Unfortunately, the out of work miners at the recently closed coal mine in nearby Virden won't be doing much celebrating this weekend. The mine closure reminded me that one of the bloodier episodes in Illinois labor history happened in Virden.
I found two articles worth reading online at the NIU Library website.
It was an important episode in the struggle to establish unions in Illinois coal mines and the miners who died there in 1898 are buried in the Miner's cemetery at Mt. Olive along with Mother Jones.