Coal Mines Website Help

General navigation
Zoom in/out - use mouse wheel or the +/- buttons in the upper left corner Zoom in - click and hold mouse button + shift key and drag box Pan - click and hold mouse button and drag map or use the arrow keys on keyboard
(Default tool) Get information about a mine
	Identify a mine Click a mine to open the Mine Site and Map Information window. Highlight mine/Clear highlight Add/remove colored highlight to the identified mine site Zoom to mine Zoom map view to the identified mine View map/Remove map Add or remove a copy of the original map for the identified mine site. Note that a Remove filter link is added to the Mine Maps item in the Map layers tab.
Selecting a backgound map
	Use the Basemaps button in the upper right to choose a base map. Choices include recent aerial imagery, aerial imagery from the 1930's and 1950's, road maps, and shaded relief.
Adjust opacity
	Change the opacity of the mine map data layer with the slider at the bottom of the page to allow more/less of the underlying base map to be visible.
Measure tool
	Click the measure tool to open a small dialog box with tools to measure an area, distance, or get point coordinates. Units may be selected using the drop-down arrow. For area, click a series of points around the area to be measured and double-click to finish. For distance, click end points or a series of point for the distance to be measured and double-click to end. For coordinates, click the point for which coordinates are desired. Close the dialog when completed with the X button.
Email link tool
	Click to open a new email message with a link the current map view.

Layers tab

Use checkboxes to add/remove layers from the map view. Available layers change with map scale.

Locate... tab

Address Search by an address. Enter a street address following the pattern shown in the dialog box. Less specific addresses may be used as well, such as a town (e.g. Beacon, IA). A point of interest (e.g. Zombie Burger, Des Moines, IA) will often work as well. Use care to enter to correct city. Click the button or press enter to search. A red pin will be placed at the best location. Tier, Range, Section Search for a tier, range, and optionally a section. Enter the tier, range, [section] following the pattern shown in the dialog box. Click the button or press enter. Name Enter a name to search the mine site, mine name, map name, and owner/superintendent data. If the search term is less than four characters long OR more than 100 results are returned, you will be prompted for a more specific search. If the number results are returned is between 50 and 99, you will be asked if you wish to continue. See the section on name search results for more information. Political Township Locate a political township by selecting a county, then a township from the list to change the map view to the selected location. Save locations Creates bookmarks for locations. Uses local storage if the computer and browser allow it, otherwise a cookie will be created. Use the delete and edit buttons beside the bookmarks to remove or rename a bookmark. Use the Remove bookmarks button to delete all bookmarks. Local storage items are permanent until deleted by the user, cookies expire after 14 days.

Name search results

• The number of records returned by the name search and the search term are shown at the top of the dialog box.
• The search term will be shown in each matching entry in the Site Name, Mine Name, Map Name, or Owner boxes in bold text. Further explanation of these terms and others in the table is provided here.
• For entries with Site Id's, the mine can be located and viewed on the map by clicking the Site Id.

To learn more...

Iowa Coal: Fuel for a New State's Growth
Abandoned underground coal mines of Des Moines, Iowa and vicinity
Underground coal mines of Centerville, Iowa and vicinity
Underground mines and related subsidence potential, What Cheer, IA