A Short Story about the town of Zero, IA

Around 1880 a small mining village named Zero, owned by the Zero Coal Company was formed.  Zero’s life was short lived because the mine was plagued with too much water in its shafts.  Some time before the turn of the 20th century, the Zero experiment failed.  The coal mine was closed.  There are a couple of versions why the town was named Zero.  Some said it was named Zero because it was half way between Melrose and Russell, but others say the name was probably taken from the Zero Coal Co.  In 1881 a vote for a  five per cent tax for railroad construction from Chariton to Russell on to Wabash and Appanoose counties, was taken and it was defeated.  At one time there was a Post Office in town and it even had a broom factory in 1881.  Zero Coal Company had the town platted in 1883.  In 1882 Cook Bros. started laying out the lots in Zero.  By the time they finished there were 61 lots, five streets and three alleys drawn into the town.  By 1887, 20 more lots were officially added.  This small mining town once had a population between 500 and 600 hard working people.  In October of 1883 the Odd Fellows of LaGrange moved their hall to Zero.

Below is the one and only picture of the mine and its workers  -  Labeled - 1886

 This information was obtained from Chariton newspapers and Russell Union.

Some of the residents of Zero from 1882  - 1884

                                                   Mr. Allen                      James Hollenrake
                                                   David Barton                Jacob Gardner
                                                   Mart Barton                  Aquilla Kern
                                                   Mr. Cavett                    Jacob Lemley
                                                   Columbus Chambers     Peter Lemley
                                                   Mr. Comstock               S.G. Lewis
                                                   Wm. Conner                 E. Long           
                                                   Cook Bros.                   Mr. Lutes
                                                   G.R. Dawson                S.G. Morgan
                                                   Jack Dawson                D.W. Powell
                                                   Pat Ford                      R.H. Tabor
                                                   Henry Fuller                Frank Tinker
                                                   Peter Gardner              Thomas Walker
                                                   Mr. Gurwell                 Joel Whittlesey

Earl Blue, Oral Interview

Earl attended Pleasant Mound Country School, where he completed grades one through eight.  When asked if he remembered any of his time at this school, Earl said, “I used to listen to the older children read their stories from their readers, when I should have been studying.”  Earl said he never did anything “ornery”, but the other kids did.  Charles Werts got up in the attic once and stayed up there while school was going on.  Once, after  the door was shut, the teacher rang the bell, and the kids wired the door shut with the teacher inside.  The teacher opened the window and started calling names for them to come open the door.  They all just said to each other, “Don’t you move, don’t you move”.  After grade school, he attended Russell High School for a while.  He got sick with measles and yellow jaundice and went to York to recuperate for about three months.  He stayed with Uncle Bert and Aunt Ethel and worked on their farm.  After he felt better he went back to high school in York.  He came back home after a few years, when his health improved.  Then the family went on a trip to the Western states and this was the first time he saw the Rocky Mountains in Colorado.  They had an old Dodge and traveled across terrible roads and barely made it.  When they came back home they left Earl in Lincoln, Nebraska so he could attend Lincoln Business College.

Earl’s parents were George Siglar and Avis June (Callahan) Blue.  George Blue was born December 25, 1867 and died December 28, 1946.  Avis Callahan was born near Oakley, Iowa on March 29, 1876 and died March 18, 1936.  They were married in October 1899.  They are both buried in the Russell Cemetery.  They had two sons, Earl and Warren.

When he finished Business College, he got a job with the C. J. Mosier Typewriter Company.  Not only did he do bookkeeping for this company, he also worked in the shop on the typewriters.  Ron asked him which he enjoyed the most and Earl said he like working on mechanical things better than bookkeeping.  While laughing, Ron asked his dad, “You mean to tell me, you don’t enjoy working on Income Tax returns?”  Earl said, “I sure don’t!”

Earl met his wife, Wretha Teater, way back when he was going to Pleasant Mound Country school when Grandma Teater was teaching at the school.  Wretha’s parents, Winona Mackey, born April 24, 1883, and Walter Teater, born February 14, 1879, were married on July 8, 1903.  Their only child, Wretha, was born on August 26, 1904 and passed away on April 18, 1986. 

Earl didn’t pay too much attention to Wretha in elementary school, but when they got to high school he started dating her.  There was a party at Wretha’s uncle’s house in Chariton, IA and that is where Earl’s interest in her started.  They saw each other off and on while she finished high school.  When she went on to teacher’s college in Cedar Falls, IA and he went to Lincoln, NE, they corresponded.  Earl couldn’t remember when he asker her to marry him, but he did give her a ring and asked her dad for permission to marry his daughter.  Wretha’s father just had one worry and that was, would Earl be taking her away from Russell and that is just what happened.  While they were corresponding, Wretha misunderstood one of the letters and sent the engagement ring back to Earl.  It seems he wanted to wait a while longer to get married and she wasn’t willing to wait.  He immediately wrote her back and told her he was serious and pleaded with her to take the ring back and marry him.  They got married in Russell at the Teater’s Valley View Farm on June 10, 1928.  They had decorated up the parlor and Rev. Archie Beals married them.  It was a double ring ceremony and it was the first one Rev. Beals had performed. 

After the marriage, Earl transferred to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to work in the shop for the Royal Typewriter Company.  He started with them as an assistant shop foreman, but soon after became the shop foreman. hospital. 

After eight years with Royal and during the depression, Earl told them he was quitting his job.  Earl rented a low rent building in the business district and opened his own typewriter sales and repair business in Milwaukee, called Blue Typewriters.  Repair and service contracts were his specialty.  A. O. Smith was one of the companies he provided service to.  They produced large grain elevators for farmers throughout the Midwest.  Harvester was another company he serviced.  So he had some large contracts.  This business grew to be a successful achievement.

Wretha taught school at Chariton, Russell, Corydon, Shell Rock, IA and Business College and Girl’s Provocation in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

After Earl sold the business and joined his family in Iowa, they moved to Russell and moved into the Blue family home.  Earl bought Warrens half interest in the house by giving him part of the farmland in exchange.  

Earl sold typewriters and adding machines in southern Iowa and Missouri.  He also repaired and serviced them.  He also did some cash register work.  He had the Underwood Typewriter, Victor, and Smith-Corona dealerships and so business was good again.  He had more sales than he did in Milwaukee.  Earl did this business all of his adult life.  Even at ninety years old, when this video was made, Earl was repairing typewriters. 

Earl and Wretha decided to spend the winter of 1983 in Florida.  Shortly after that visit, Wretha discovered she had cancer of the stomach.  She passed away in 1986.  Earl faced a period of adjustment and grieving that no one could identify with.    Earl died in 2002 and is buried in the Russell Cemetery.

Years and Years Ago