Date: Thu, 20 Nov 1997 19:12:53 GMT Server: NCSA/1.5.2 Last-modified: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 22:16:22 GMT Content-type: text/html Content-length: 9084 Zeigler's History

Today, the Zeigler family of companies rank as the nation's largest independent coal producers - and the sixth largest overall.

Zeigler's coal producing subsidiaries have annual sales of approximately $750 million. We have recoverable coal reserves of about 2.9 billion tons. And we have an annual production of 35 million tons.

Far more important than size, though, is the quality of our people, who possess the capabilities and commitment needed to manage and operate some of the finest operations in the United States. Through the finest skill and the strongest will, they provide the perfect blend of time-honored dedication and state-of-the-art techniques.

The tradition of success that Zeigler can today reflect upon, however, was only a dream at the turn of the century. Ninety years ago, when most people viewed the coal industry as fragmented, disorganized and unprofitable, Joseph Leiter saw coal as a diamond in the rough.

When most believed the only good coal was Eastern coal, Joseph Leiter declared that someday Illinois coal would supply Chicago and the nation.

And when most laughed at Joseph Leiter for leaving Chicago for a rural coal field in Franklin County, he quietly constructed Zeigler No. 1 Mine - and had the last laugh. By 1908, Zeigler No. 1 Mine was the third-largest producing mine in the nation, and within 20 years Zeigler Coal was common in 14 Mississippi Valley states, from Texas to Minnesota.

Zeigler had surprised the industry ... and could point to a future bright with promise.

In 1910, the Bell and Zoller Company took charge of Zeigler operations under a royalty arrangement. The Zeigler Coal and Coke Company was incorporated in 1924, and grew through expansion and acquisition, purchasing the Hart Ross Coal Company and the Cardinal Coal Company in 1948 and acquiring four Illinois mines from Consolidated Coal Company in 1950. Also in 1950, Zeigler Coal and Coke Company acquired the Bell and Zoller Coal Company.

In 1971, Zeigler merged Bell and Zoller and Moffat Coal Company into the parent corporation, whose name was restored to Zeigler Coal Company.

Zeigler's recent past offers a striking echo to its early days. In 1983, Zeigler Coal Holding Company was formed to acquire coal businesses. It made Zeigler Coal Company its first purchase in 1985, when current Chairman Mike Reilly and President and Chief Executive Officer Chand B. Vyas led a group of managers and investors in a leveraged buyout of the Chicago-based company from its parent, and moved headquarters south to Fairview Heights, Ill.

Today, Zeigler's subsidiaries continue the dream to be safe, fast-growing, and low-cost coal producers.

And we keep surprising the industry.

In 1990, Zeigler Coal Holding Company quadrupled its subsidiaries' production and sales with the acquisition of Old Ben Coal Company from BP America, then the 20th-largest producer of coal in the United States. In 1992, Zeigler Coal Company was merged into Old Ben.
Old Ben's operations date back to the mid-1870s when banker Milford Buchanan bought Wilmington Star Coal Company in Franklin County, Ill.

Old Ben later mined in West Virginia through the Raleigh-Wyoming Coal Company, which operated through the mid-1950s. Old Ben began operations in Indiana in 1965 when it purchased Enos Coal Mining Company. In 1968, Old Ben was acquired by Standard Oil Company of Ohio, and Standard was subsequently purchased by BP America in 1987.

Zeigler reaffirmed its commitment to U.S. coal in November 1992, completing its purchase of Shell Mining Company.

Shell Oil Company, like many other major oil companies, began acquiring coal reserves in the 1960s to gain access to alternate fuel resources.

In 1977, Shell Oil Company acquired the R & F Coal Company in Cadiz, Ohio. In 1981, Shell Oil began its first grass-roots operation - the Buckskin Mine - as part of Triton Coal Company in Gillette, Wyo. Shell opened its first underground mine, the Elkhart Mine of Turris Coal Company near Springfield, Ill., in 1982.

Shell Oil Company formed Shell Mining Company in 1984 to manage its rapidly growing coal businesses. In 1986, Shell Oil received a 50 percent interest in A.T. Massey Coal Company, which subsequently became a 100 percent interest in three major coal producing complexes in Central Appalachia, along with significant long-term contracts and two coal exporting terminals on the East Coast.

From its beginnings in Franklin County, Ill., Zeigler has grown to be a leader in the coal industry. It stands today as the largest independent family of companies devoted to coal and an emerging player in Technology and power.

We don't think Joseph would be surprised. Just mighty proud.


1890s
Levi Zeigler Leiter acquires land in Franklin County, Ill.

1896
Bell and Zoller Coal Company founded.

1904
Zeigler Coal Company Incorporated. Zeigler No. 1 opens.

1910
Bell and Zoller begins management of Zeigler No. 1.

1917
The Wilmington Star Coal Company, founded in the 1870s,
changes its name to Old Ben Coal Company.

1918
Zeigler No. 2 opens.

1935
New prep plant begins servicing Zeigler Nos. 1 and 2.

1946
Murdock Mine opens.

1948
Zeigler Coal and Coke purchases properties of Hart Ross Coal
Company and Cardinal Coal Company. Zeigler No. 3 opens.

1950
Zeigler acquires Bell and Zoller, and four mines from Consolidated
Coal Company of St. Louis. Production: 2.6 million tons.

1956
Zeigler purchases Bradbury Mine; renames it Spartan Mine.

1970
Production: 4.0 million tons.

1971
Zeigler Coal and Coke, Bell and Zoller and Moffat Coal
Company merge to form Zeigler Coal Company.

1973
Houston Natural Gas Corporation acquires Zeigler.

1977
Shell enters the coal business with the acquisition of R & F Coal Company in Cadiz, Ohio.

1983
Zeigler Coal Holding Company is created to acquire coal businesses.

1985
Zeigler Coal Holding Company purchases Zeigler
Coal Company from Houston Natural Gas.

1990
Zeigler purchases Old Ben Coal Company from
BP America. Production: 16.6 million tons.

1992
Zeigler Coal Company merges into Old Ben Coal Company.
Zeigler Coal Holding Company purchases
Shell Mining Company from Shell Oil Company.
Production: 41.0 million tons.

1994
Zeigler has initial public offering on New York Stock Exchange.

1996
Encoal Corporation begins permitting for a potential full-scale Liquids From Coal Plant in the Powder River Basin.

Zeigler initiates joint bid to purchase the non-nuclear assets of Cajun Electric Power Cooperative out of bankruptcy.

Zeigler launches EnerZ Corporation to take advantage of emerging opportunities growing out of electric utility deregulation.

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