Hi, Have been busy- taught English as a second language today. Some classee have Asians - only one class today had non traditional Spanish- they were 4 Blaack students. They were the best behaved kids I have seen since the Pre Calculus classes. Will give you sketchy info tonight- have a photo book of Thurber somewhere. a Tackett in Madison, Wisconsin contacted me & I sent her some info. The TP Railroad on the southern Transcontinental railroad tracks in late 1800's developed the Coal mines on the Johnson Ranch between Thurber and Mingus or Caddo or Strawn. It was a high grade coal to get locomotives to California. Acme Brick developed with the mines. The veins were thin but plentiful. At first locals were hired, but since Stephenville had 700 or less and no railroad, they recruited all over Europe and Ireland and brought the immigrants to Thurber- all under 5' tall if they could be found. A six footer would have to work on his knees. Mules pulled the cars to the shafts in the mine and could not always raise their heads above their shoulders. The miners were also at Newcastle Mines near Graham , Texas. The railroad brought Portugese and Czech vegetable and fruit farmers to Clyde, Texas- shallow water in sand. They raised fruit and vegetables for the dining cars. Thurber was a company owned town with 10,000 people plus , Some say 20,000 to 30, 000 in the area. with that many or more spacialized contractors, gamblers, bartenders, and local traders up to and past Mingus- Palo Pinto County- a wet town with the largest bar between Fort Worth and El Paso. It had the first synchronized red lights, treated city water, a complete sewage system, and fire plugs on each town The first city in the U.S. with all this, plus a company store and pay in company credit coupons, discounted if they attended the Italian Opera in Stephenville. at Cage and Crow Opera House. . Some coal was on the surface- no one wanted an underground fire. The miners had an annual habit of striking and getting raises. One strike saw the town fenced with barbed wire and a company of Texas Rangers trying to stop riots. Some young upstart named John L. Lewis was just in time to organize the strike that drove the final nail in the coffin- the Railroad said no raise or they would get Ranger and Desdemona oil to run their trains to California with less labor. Lewis refused to compromise and the mines were closed and 30 days later the workers lost their company houses and jobs in the middle of a desolate spot in Texas. Reminds me of how the last strike at Waco's General Tire Plant closed it in favor of an Indonesian factory with far cheaper labor, Seems that happened in Pennsylvania with Trane Air Conditioning. Texas thanks you, Pennsylvania. . I used to be a member of IAM in Convair Fort Worth, but some unions are worse than than Clayton Williams about shooting themselves in the foot with their own actions. I can't remember any Union leaders take a cut in pay when they cost 10, ooo jobs, as in Thurber. Failures aren't usually in History books. The town today has 3 people and a TP library not open to the public with every resident, miner, brickmaker, fireman, or whatever and which mines he dug and country of origin. Last I heard the city was partly back in the Johnson ranch withTP Railroad, owned by Seagram Whiskey controlled by the Kennedy family, paying property taxes in Stephenville, Texas. There is a Thurber Historical Society in Stephenville somewhere. Check their phone book on Yahoo search engine. on the net. Some coal was recently mined open pit for Chapparal Steel, Midlothian Texas- the leading maker of construction Rebar in the world from old cars. Whei I was in grade school we hauled clean used brick to build barn footings for 5 cents each. Fort Worth and other cities within 100 miles had streets paved with Thurber Brick, some still do. Stephenville and Tarleton State University should have abundant Thurber and Newcastle records. Tarleto had one Central Heating system with underground steam pipes and had Thurber coal for standby fuel in the 1950's. Sometimes Gas lines lost pressure in a bad cold spell. Dan Young's 10 or so Historic calendars for Town and Country Bank have many photos and daily notes of Thurber activities. See you later Charles Wyly ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]