Textile mills and coal mines remained the biggest employers of the local population until the first half of the 20th century. In the 1950s the most recent colliery (map) to be worked, on the south bank of the River Devon, set new productivity records due to a high level of mechanisation. Its impressive adit entrance, now safely bricked up, can still be seen. In 1851, due to the importance of Tillicoultry as an industrial centre, it became the first Hillfoots village to have a rail connection.