Methods of Mining Coal (CO-12)
Underground mining was once the primary method of extracting coal in Indiana. But in the 1920's and 1930's, strip mining increased. As shallow reserves of coal were depleted, larger and larger shovels and draglines were needed to remove the overburden. Ayrshire Collieries Corp. (now part of Amax Coal Co.), Enos Coal Mining Co. (now part of Old Ben Coal Co.), and Maumee Collieries and Sherwood-Templeton Coal Companies (now part of Peabody Coal Co.) were early Indiana companies that helped develop the massive earth-moving equipment commonly seen today in southwestern Indiana and the Midwest.

Indiana's coalbeds are being stripmined where they are shallow, but extracting coal by surface mining at some depth not yet established will not be profitable. Vast resources of coal remain in southwestern Indiana for underground mining.

Our Hoosier State Beneath Us: Coal