Columnist

There is a place, just north and west of Braidwood, on the county line between Will and Grundy County, that could be termed a “ghost town.” The only remaining clue that it was once there are a few large sandstone boulders. Its name was Shermanville and this is its story.

Just to the south and west, lies a vast expanse of land that was once known as the Wilmington Coal Field. The black diamonds that came up from the ground there made a few people rich, created towns like Diamond, Coal City, and of course Braidwood, and provided jobs for the immigrants that daily arrived in this area looking for a better life.
Ed Conley, editor of the Wilmington Advocate, also had an office in Braidwood, where he printed the Braidwood Journal. As such he became interested in the coal business. The following is an account of his visit to a coal mine in 1873.

When we think of the relationship between man and horse, we think of the old west. But Braidwood men have a history linked to the horse. Horses were used to haul lumber to the mines and coal away from it. Mules, a horse's cousin actually lived in the mines with the men. But there was another relationship - that of horse and rider at full speed around a track. That's the one we will look at today.