Editing Lehigh, Iowa (section)

==History==
Lehigh's first settlers, a Mr. Reed and Mr. Wright, set up a steam [[sawmill]] on the site in 1855.  Originally, the town was named ''Slabtown'' because slabs, scrap from the mill, were used in construction.  By 1870, there was a [[Methodist church]] and a school, and Oliver Tyson had purchased the mill and expanded it, adding a flour mill.  Soon after this, Tyson opened a store.<ref>[http://www.lehighiowa.org/history.html History] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719005325/http://www.lehighiowa.org/history.html |date=July 19, 2011 }}, from the [http://www.lehighiowa.org/index.html Official website of the town of Lehigh, Iowa] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719005333/http://www.lehighiowa.org/index.html |date=July 19, 2011 }}.</ref>  The town was later renamed Lehigh, comparing the local coal veins to those of Pennsylvania's [[Lehigh Valley]].<ref>Tom Savage, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DxagLIZHNv4C&lpg=PA130&pg=PA130 A Dictionary of Iowa Place Names], University of Iowa Press, 2007; p. 130,</ref>

[[File:CoalvilleMines.png|thumb|300px|Map of the Lehigh area from 1908, showing the railroads and coal mines (in red) of the region. Lehigh is in the bottom right quadrant.]]
In 1871, W. C. Wilson of [[Webster City, Iowa|Webster City]] opened a coal mine in Lehigh and formed the [[Crooked Creek Railroad and Coal Company]].  The company built a [[narrow gauge|3-foot gauge]] rail line from Judd, on the [[Illinois Central Railroad]] 8.5 miles south to the mines, including a 370-foot wooden truss bridge across the Des Moines River.  The line was later extended to [[Webster City, Iowa|Webster City]].  By 1894, the company had opened 5 mines, all using [[longwall mining]].  The Webster Coal and Land Company operated a mine near Lehigh from 1899 to 1902.<ref>James H. Lees, History of Coal Mining in Iowa, Chapter III of [https://books.google.com/books?id=1BUMAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA484&pg=PA583 Annual Report, 1908], Iowa Geological Survey, 1909, p. 583.</ref>

In 1878, Lehigh shipped 5,640 tons of coal.<ref>Report of the Crooked Creek Railway & Coal Company for the Year Ending June 30, 1878, [https://books.google.com/books?id=2YMpAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA377 First Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners for the Year Ending June 30, 1878], Clarkson, Des Moines, 1878; pages 377–382.</ref>  In 1883, 6,887 tons were shipped,<ref>Report of the Crooked Creek Railway Company for the Year Ending June 30, 1883, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8uUaAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA335 Sixth Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners for the Year Ending June 30, 1883], Roberts, Des Moines, 1883; pages 335–341.</ref> in 1884, 9,000 tons.<ref>Report of the Crooked Creek Railway Company for the Year Ending June 30, 1884, [https://books.google.com/books?id=1C42AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA319 Seventh Annual Report of the Board of Railroad Commissioners for the Year Ending June 30, 1884], Roberts, Des Moines, 1885; p. 319.</ref>  Membership in the [[United Mine Workers]] union is a useful measure of the importance of mining.  In 1912, Lehigh was home to UMW Local 855 with 64 members (about 6.9% of the 1910 population).<ref>Tally Sheet, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cfAUAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA1007 Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Convention of the United Mine Workers of America] Jan. 16 – Feb. 2, 1912, Indianapolis; Volume 2, pages 182A.</ref>

The Crooked Creek railroad was widened to [[standard gauge]] in 1880 and a line to Webster City was built in 1886.  In 1916, the line was incorporated into the [[Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Southern Railroad]], Iowa's longest [[Interurban]] line.  Diesel traction replaced overhead electric lines in the 1950s and the track was abandoned in 1962.<ref>George W. Hilton, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7POj8GvF4sIC&lpg=PA395&pg=PA395 American Narrow Gauge Railroads], Stanford University Press, 1990; p. 395.</ref>

By 1901, Lehigh was large enough to support a new First National Bank, with an initial capitalization of $25,000.<ref>New Banks, Changes in Officers, Etc., [https://books.google.com/books?id=2D_PAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA116 The Bankers' Magazine, Vol. LXIII], No. 1, July, 1901; page 116.</ref>  The bank must have been small; in 1910, O. J. Woodward arrived in town to become the cashier, manager and director of the bank.<ref>[https://archive.org/stream/historyoffortdod02prat/historyoffortdod02prat_djvu.txt History of Fort Dodge and Webster County, Iowa], Pioneer, Chicago, 1913; p. 10.</ref>

[[File:LehighBrick.jpg|thumb|left|250px|The Lehigh Brick and Tile brickyard, circa 1903.]]
In addition to coal mines, Lehigh was home to several other industries.  The most prominent were [[Brickworks|brickyards]] that used the [[shale]] of the [[coal measures]] as a source of [[clay]] to make both brick and [[tile drainage|drain tile]], firing their kilns with local coal.  One of these, the Lehigh Brick and Tile company, won the contract to provide paving brick for [[Dubuque, Iowa]] in 1896,<ref>Trade Notes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Yd7NAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA262&pg=PA262 Municipal Engineering, Vol. XI], No. 4, Oct. 1896; page 262.</ref> but suffered a serious fire in late 1897.<ref>Trade Notes, [https://books.google.com/books?id=EN_NAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA382&pg=PA382 Municipal Engineering, Vol. XIII], No. 4, Dec. 1897; p. 382.</ref>

In 1901, there were 2 large brickworks in Lehigh, the Corey Pressed Brick Company and the Lehigh Clay Works, which began operation in 1900.  In addition, the old Lehigh Brick and Tile works was being rebuilt after the fire.<ref>Frank A. Wilder, Geology of Webster County, [https://books.google.com/books?id=O5YRAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA176 Iowa Geological Survey Annual Report, 1901], Des Moines, 1902; page 176.</ref>  Corey was mining clay from both above and below the coal seam.  By 1903, Lehigh Brick and Tile was back in production, the Lehigh and the Campbell brickyard of the Webster city Brick and Tile Company.  The Cory plant was primarily a brickworks, while the others primarily produced drainage tile.<ref>S. W. Beyer and I. A. Williams, The Geology of Clays, [https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5YRAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA503 Iowa Geological Survey Annual Report, 1903], Des Moines, 1904; ppp. 503–509.</ref>