Innovator made strides in early mining industry

Darwin P. Flinn portrayed “Dick Deadeye” in the First Congregational Church production of “H.M.S. Pinafore”  circa 1879. Photo contributed by Joseph Haslwanter, great-great-great grandson of Mrs. W.J. Hilton, who preserved a scrapbook containing this photo throughout her lifetime. Photo by the Dean Bros., of Hannibal, Mo.

MARY LOU MONTGOMERY

Darwin P. Flinn, whose remains are eternally resting in Hannibal’s Riverside Cemetery, was quite an innovator during his lifespan.

Before moving to Hannibal circa 1870 from LeRoy, N.Y., he had already earned a patent, along with his business partner, Richmond S. Hayes, for an improvement in corn and cane harvesters.

Throughout his lifetime, he demonstrated the tendency to look for ways to solve problems and seek out a better means of accomplishing complicated tasks.

Married at Cayuga, N.Y., on June 16, 1859, to Frances Mary Hopkins, after the Civil War the young couple and their infant son joined a movement of like-minded individuals migrating from New York state, to Hannibal, which was the eastern terminus of the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad.

Like many of their contemporaries, the Flinn family joined the First Congregational Church, and served this church during the years of expansion to a new building at Ninth and Lyon. Both Mr. and Mrs. Flinn were participants in the fund-raising musical hosted by the church, “H.M.S. Pinafore.” Mr. Flinn portrayed “Dick Deadeye.” 

A number of Mr. Flinn’s contemporaries were attached to leadership and employment roles for the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railroad. Early profiles list him as a machinist, which suggests he might have been, for a time, a railroad employee.

But he wasn’t destined to be a machinist for long. His vision was broad and focused.

While his wife and young son remained in Hannibal, wanderlust took him on further west, to the potential mining fields of western Missouri, Kansas and Colorado. In search of coal, and later silver and gold, he became an expert during his day at drilling, and predicting where hidden minerals might be found.

The Dec. 2, 1871 edition of the Kansas City Times told the story of the search for a coal vein in that city.

“The steam drill sinks into the earth at the east end of Twelfth street at the rate of 25 feet per day, the drill being run” day and night. “A rough house or shanty has been built over the drill and engine, and another small room adjoining for the office.

“Mr. D.P. Flynn (stet), of Hannibal, is superintending the work, and reports progress as follows: The drill passed through several alternate stratas of stone, mud and shale until about the four hundredth foot, when it passed through a six inch vein of coal, a bed of hardened mud was then with difficulty passed through, then a strata of fossils, shells, etc., very clearly defined in the core as taken out of the drill. Directly under a five feet layer of lime clay, was found another six inch vein of coal, having the appearance of anthracite or cannel coal. This rested upon a layer of slate, highly bituminous in its nature, coal oil or paraffin exuding from it when exposed to heat. This was at a depth of four hundred and sixty feet.

“It is the opinion of geologists, who are familiar with this country, that the two small veins of coal discovered are the outcroppings or outer edge of the upper coal basin which has its center about Jefferson City, and that by sinking a depth of two hundred feet more the main coal bed will be reached. Mr. Flynn (stet), who has had much experience in the business of sinking coal shafts, concurs in this opinion, and thinks a good coal vein will be reached at six or seven hundred feet. He is now preparing a report of the progress made to be submitted to the City Council, on Monday. A glass case will accompany the report, showing the different stratus of earth, rock and coal lying beneath this city; each strata labelled and distinct.

“Last Thursday, at a depth of 480 feet from the surface, a vein of salt water was found, but owing to the rush of fresh water from an upper portion of the tube, it is impossible to say in what strength this deposit exists. Last night the drill had reached a depth of five hundred feet, in which we have had clay, rock, shale, coal oil, coal, slate, fossils and salt. What next?”

On to Kansas

In 1873, Mr. Flinn and C.O. Godfrey, also residing in Hannibal, were involved in a mining operation in Southeastern Kansas.

Godfrey was engaged to sink a coal shaft near Iola, Kansas, using a diamond drill. The estimated cost at the time was $3,500. Another Hannibalian, D.P. Flinn, took charge of the work.

The Kansas Spirit reported on May 3, 1873, “After months of labor, attended by numerous accidents, delays and discouraging perplexities, the depth of 736 feet has been reached, with some very astonishing results.

“A vein of salt water has been reached, which burst forth with force sufficient to discharge 600 barrels per day.

“A constant stream of gas issues forth, which, when ignited, burns with great brilliancy.

“This stream of salt water and gas has been raised by means of tubes to the height of 50 feet above the earth, and lighted, thus conquering the darkness of the night by means of this well of fire pouring from the hidden recesses of the earth.”

Colorado

The 1880 and 1882 Leadville, Colo., city directories listed Darwin P. Flinn as a mine owner, living at 406 Harrison Ave. Leadville is located about 100 miles west of Denver. Flinn’s residency in Leadville preceded Hannibal’s famed Molly Brown’s residency by several years.

Alabama

The Talladega Milling and Mining Company was incorporated in April 1884, with a capital stock of $25,000.  The principal office was at Waldo, Ala., six miles from Talladega. An office was also to be maintained in Hannibal. Incorporators were:

Alvin Shanker

Darwin P. Flinn

Grey Byron

Lewis S. Snydane

The Weekly Advertiser newspaper, Montgomery, Ala., reported on April 15, 1884: “The section in which this company have located is rich in gold and other precious minerals, and we expect to see, at an early day, the gold hills of Talladega county dotted with successful prospectors.”

Hannibal

In 1871, the Flinns made their home at 301 S. Fifth St.

While Mr. Flinn was working out west during the 1870s, his wife and young son, Frances Flinn and Hopkins Flinn, boarded with Mrs. Ann E. Robinson, east side of Sixth near Broadway.

In 1881, the Flinns were living at 209 N. Sixth. By 1892, they had relocated to 830 Center.

Darwin P. Flinn died in 1892, and is buried in Section B24 of Riverside Cemetery.

Mary Lou Montgomery, Suburban Newspapers of America Editor of the Year, Dailies, 2010, retired as editor of the Hannibal (Mo.) Courier-Post in 2014. She researches and writes narrative-style stories about the people who served as building blocks for this region’s foundation. Books available on Amazon.com by this author include but are not limited to: "The Notorious Madam Shaw," "Pioneers in Medicine from Northeast Missouri,” “Hannibal’s ‘West End,’” “Oakwood: West of Hannibal,”  and “St. Mary’s Avenue District.” Montgomery can be reached at Montgomery.editor@yahoo.com Her collective works can be found at www.maryloumontgomery.com