By Jeremy P. Amick (Jefferson City News Tribune)
Albert Bandelier, far right, owned and leased 80 acres of property in the St. Martin area to operate a coal mine. His younger brother, Emanuel, is on the far left. Eventual-ly, cave-ins led to the mine’s closure prior to World War I. Prior to it being shut down, he shipped railcars of coal to St. Louis.
Simon Bandelier was a Swiss immigrant who, after coming to Missouri in 1866, established himself as a farmer and livestock dealer in the area that became St. Martin.
His farm was situated on the main road that once consisted of dirt and gravel, pre-dating U.S. Highway 50. Around the turn of the 20th century, his farm was a beehive of activity with lead and coal deposits discovered in the area and serving as a recreational destination for workers building the new State Capitol.
“Simon was my great-great-grandfather and he built the house – a log cabin – that still stands on our property,” said Ron Bandelier. “One of his sons was Albert, who operated a coal mine that is just a short distance north of our property, he added.
The late 1890s and early 1900s witnessed much activity in the area with enterprising individuals motivated by the possibility of buried mineral deposits. Albert Bandelier, seeking to capitalize on such opportunity, purchased the mining rights for a piece of land owned by local farmer William P. Schmitz.
Ron Bandelier said, “He operated a coal mine near where the westbound U.S. Highway 50 exit lane in St. Martin intersects with state Highway D. The coal from this mine was as good as any Pennsylvania coal and apparently you could light it with a match.”
He continued, “We have records that show Albert shipped 100 trainloads of coal from the depot in Elston to be sold in St. Louis. I think it’s pretty amazing that so much coal came out of that nearby mine.”
Historical records maintained by Bandelier said a cave-in occurred and shut the mine down, although the specific date is unknown. Sometime later, Albert Bandelier sought to reopen the mine, but another cave-in occurred, and it was abandoned.
“According to my father, Theodore, the mine had an elevator to access the mine shaft from which the workers hauled out the loads of coal with donkeys and carts,” Bandelier said. “My father was about 7 when he went down into the mine with his Uncle Albert and at that time the mine was closed, which was about 1912.”
An annual report from the Missouri Division of Mines from 1913 notes Bandelier’s coal mine, listed as being located in Elston since St. Martin was not yet established, was one of only two noted coal mines in Cole County, The mine was covered and filled during the construction of the relocated Highway 50, which has since become Business 50.
“The cave-ins ended his miniing operation but there were other mines that continued near-by,” Ron Bandelier said. “There was one where the owners of the property managed to fool wealthy people from out east into investing in the mine by salting it, making it look like it was full of deposits.”
Decades ago, when crews were expanding U.S. Highway 50 into four lanes, Theodore Ban-delier told some of the bulldozer operators to be careful because there were still hidden shafts under the ground. One of the bulldozers later fell into a shaft when the earth gave way, requiring another bulldozer to extract it.
“Not too many years ago, a sinkhole formed near the overpass along Highway D just outside St. Martins because one of the mine shafts collapsed,” said Ron Bandelier. “The highway department had to fill it with large rocks and you can still see where all the fill work was done.”
Although Albert’s aspirations to become wealthy from coal mining operations came to an unexpected conclusion, he found another opportunity to capitalize on his family’s rural setting by providing a welcomed entertainment venue.
On Feb. 5, 1911, the second State Capitol in Jefferson City was destroyed by fire after lightning struck the dome. Construction of the current Capitol began in 1913, bringing to Mid-Missouri scores of workers in the building industries.
“The structure will require several years to finish, asit is not only an imposing, but a massive, piece of architecture,” reported the Pleasant Hill Times on March 20, 1914,
While they were building the new Capitol, many of the workers came to visit the Bandelier place on the weekends, which was at the time known as Fairview Stock Farm.
“Albert and some of the family made wine and fermented it in the cellar of the log house so that they had it to sell to the workers,” said Bandelier.
Anecdotal accounts passed down by Bandelier’s father, Theodore, note his Uncle Albert was arrested years later during Prohibition for making and selling wine, but his attorney was able to have him acquitted since the evidence had been “consumed.”
The completion of the Capitol in 1917 brought an end to the workers’ visits to the Bandelier place. As the years passed, Albert Bandelier remained involved in raising livestock and was 95 years old when he died in 1955.
“My father is now gone, but he was able to share many of the stories of what happened on the farm so many decades ago, including the mining activities, said Ron Bandelier: “There’s not a lot of information that has been written down about this, and I always enjoyed hearing the stories from the family.”
He continued, “It’s fascinating that there was such an active and productive mine nearby, which many people nowadays never knew existed. And the historic connection our farm had to the workers who helped build the Missouri Capitol is a piece of local history that I hope is remembered for generations to come.
Jeremy P. Ämick writes on behalf of the Silver Star Families of America.