Miners, their wives, child laborers and patch town store operators all had a part in the history of coal in the Derry area. “There were so many mines in this area,” said Donna Showalter, a Derry Area ...

An excavator clears out trees Thursday on an old mine site near Pella in Marion County. A state program is working to reclaim land that was once used for coal mining. The land will be turned into a ...