Thurber Texas

by Spratt, John S.

• ISBN13: 9781933337005
• ISBN10: 1933337001
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-02-28
• Publisher: State House Pr

Summary

The Thurber coal district sprang to life in the late 1880s in northern Erath County, Texas, some seventy miles west of Fort Worth. The mines were opened by the Texas & Pacific Coal Company to fuel the locomotives of its railway, whose tracks crossed the state from Marshall to El Paso. The company also built the town of Thurber to service the mines. It then imported workers from distant points, eventually including some twenty nationalities, whose old country ways contrasted sharply with neighboring farm life. John Spratt grew to manhood in Mingus, just three miles north of Thurber during the 1920s. His chronicle of the Thurber district is not only a nostalgic trip back in time but also a case study of the impact of technological change on one part of modern America.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vi
Foreword	vii
Introduction	ix
Preface	xix
1. From Pecos to Mingus	1	(5)
2. Two Different Towns	6	(11)
3. The Lifeline	17	(9)
4. Life in Thurber	26	(9)
5. Fun and Frolic	35	(10)
6. Rare Events and Big Celebrations	45	(10)
7. The Local Business Scene	55	(13)
8. Specialty Enterprises	68	(9)
9. Chores	77	(10)
10. Life around Home	87	(10)
11. Holiday Season	97	(6)
12. Passing Trains	103	(8)
13. Thurber and Mingus Go into Decline	111	(10)
14. The End of an Era	121	(8)
References	129	(2)
Index	131