The Jeffersonian, Thursday, 14 Oct 1909 Pg. 5 C. 2

Mining Villages Have Odd Names

There is always considerable speculation how mining towns get their names.  Many mining villages, consisting of a general store and a few company houses, with perhaps a school and one church, possess names indicating much larger and more important towns, and many also boast of two or more names, which frequently cause confusion.

There are many mining towns in the Guernsey Valley bearing Peculiar or high sounding names. When one hears of Little Trail Run, he is apt to wonder where Big Trail Run is, or when the Klondyke is mentioned cold shivers chase up and down the spinal cord. Then there is Black Top and Little Kate Mine, about which there is really nothing little as it is quite a big mine, but was named after a girl.  Birds Run is odd, but of course was named after the town.  Forsythe, Kings, Scotts, and a few other were named after the owners.

But the mine which is attracting the most attention because of its odd name in the newest one in the county, located about three miles west of Byesville and owned by the National Coal company. This was first known as Dog Town and when it was opened a small town arose. The name however, did not seem to please the taste of the company and it was changed to Buckeye, but the former name is perhaps heard as frequently as the latter. Lately both names have fallen from use because of the peculiar and popular third name given to the mine and town, which consists of about thirty houses and a general store.

Some time ago Howard Potts an electrician employed there invented an electrical device and not knowing what else to call the article gave it the classic name, “Minnehaha”, after Longfellow’s beautiful poetic creation.  This at first applied to the article he had invented and was using each day but the name seemed to strike a popular cord with the coal miners living in Dog Town and within a short time the mine and town itself were known as Minnehaha.  The name was used for the first time in a newspaper Monday when an item appeared in the Jeffersonian and a number of inquiries were received at the office asking how the mine and town came to be so called..