As
writers know, the more books you've written, the more difficult finding a
fresh story twist idea becomes. Which is why in my work in progress, my ranch hand
hero goes undercover in a lignite coal mine to earn money to buy his own ranch.
This required research into coal mining in 1885 Central Texas—fascinating in
some areas and not so much in others.
I
was aware of the large coal mine at Thurber in Erath County in North Central Texas and nearby
smaller mines in Palo Pinto County. Thurber’s location is too far from this hero’s home base. With
research, I found the perfect place, the town of Coal, Texas southwest of
San Antonio. In my story, the town is called Lignite after the type of coal
mined there. Also in my story, someone is causing deadly “accidents” at the
mine and the owner wants to determine who is guilty. For this, he hires my
hero, Finn O’Neill.
Finn O'Neill, hero |
The beauty of changing the name of the town
in fiction is that the town can then have whatever buildings I choose and/or need for the plot. Instead of Lytle,
in my book the next town is Spencer for the same reason. That’s one of the fun
things about writing historical fiction. The author is free to build the setting
and only has to be true to the period in customs and dress. I love making up my
stories and their settings and I hope you enjoy reading them!
The
actual town of Coal was on U.S. Highway 81 and the Missouri Pacific line
in southeastern Medina County. Coal mines, worked by as many as 500 people at a
time, precipitated the growth of mining camps in the 1880s. In 1881 the International-Great
Northern Railroad built a rail line from Austin to Laredo that passed through
Lytle southwest of San Antonio.
The
community of Coal developed on this line a mile southwest of Lytle and
just north of the mining camps. The high-grade lignite produced at the mines
was sold to the railroads until the advent of oil-burning locomotives. In 1888
Coal consisted of a store, a bandstand, a main plaza, a dance hall, a
Catholic church, and at least two schools. Hmmm, in my story, Lignite has a
store, both a Catholic and a Protestant church, and one two-room school where
the heroine and her sister teach.
Heroine Stella Grace Clayton |
Lignite,
often referred to as brown coal, is a soft brown combustible sedimentary rock
that is formed from naturally compressed peat. It is considered the lowest rank
of coal due to its relatively low heat content. It is used almost exclusively
as a fuel for steam-electric power generation, but is also mined for its
germanium content in China.
Lignite
has a high content of volatile matter which makes it easier to convert into gas
and liquid petroleum products than higher ranking coals. Unfortunately its high
moisture content and susceptibility to spontaneous combustion can cause
problems in transportation and storage. The efficient processes that remove
latent moisture locked within the structure of brown coal will relegate the
risk of spontaneous combustion to the same level as black coal, will transform
the calorific value of brown coal to a black coal equivalent fuel while
significantly reducing the emissions profile of 'densified' brown coal to a
level similar to or better than most black coals.
Lignite
can be separated into two types. The first is xyloid lignite or fossil wood and
the second form is the compact lignite or perfect lignite. Although xyloid
lignite may sometimes have the tenacity and the appearance of ordinary wood it
can be seen that the combustible woody tissue has experienced a great
modification. Dark black lignite, or jet, is where the term 'jet black'
originates.
Gated adit mine |
Although later lignite mines were those defacing strip mines, at the time of my story, they were slant/adit mines with tunnels underground. Better for the environment, but not for the miners.
By
the 1940s my model for Lignite, Coal, consisted of a Catholic church and
several dwellings, situated mostly north of the railroad tracks. Lytle annexed
Coal Mine in 1969, and there were about 100 people living at the Coal Mine site
in 1983.
Caroline Clemmons writes western
historical and contemporary romances. Her latest release is WINTER BRIDE. The
book containing Lignite, Texas is O’NEILL’S TEXAS BRIDE, and will be released mid-May
2015. You can keep up with Caroline’s releases by signing up for her newsletter.
Her books are listed on her website at www.carolineclemmons.com
and on her Amazon
Author Page.
3 comments:
Very interesting post. Sure shows you research your info. Winter's Bride is on my TBR list.
Fun information about Texas. You're wiser than me. I tend to use the real towns and not fictionalize them. So I have to keep things as close to the facts as I can.
Awesome post, Caroline! Love all the detailed info you share!
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