View source for Yellowstone Coal Company

"[[Coal]] Entry No. 2" was entered by one [[Charles E. Case]] under date of [[19 Dec 1885]], and according to the record, Case paid $20 per acre for 43.81 acres of land on the north side of the Yellowstone River about a mile below the site of the present Yellowstone bridge on Fifth Street. That there was mining activity on this tract before the the turn of the century, there is little doubt, but very little appears of the record concerning it.

However, the taxes were not paid on this tract for the year 1896 and it was sold to the county for taxes. It was later sold by the county and in 1907 became the property of one [[Charles F. Hedges]]. Hedges formed a mining corporation under the name of the [[Yellowstone Coal Company]] and this concern started development of the property. The stockholders of this company were, besides Hedges, [[Pierre Wibaux]], the builder of the [[Wibaux building]] and President of the [[State National Bank]], [[George K. Foster]], the founder of the [[Foster Drug]] Company, [[A. J. Schrumpf]], a prominent dentist, and [[Charles F. Kline]], who was undoubtedly the "mine boss". Kline had considerable experience in the mining of lignite coal. Of course, there was no bridge across the Yellowstone River at any point convenient to the mine, and the same problem confronted the Yellowstone Coal Mine Company that bothered the owners of the Red Jacket Mine. There was no trouble in the winter, when the river was frozen over solid, but during the spring and fall seasons, difficulty was experienced in getting the coal across the river. This problem was partially solved by the installation of an anchored cable across the river from which a cable car was suspended and operated. However, this mine developed too much water seepage to make its operation profitable so it was abandoned after a short time.