Las Minas’ quality coal and thriving economy attracted engineers, investors, laborers, miners, railroad developers and many others. Las Minas and the Santo Tomas coal field’s production directly impacted Laredo’s dynamic growth and infrastructural developments from the 1880s to the 1930s. Between 1880 and 1890, Laredo’s population jumped from 3,521 to 11,319. The first railroad into Laredo was built in 1881, but four railroads reached the city by 1891. In 1896, coal from Laredo sold for $3.25 per ton by the railcar load after arriving in Mexico and North Texas. Many of the inhabitants of Las Minas were Mexican or Mexican American. However, citizens in Las minas migrated from the eastern and midwestern United States as well. The local population overcame difficult living conditions such as the lack of electricity and running water, underfunded schools, disease and mine fires. Despite these challenges, the inhabitants of Las Minas contributed many cultural and civic legacies to the region such as Los Matachines de la Santa Cruz, Pastorela troupes, baseball teams, political participation and labor organization that shaped the local community and neighboring town of Laredo. (2014)