Himlerville: Hungarian Cooperative Mining in Kentucky - The Filson ...

518 The Filson Club History Quarterly [October
that jobs would soon become available. Many stockholders re-
mained in Hungary, waiting until the mines were developed to
capacity and houses could be built to accomodate them.Is As of
July 1921 the Himler Coal Company's 5,000 shares of common
stock, priced at one hundred dollars each, were held by miners
in such small allotments that it took 450 holders of the largest
lots to form a fifty-one percent majority. 14 By 1923 the com-
pany's stock had risen to 130 dollars per share. Steve Balazs,
a former resident of Himlerville, recalled that "that was about
the time I bought 20 to 21 [shares], and it was about 130 to
140 dollars a share....-15
Virtually all inhabitants of Himlerville were Hungarians who
had recently emigrated to the United States. The only exceptions
were mine superintendents, foremen, and bank cashiers em-
ployed from time to time. J. D. McLaughlin, C. A. Peoke, L. A.
Bowes, A. L. Toshie, E. M. Brown, John F. Ballough, and J. A.
Schuster served at various times as mine superintendents and
foremen,le These Americans worked for salaries because they
were prohibited by the company's bylaws from owning stock.
Only Hungarian immigrants were allowed to buy stock in the
Himler Coal Company. Every Hungarian miner was required to
file naturalization papers if he had not already done so or if he
was not already an American citizen. Only permanent settlers
were encouraged to come to Himlerville, and t hey were explicitly
told that their lot in life could be improved only through hard
work and perseverance. These immigrants had no delusions of
getting rich quick. A former resident recalls that the Hungarians
in Himlerville were a close-knit group who "try to figure out
what they're going into and if it don't work out.... it stops
13 Kentucky, Department of Mines, Annual Report, 1922, p. 286.
14 Chapman, "Influence of Coal," 233; Bagger, "Himler," 146.
15Steve Balaza* interview, 20 July 1978, by Floyd Parrish for the Kentucky
Oral History Commission. Transcript in possession of the author.
16 Kentucky, Department of Mines, Annual Report, 1926, p. 53; 1922, p. 286;
1923. p. 267; 1921, p. 52; 1920, p. 201; 1925, p. 51.