No Roads Lead to Buxton

In 1903, the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad formed Superior Coal Company and moved its coal exploration operations to southern Illinois and stopped exploring for coal in Iowa as the Illinois coal fields were larger and had fewer impurities. For years this had little effect on life in Buxton. However, beginning in 1914, Buxton experienced a serious of changes which resulted in the town’s slow decline. That year the miners worked fewer days in the mines due to labor disputes. There were fires in Buxton in 1916 and 1917. Production of coal peaked in Iowa in 1917 and declined rapidly in the years after World War I. After the War, Consolidation ceased opening coal mines in Iowa and began moving their operations to Illinois. Each of these changes resulted in an increasing number of families moving from Buxton. Problems in Buxton mirrored what was occurring statewide in the coal industry.