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• The highest production of coal was 103,b22 tons in 1920 when approximately I l0 men were employed. In 1940 a severe mine fire had to be sealed ofJ'for six weeks until it went out for lack of oxygen. Fortunately it happened on a weekend when the mine was idle and no men were underground. Mining Itas always been a hazardous occupation although safety measures improved over the years. The unexpected can always Happen. Seven men lost their lives at the King Mine in a variety of accidents. They were Dan Molloy 1913, John Fischer 1915, A.R. Chapman 1915, William I-I. Daily 1924, Martin Kuretich 1926, Frank Blazonick 1937 and Bernard Holybee 1940. Two other miners, Leonard Bnue and Mike Kuretich, died of heart attacks while on thejob. On an average, 30 to 50 men were employed. There was little or no work during the summer months, and the miners Found what work they could on ranches and in the fruit harvest. Most of the yards were large enough to accommodate a large vegetable garden and a small Flock of chickens. The wives were busy during the summer and early fall canning vegetables, Fntits and meat. When the hunting season began in the fall, work picked up again. Coal was sold at the tipple to wagons and trucks for local use. Railroad car shipments went to the western Colorado and later to Kansas and Nebraska. Most small towns had coal yards, often a part of a Feed and grain store. Juanita coal had excellent heating qualities with ~ a BTU of 13,000 plus. Alexander and Elizabeth had I 1 children; two of them died in childhood. He wanted I his remaining children to be associated with Itim at the mine. The oldest, William, came first, ~ followed by Wallace, Alexander R., John S. 'Jack,' and Edwin. A daughter, Mary Ann 'Anna,' t canto with Itim in 1906 to establish iris household. Slte also worked as a clerk in the mine office for a short time. When Elizabeth and the older daughter Agnes came, Anna returned to Gallup and married James A. Sneddon. Jack worked at the tipple and in the mine and also r- substituted in the otFce when Iris father took a vacation for health reasons. Another son, Dr. i , Morris R., came to this area in June of 1905 to become associated with Dr. Harry Hazlett in Paonia. Morris became the physician for the luanita Company, and from 1910 until his death from diabetes in 1913, Ire was the resident doctor in Somerset for the Utalt Fuel Company. ~, Elizabeth died in 1915. Jack succeeded Iris Father as general manager after Alexander's death in 1917. I j Alexander R. had been troubled with arthritis for some time, and in 1935 lost a leg as a result of an accident inside the mine. ARer recovery, he assisted Jack in the of£ce and took over as general manager when Jack's health failed in 1942. ARer graduation from Colorado fl School of lvlines and army service during World War Ii, Robert F. 'Bud' Bowie worked at Rock Springs, Wyoming, and came to Bowie in 1954 to be bout inside superintendent and general manager in the ofFce. He is the son of William and Martha Bowie. The mine and properties were sold in 1974 to the Adolph Coors Company of Golden, ~~ Colorado. Some of the houses were moved intact and relocated; others were sold for salvage 35 _~