In 1872 John DuBois came to the area and set up sawmills. They employed hundreds of men, sawed billions of board feet of lumber and operated until 1904. DuBois was incorporated in 1881; in 1916 it became the county's only city. When the railroads came in 1874, coal mining began. Other major industries included ironworks, railroad car shops, tannery and brewery (1896-1972). In 1896 a mine explosion at this site killed 13 miners.