Miscellaneous Mining Items/Miners Check Tag Front

Miscellaneous Mining Items

Miners Check Tag Front.jpg - MINERS CHECK TAG - Brass miner’s check tag, marked on front ST.L.R.M. & P.CO. and BRILLIANT NEW MEXICO, reverse marked IDENTIFICATION CHECK 233, 1 1/8 in. dia. (These brass tags, sometimes called check tags or pit tags, were carried for safety. Each tag had the miner's identification number on it. Each numbered check corresponded to a numbered nail on a large wooden board. If the miner did not return his check at the end of the day, a rescue team was sent in to find him. In the event of an emergency, the boss could look at the tag board and know who was still underground. Brilliant is a ghost town in Colfax County, New Mexico west of the town of Raton. It is now part of the Vermejo Park Ranch and what little remains of the town is on private gated property. The town of Brilliant took form in 1906 and was owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. It was a coal-mining town supplying coal to the Santa Fe Railroad for locomotive use. In 1907, the population was 350 and supported a telephone company, a school, several hotels, a boarding house, mercantile stores, a sheriff and a town doctor. The town continued a lively existence until 1935. Today no one lives there but there are a few partially intact buildings to mark the site. One of the most important coal and railway developments of New Mexico was the transfer of the coal lands of the Maxwell Land Grant Company and the coal mines of the Raton Coal and Coke Company to a new corporation, the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Company, whose initials mark the miner's check tag. As of 1907, the company owned about 200,000 acres in fee simple, and controlled directly the coal and mining rights of 300,000 acres more. It probably owned more coal land than any other corporation in the United States. The company developed several mines in the area including a mine at Brilliant. The Brilliant mine was located on the so-called Tinpan seam. This coal was a good domestic fuel and also possessed extraordinary coking properties. The Brilliant mine in 1907 had a production of 500 tons per day. See 1907 Reports of the Department of Interior, Washington DC, Government Printing Office

Miners Check Tag Front | MINERS CHECK TAG - Brass miner’s check tag, marked on front ST.L.R.M. & P.CO. and BRILLIANT NEW MEXICO, reverse marked IDENTIFICATION CHECK 233, 1 1/8 in. dia. (These brass tags, sometimes called check tags or pit tags, were carried for safety. Each tag had the miner's identification number on it. Each numbered check corresponded to a numbered nail on a large wooden board. If the miner did not return his check at the end of the day, a rescue team was sent in to find him. In the event of an emergency, the boss could look at the tag board and know who was still underground. Brilliant is a ghost town in Colfax County, New Mexico west of the town of Raton. It is now part of the Vermejo Park Ranch and what little remains of the town is on private gated property. The town of Brilliant took form in 1906 and was owned by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad. It was a coal-mining town supplying coal to the Santa Fe Railroad for locomotive use. In 1907, the population was 350 and supported a telephone company, a school, several hotels, a boarding house, mercantile stores, a sheriff and a town doctor. The town continued a lively existence until 1935. Today no one lives there but there are a few partially intact buildings to mark the site. One of the most important coal and railway developments of New Mexico was the transfer of the coal lands of the Maxwell Land Grant Company and the coal mines of the Raton Coal and Coke Company to a new corporation, the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain and Pacific Company, whose initials mark the miner's check tag. As of 1907, the company owned about 200,000 acres in fee simple, and controlled directly the coal and mining rights of 300,000 acres more. It probably owned more coal land than any other corporation in the United States. The company developed several mines in the area including a mine at Brilliant. The Brilliant mine was located on the so-called Tinpan seam. This coal was a good domestic fuel and also possessed extraordinary coking properties. The Brilliant mine in 1907 had a production of 500 tons per day. See 1907 Reports of the Department of Interior, Washington DC, Government Printing Office

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