Labuco
Labuco is a former coal mining community located south of Quinton and east of Praco, along the Locust Fork River in western Jefferson County. Its slope mine worked a 48-inch thick head of the New Castle seam and shipped its coal on the Mary Lee Railroad, later acquired by the Southern Railway.
Labuco was founded by the Tennessee-based Lacey-Buek Iron Company, from which its name was derived. Mining operations began there in 1905. By 1908 the idle mine works were owned by the Southern Steel Company. Demand for iron in World War I led to a resurgence in activities and a Labuco Post Office was established in 1918. Two miners, Bert and Jean Tucker, died in a rock fall on July 15 of that year.
In 1921 the Labuco mine was the property of the Birmingham-Trussville Iron Co., while four mines in "North Labuco", called the Flat Creek Mines, were operated by the Flat Creek Mining Co.
In 1938 the mines around Labuco were operated by the Hammond Iron Co. and the Alabama By-Products Corporation (ABC). That company was hit with a series of wildcat strikes at several mines, including Labuco, in 1944. In 1952 the Tucker Coal Co. was operating one of the mines. By 1958 all of the mining was being performed by ABC. The Labuco mine was closed on August 31, 1963.
The Labuco Baptist Church is the community's only surviving landmark. One of several tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Danny seriously damaged a home in Labuco on August 16, 1985.
References
- Flynn, Ed (1908) "Report of Inspector of Alabama Coal Mines" Birmingham: Thornton Bros. Engineers - via Samford University Library Special Collections
- White, Marjorie Longenecker (1981) The Birmingham District: An Industrial History and Guide. Birmingham: Birmingham Historical Society ISBN 9990230099
- Whitson, Charles E. (2013) Alabama Mine Map Repository: Directory Of Underground Mine Maps. Birmingham: Alabama Department of Labor