Peabody Coal Company Company.
Homestead Mine

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Homestead Mine was another of Peabody's strip mines that started in the fifties and continued operation for many years. The mine was located, mostly to the East of State Highway 369 or better known as "The Rochester Road". Generally, the mine paralleled Rochester Road from just South of Western Kentucky Parkway all the way to the Green River at Rochester. For some reason, Homestead was known as a quiet mine. I don't know if this is because the miners and the mine just stuck to business of mining coal or if it was located in a sort of an "Out Of Way" place. If a person, living in Ohio County, was not associated with Homestead Mine, whether working for them or in some type business of selling supplies or material, Homestead Mine just did not seem to exist. There were very few articles in the local papers or other news media. The mine just produced coal and provided the miner and his families with a good source of income. Their large shovels stripped for years and a lot of the time was in view from the Rochester Road, and yet, there does not seem to be very many pictures of these shovels, the office complex, the river tipple, nor the garage compound. I would appreciate the loan of any pictures or information on this large mine from anyone and would certainly put the material to good use. In reality, I am putting these words together to form a paragraph or two even though, I know very little about the mine. Help is needed on this subject. Come on you Coal Miners that once worked for, or even know much about this great old mine; give me a hand. I can work with you on getting out a page or two about this mine.

Homestead, on the Green River, was located below Rochester Dam and up river from Ken Mine Loading Dock. In between the two mines was a little place known as Chiggerville. Chiggerville was one of those small communities that the residents hoped would not be discovered by others. Rockport youth and Rockport fishermen discovered Chiggerville, probably before Chiggerville ever received a name. Or it may have been the other way around. Chiggerville Camp, or just Chiggerville on the river, was an area that was conducive to camping and fishing. There was a flat area where "Camp" could be set up and enough of slope in the river bank where a boat could easily be launched. Enough game was in the area for the camper to add to his cooking pot for bonus meals. A few weeks in late summer, the corn would reach "Roast-an-Ear" stage and add that to a mess of fish-Wow some good eating! That was then and more or less, in the Norman Rockwell era.

The Green River, at Chiggerville, consisted of some outcropping of rock and the river depth in this area was relatively shallow. The shallow part of the river may have been one of the reasons for the good fishing at Chiggerville. Barges and river traffic continued, as long as their draft was less than eight feet. Enter the new Homestead River Loading Dock and the need to use barges with nine foot drafts. A lot of extra coal could be moved for just about the same expense if a barge with a nine foot draft could be used. The decision was made to cut out or blast enough of the rock at Chiggerville to accommodate a barge with a nine foot draft. In this time frame, Bob Adams of Greenville was the explosive foreman and in charge of drilling and blasting. Peabody sent George Bowling, from River Queen Mine, to Florida to learn about underwater explosives. He was in charge of drilling operations of the channel. Working together, Bob and George teamed up to start the "Chiggerville Rock Removal" operation. Before the river could be re-channeled for nine feet, Dee Hall, Peabody President, transferred George to a mine in Ohio. Never-the-less, of men and machines, the river project was completed and Homestead was now able to use the barges with a nine foot draft and all were happy. Well, I don't know the "River Story" from fish and the fisherman prospective, thus will keep that on hold for the time being.

For most of the period of time that Homestead Mine was operational, I and countless others hunted and fished on Homestead Mine property. In the nineteen-fifties era, I hunted and fished over much of Ohio and Muhlenberg Counties and I had a few favorite hunting and fishing places in the area where Homestead Mine was located. In the later years of Homestead Mine and especially after a state law was passed, requiring all mines to reclaim the land to near the condition that it was found, a lot of prime hunting area was created. There was a large area of land where Homestead overturned the earth and when replaced, created huge, gently rolling hills with haul roads on either side. The earth was seeded with sufficient grass seed that produced an excellent habitat for small game and especially dove. For several years, it seemed that "Grass Seeding" time coincided with the dove season. A week or so before dove season opened, the "Seeders" got busy and over-seeded enough areas that made a perfect dove attraction area. And hunters would fill those small hills and valleys during the Labor Day Weekend. I had never seen such ideal dove hunting places, nor have I seen it since. A limit of doves: easy, if you took enough shells. Those times made a lot of us think that we were very good dove hunters. Since then, reality has set in.

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