Temperance Society was set up in 1871. By 1877 there was a football club. Coal mining An initial report on coal in the nearby area at Coal Point was carried out by J G Lewis in 1859. This was followed by Dr Hector's survey of the coal fields from 1862–1864 and his report was published in June 1864. In it he identified the area around Kaitangata as being suitable of coal extraction. William Aitchinson had already begun extracting coal near Kaitangata in 1862. In 1871 he leased his mine to John Thompson of Balclutha. He installed a wooden tramway from the mine to the Matau River. Underground Coal mining was the mainstay of the town's economy from the 1870s until 1972, when the last state-owned underground coal mine closed. In addition to the earlier mentioned Thompson mine, MacFarlane and Martin opened a new mine in March 1872, with Dunedin merchants Messrs Findlay and Chapstick being added as additional owners a month later. Their mine was referred to as the No 1 Coal Company mine. In September Thompson and Aitchenson reached agreement to raise capital to expand their mining operation by way of a new company, the Kaitangata Coal Mining Company. The Company made a rail link to the South Island Main Trunk at Stirling in 1875. In September 1873 ownership of the No 1 Coal Company Mine passed to a Mr McLaren. Later the same year Messrs Findlay and Watson opened their mine. The underground mines produced sub-bituminous coal of a high quality, which was used primarily as fuel for the steam locomotives, in use in NZ until the 1960s. When the railways switched to diesel locomotives the decline of underground mining occurred. Industrial action In 1873 miners at the Kaitangata Coal Mining Company struck for higher wages. Their claims were unsuccessful and work resumed after about a month. Mining accidents In either late 1873 or early 1874 the No 1 Company's mine caught fire. By July 1874 the fire had broken out of the mine and attempts to put out the fire were unsuccessful. One of New Zealand's early industrial disasters occurred at the Kaitangata mine at 8am on 21 February 1879, when the lives of 34 miners were lost in an underground explosion. On the day of the explosion 47 men were employed at the mine. The cause of the explosion is believed to have been a methane