A. There was a coal mine off Reservoir Avenue and Saccanosset Hill as early as 1839. (American Indian translation for Saccanosset is "black earth place".) The Seekonk Facing Company mined graphite in 1875 and by 1885 the New York Carbon Company was extracting 30 tons of coal a day. Various companies attempted to mine the area until 1913. After that, it was owned by the Graphite Mines Corporation until a fire in 1922. Garden City's retail and residential building, which had begun in 1948, flourished in the 1950's as the coal mine slowly shut down. The mine finally closed in 1959 when the first and last fatal accident occurred and closed it for good. The old mine shaft was located where the current Newport Creamery now stands.
Described as "Coal mine in Cranston" Date: unknown.
Image # 2691.
From the Images of Rhode Island - Providence Public Library Historical Collection: http://www.quickpix.com/cgi-win/IICGI.exe/sixmonths
Sources: Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission. September 1980. Cranston, Rhode Island: Statewide Historical Preservation Report P-C-1. Polichetti, Barbara. July, 26, 1999. "For young veterans' families, the new suburbia personified the essential American Dream". Providence Journal. pg. C. 01. and American Indian Place Names in Rhode Island: Present & Past. http://www.rootsweb.com/~rigenweb/IndianPlaceNames8.html
