Eagle Pass Coal Mines

Duane's take

The way this story comes to me is straight off the official Texas Historical Commission marker for the Eagle Pass Coal Mines, right here in Maverick County. Let me tell it to you proper. Now, people tend to think of Texas and they picture oil derricks and cattle and wide open sky.

Coal country doesn't always enter the picture. But this corner of Texas, down near the Rio Grande, has been sitting on a fortune in bituminous coal for a long, long time. The Indian, Spanish, and early Anglo-American inhabitants all knew it was there.

They could see it, smell it, maybe even burn a little of it. But commercial mining, the kind that makes towns and payrolls and railroad smoke, that didn't come until 1885. That's when a man named F.

H. Hartz opened a hillside mine near the Rio Grande. And for a time, it was the largest producing mine in the state of Texas.

Think about that. Right here, on the banks of the Rio Grande, the biggest coal operation in all of Texas. But 1892 brought fire, and that fire did enough damage to shut the whole thing down several years later.

Hartz didn't walk away from the coal business though. He started another mine, this one for the Maverick County Coal Company, which over time evolved into the Olmos Coal, Coke, and Oil Company. Under the direction of Pasquale and Rocco DeBona, that company hit a production peak of twelve hundred tons a day.

Twelve hundred tons. Every single day. Meanwhile, over in 1893, another operation was taking shape.

Louis Dolch, J. B. Dibrell, and Emil Moshiem formed the Eagle Pass Coal and Coke Company.

Their mines, just a quarter mile south of here, were supplying fuel to Southern Pacific Railroad locomotives. Every one of those iron horses running the Southern Pacific, they were eating coal pulled out of this ground, right up until 1902. Then came Dolchburg.

Built in 1905, with housing for ninety workers, a whole little town raised up around the work of getting coal out of the earth. They'd later call it Seco Mines, but in 1905 it was Dolchburg, and it belonged to the enterprise Louis Dolch had helped build. Dolch died in 1907, and after his death the International Coal Mine Company took over the operation.

By 1910, the International Company was employing three hundred and fifty men and producing around a thousand tons of coal a day. But the ground was shifting, in a manner of speaking. Competition from oil, natural gas, and other fuels began pressing down on the coal mines like a slow, patient weight.

The main Olmos Company shafts closed in 1912. Now, the Olmos Lamar Mine, sitting about three and a half miles to the northeast, and the International Company mines, those kept going. As late as 1925, they were still operating.

But that's the thing about coal country. It doesn't end with a bang. It just gets quiet.

The trains find other fuel. The shafts go dark one by one. And Dolchburg becomes Seco Mines, and the hillside near the Rio Grande holds its silence, remembering every ton it ever gave up.

What the marker says

Although the Indian, Spanish, and early anglo-American inhabitants knew of this area's large bituminous coal deposits, commercial mining did not begin until 1885, when F. H. Hartz opened a hillside mine near the Rio Grande. For a time, it was the largest producing mine in Texas, but damage from an 1892 fire caused it to close several years later. Hartz then started another mine for the Maverick County Coal Co., which evolved into the Olmos Coal, coke, and Oil Company. Under direction of Pasquale and Rocco DeBona, this company reached a production peak of 1,200 tons a day. Another mining operation was the Eagle Pass Coal and Coke Company, formed in 1893 by Louis Dolch, J. B. Dibrell, and Emil Moshiem. Their mines (.25 miles south) supplied fuel for Southern Pacific Railroad locomotives until 1902. The town of Dolchburg, now called Seco Mines, was built in 1905, with housing for 90 workers. After Dolch's death in 1907, the International Coal Mine Company took over the operation. By 1910, this firm employed 350 men and produced about 1,000 tons of coal a day. Competition from oil, natural gas, and other fuels caused the mines to decline. The main Olmos Co. shafts closed in 1912, but Olmo's Lamar Mine (3.5 miles northeast) and the International Co. Mines were operating as late as 1925. (1975)