If you grew up in Williamson County and have ancestors from here you would probably be hard pressed to find a relative who wasn’t involved in some way to the coal mining industry. The production of coal dominated the economy of Williamson County for about 100 years.

Each year since around 1881, the Illinois Department of Mines and Minerals has produced an annual coal report. These reports are in bound hardback book form and will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the local coal industry, but also contain some interesting information. Broken down by district and county, you can find all sorts of information on local mines including fatal and non-fatal accidents by the miner’s names and how the accidents occurred.

Our society maintains a series of these reports and we have most all reports from 1900 through 1978. If you have an ancestor who perished or was damaged in a coal mine accident this would be the place to look for further information. I have attached a few sample pages from the 1917 report.