The coal mine represented much more than a way of making a 
living to the miners of Thurber, Texas, in the late nineteenth and 
early twentieth centuries—it represented a way of life. Coal 
mining dominated Thurber's work life, and miners dominated its 
social life. The large immigrant population that filled the mines in 
Thurber represented more than a dozen nations, which lent a 
uniqueness to this Texas town.

    In 1888 Robert D. Hunter and the Texas & Pacific Coal 
Company founded Thurber on the site of Johnson Mines, a small 
coal-mining village on the western edge of North Central Texas 
where Palo Pinto, Erath, and Eastland counties converged. For 
almost forty years the company mined coal and owned and 
operated a town that by 1910 served as home to more than three 
thousand residents.

    Marilyn Rhinehart examines the culture of the miners' work, 
the demographics and social life of the community, and the 
benefits and constraints of life in a company town.

_________________________________________________________

MARILYN D. RHINEHART is Vice-President of Instruction at 
Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas. 
She received her Ph.D. in American history from the University of 
Houston.


Number Nine: Texas A&M Southwestern Studies


What people are saying about this book

"Rhinehart has gathered valuable material from company payrolls, 
local newspapers, manuscript censuses, court records, and 
personal papers. Her well-written narrative made Thurber's 
miners and managers come alive."—Labor History

". . . a fascinating, step-by-step account of the jobs and skills 
required to work the narrow 'pencil streaks.' . . . compelling 
reading."—Western Historical Quarterly