Two hundred yards southeast of this site, at the base of the hill and at a depth of 65 feet, brothers William W. and Harvey E. Johnson put the first coal mine in this area into operation. After Harvey’s death in 1888, and because of labor and financial difficulties, William Johnson sold his mining interest to R.D. Hunter’s Texas and Pacific Railway Coal Company. Railroads provided a ready market for coal, and the company town of Thurber, named for investor H.K. Thurber, became completely unionized after a 1903 strike. The company employed 2,500 miners of 18 nationalities.