Berwick Iowa, When Coal Was King By G.C. Stevens

 

Travel poster created by AI using the authors photos seen below

Along the meandering Four Mile Creek, a small town, a quiet place tucked in the pocket

of the past, when coal was king and the railroads laid the path, an old church and a post office to serve the those who settled the prairie and mined the coal. The old town has no main roads, passed by, almost forgotten, except for the lucky few, who come to feel the solace. 

-G.C. Stevens     

Located near the confluence Fourmile Creek and Muchikinock Creeks, 

Berwick was first settled in 1846. Henry Taylor platted the town in 1884 

and secured a station on the newly constructed Diagonal Railroad. He 

served as the first postmaster and named the town after his hometown of 

Berwick, Maine. In the early 20th century, Berwick was home to several 

coal mines, including the 200-acre Norwood-White’s Klondike No. 1. For 

nearly twenty years Berwick compared in size to the neighboring towns 

of Altoona and Ankeny. By 1920, the mines had played out and these 

other communities began to surpass Berwick in size. 

Ref: Chichaquavalleytrail.org

In the early 20th century, Berwick and Norwoodville, a mile southwest, were home to several coal mines. The Norwood-White shaft No. 1 (also known as the Klondike No. 1) was 215 feet deep, accessing a 4-foot-thick coal seam. By 1908, this mine extended over roughly 200 acres. Norwood-White shaft No. 2 was half a mile to the east. This mine was newer, covering over 40 acres in 1908. The Delaware Coal Company had a shaft a mile northwest of Berwick, with a shaft 170 feet (52 m) deep. By 1908, this mine covered less than 15 acres. In 1914, Norwood-White produced over 100,000 tons of coal, ranking among the top 24 coal producers in the state. In 1912, United Mine Workers Local 318 in Berwick had 220 members, and Local 845 in Norwoodville, one mile south, had 129 members.

The Railroad in Berwick

The Milwaukee Road (officially the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad) in Berwick, Iowa, was originally built in the late 19th century as a part of the Des Moines, Northern & Western Railway (the "High Bridge Route") before being acquired by the Milwaukee Road. Running as an important branch line northwest of Des Moines, it supported Berwick and the surrounding area's booming early 20th-century coal mining industry.

The corridor is now part of Central Iowa's extensive recreational trail system. 

The Milwaukee Road in Berwick Original Route: The tracks running through Berwick were originally part of a narrow-gauge Des Moines line that the Milwaukee Road took over in 1895 and subsequently converted to standard gauge.

The Post Office in Berwick founded in 1884 by Henry Taylor photo by the Author

The Berwick Congregational Church (Originally the Union Chapel) founded in 1875

Photo by the Author

An old Chrysler 1960 Windsor greets visitors as the enter Berwick from north. 

Photo by the Author