Editing Rathbun, Iowa (section)

==History==
Incorporated in 1897,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=sC84AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA38 Acts and Resolutions passed at the Extra Session of the Twenty-sixth General Assembly of the State of Iowa], F. R. Conway, Des Moines, 1897; page 38.</ref> Rathbun was established in 1892 as a mining town.<ref>L. L. Taylor, [https://books.google.com/books?id=i34UAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA152 Past and Present of Appanoose County Iowa, Vol. 1], S. J. Clarke, Chicago, 1913; pages 152, 416.</ref>  It was named for Charles H. Rathbun, a mine official.<ref name="Savage2007">{{cite book|author=Tom Savage|title=A Dictionary of Iowa Place-Names|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DxagLIZHNv4C&pg=PA188|date=1 August 2007|publisher=University of Iowa Press|isbn=978-1-58729-759-5|pages=188}}</ref> At the end of the 19th century, "the valley of Walnut Creek was one continuous mining camp, known under different names, Jerome, Diamond, [[Mystic, Iowa|Mystic]], Clarksdale, '''Rathbun''' and Darby" (later known as Darbyville).<ref>H. Foster Bain, Geology of Appanoose County, [https://books.google.com/books?id=HpURAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA389 Iowa Geological Survey Annual Report, 1895] Conway, Des Moines, 1896; page 389.</ref>

The Star Coal Company of Streator, Ill. operated the Rathbun Mine, with an {{convert|82|ft|m|adj=mid|-deep}} [[shaft mining|shaft]].  This mine was in operation in 1895, and by 1908 it was considered one of the best equipped [[longwall mine]]s in the county.  The Darby mine, operated by the Unity Block Coal Company, was about a mile northeast of Rathbun.  This had a {{convert|50|ft|m|adj=on}} shaft and was nearly played out by 1908.  The Evans Mine, about halfway between the Rathbun and Darbyville, formerly operated by the American Coal Company, had already been closed by 1908.<ref>Henry Hinds, The Coal Deposits of Iowa, Chapter I of the [https://books.google.com/books?id=zPbUAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA270 Iowa Geological Survey Annual Report, 1908], Des Moines, 1909; page 270.</ref>  In 1912, [[United Mine Workers]] Local 372 in Rathbun had 213 members.<ref>Tally Sheet, [https://books.google.com/books?id=cfAUAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA1005 Proceedings of the 23rd Annual Convention of the United Mine Workers of America] Jan. 16 – Feb. 2, 1912, Indianapolis; Volume 2, page 180A.</ref>  This was close to half the total population at the time.