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Pennsylvania Hard Coal Region One Place Study

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Location: Northeastern Pennsylvaniamap
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Pennsylvania Coal Region
This profile is part of the Pennsylvania Coal Region One Place Study.

Contents

How to Join

Please contact the project leader Butch Smith or post a comment to the right. If you have any questions, just ask. Thanks!

Goals

This is a One Place Study to collect together in one place everything about the Pennsylvania Hard Coal Region. The hope is that other researchers like you will join the study to help make it a valuable reference point for people studying people that lived there and their contributions in history.


Coal deposits are scattered around the globe, but the coal from a 500 square mile region of northeastern Pennsylvania is special. During the Paleozoic era, 300 million years ago, what is now rugged and mountainous terrain was a steamy plain filled with swamps. Tropical plants grew and died here, and as decaying matter, sank to the bottom of these swamps to form a dense organic substance known as peat. Over millions of years, shifts in the earth's plates and other landscape changes compressed prehistoric peat deposits into mineral layers known as coal.

In northeastern Pennsylvania, however, the ordinary process of coal formation was accelerated by a violent upheaval known as the Appalachian Revolution. In this "revolution," rising mountains literally folded over, splitting open and thrusting up rock and peat formations from deep inside the earth. The extra pressure from this process yielded coal that was more pure, harder, and of higher carbon content than other types of coal. This coal is anthracite and over 95 percent of the Western Hemisphere's supply comes from this special region in northeastern Pennsylvania.

The Anthracite Coal Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania encompasses six counties in Pennsylvania: Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, and Schuylkill (a small portion of Dauphin County also contained coal). We call this the Hard Coal Region.[1]

Overview

  • There were at one time literally hundreds of small coal towns and patches, as some were called, that dotted the Pennsylvania coal region, some are gone, some are just a small cluster of houses and some have grown into towns and cities. A lot of them were owned by the people that owned the coal companies, most had a mine, breaker and common destinations like the church, company store, a place for the miners to kick back for a few hours in the evening and a lot of them have cemeteries even if the churches are gone. I'm not planning on listing everyone but some of the bigger, more popular towns will get their own page and linked here, feel free to start pages for where your ancestors lived and link it here too.
  • The markets for the eastern end of the southern coal region and the middle region was Philadelphia,the western end sent coal to Pottsville then south to Reading, Lancaster and Philadelphia,the northern fields shipped coal down the Susquehanna to Harrisburg and Baltimore,at least until the railroads made shipping possible to a lot more of the country.

Coal Region, Wikipedia

Interesting coal region reading

Region Counties

Seleted Region Towns

Organizations Active in Region

Region Cemeteries

From the WikiTree Cemeteries Project, here are the Region's Cemetery listings:

Coal Mining Disasters

[State Archives coal mining disasters]

In the United States, a mining disaster is defined where 5 or more deaths occur in a single incident. See United States Mining Disasters and Pennsylvania Mining Disasters.

There were 189 coal mining disasters in the State of Pennsylvania and of these, 114, or 61%, occurred in the Anthracite Pennsylvania Coal Region in the counties of Carbon, Columbia, Dauphin, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Northumberland, and Schuylkill.

For a full list of the Pennsylvania Coal Mining Disasters, please see Worst|Mining Disasters in Pennsylvania. The list may be sorted by county.

The following contains all coal mining disasters in the Pennsylvania Coal Mine Region by county:

Pennsylvania Coal Region Mining Disasters
Date   Mine   City, ST   County   No. Killed   Disaster Cause   Year   
6-May-1879AudenriedAudenried, PACarbon6  Explosion1879
16-Sep-1914Lehigh No. 5Lansford, PACarbon17  Explosion1914
12-Jan-1846Delaware-HudsonCarbondale, PALackawanna14  Roof Fall1846
3-Nov-1922Eddy CreekOlyphant, PALackawanna6  Explosion1922
30-Aug-1886Fair LawnScranton, PALackawanna6  Explosion1886
2-Mar-1907HoldenTaylor, PALackawanna7  Explosion1907
28-Sep-1897Jermyn No. 1Rendham, PALackawanna5  Fire1897
18-Jun-1907Johnson No. 1Priceburg, PALackawanna5  Explosion1907
8-Dec-1923Mt. Jessup No. 1Jessup, PALackawanna5  Roof Fall1923
7-Apr-1911Price-PancoastThroop, PALackawanna73  Fire1911
9-Dec-1914TrippScranton, PALackawanna13  Hoisting Accident1914
30-Oct-1897Von StorchScranton, PALackawanna6  Fire1897
2-Nov-1904Auchincloss 1904Nanticoke, PALuzerne10  Hoisting Accident1904
6-Sep-1869AvondalePlymouth, PALuzerne110  Fire1869
25-May-1928Baltimore No. 5Wilkes-Barre, PALuzerne10  Explosion1928
5-Jun-1919Baltimore Tunnel No. 2Wilkes-Barre, PALuzerne92  Explosives1919
10-May-1911BostonLarksville, PALuzerne5  Asphyxiation1911
2-Jun-1938Butler SlopePittston, PALuzerne10  Explosion1938
30-Oct-1926Colliery No. 7Nanticoke, PALuzerne9  Explosion1926
26-Nov-1886ConynghamWilkes-Barre, PALuzerne12  Explosion1886
3-Aug-1925DorranceWilkes-Barre, PALuzerne10  Explosion1925
3-Oct-1911Drifton No. 2Freeland, PALuzerne5  Accident1911
14-Aug-1871Eagle ShaftPittston, PALuzerne17  Explosion1871
5-Nov-1898ExeterWest Pittston, PALuzerne9  Falling Object1898
11-Dec-1947Franklin No. 2Wilkes-Barre, PALuzerne8  Explosion1947
13-Feb-1894GaylordPlymouth, PALuzerne13  Roof Fall1894
9-Mar-1916HollenbackWilkes-Barre, PALuzerne6  Explosion1916
15-May-1890Jersey No. 8Ashley, PALuzerne26  Explosion1890
8-Feb-1916Lance No. 11Plymouth, PALuzerne7  Explosion1916
6-Jun-1924LoomisWilkes-Barre, PALuzerne14  Explosion1924
1-Oct-1898MidvaleWilkes-Barre, PALuzerne5  Fire1898
12-May-1908Mount LookoutWyoming, PALuzerne12  Explosion1908
18-Dec-1885Nanticoke No. 1Nanticoke, PALuzerne26  Inundation1885
5-Mar-1880Nanticoke No. 3Nanticoke, PALuzerne6  Explosion1880
11-Jan-1910Nottingham 1947Plymouth, PALuzerne7  Explosion1910
15-Jan-1947OakmontPlymouth, PALuzerne15  Explosion1947
9-Jan-1912Patterson No. 2Plymouth, PALuzerne6  Explosion1912
3-Jul-1926Pettebone No. 6Kingston, PALuzerne7  Roof Fall1926
21-Oct-1885Plymouth No. 2Plymouth, PALuzerne6  Explosion1885
17-Feb-1915Prospect 1915Wilkes-Barre, PALuzerne13  Explosion1915
10-Apr-1947SchooleyWyoming, PALuzerne10  Explosion1947
4-Feb-1891Spring Mountain No. 1Jeanesville, PALuzerne13  Inundation1891
6-Aug-1906Susquehanna No. 7Nanticoke, PALuzerne6  Explosion1906
2-Apr-1890Susquehanna No. 8Nanticoke, PALuzerne5  Explosion1890
28-Jun-1896TwinPittston, PALuzerne58  Roof Fall1896
28-Aug-1908Warrior RunWilkes-Barre, PALuzerne6  Mine Cars Accident1908
11-Aug-1885West EndMocanaqua, PALuzerne10  Asphyxiation1885
27-May-1871West PittstonWest Pittston, PALuzerne20  Asphyxiation1871
8-Aug-1916WoodwardEdwardsville, PALuzerne6  Explosion1916
21-Aug-1884Greenback_Buckridge_Mine_DisasterShamokin, PANorthumberland8  Fire1884
10-Jun-1873Henry ClayShamokin, PANorthumberland10  Explosion1873
9-Aug-1928Hillside No. 1South Riverside, PANorthumberland5  Explosion1928
1-Apr-1893NeilsonShamokin, PANorthumberland10  Fire1893
29-May-1931Richards CollieryMount Carmel, PANorthumberland5  Explosion1931
3-May-1880Short MountainShamokin, PANorthumberland5  Explosion1880
1-Oct-1887BastBig Mine Run, PASchuylkill5  Asphyxiation1887
9-Nov-1900Buck MountainMahanoy City, PASchuylkill7  Explosion1900
6-Apr-1885CuylerRaven Run, PASchuylkill10  Roof Fall1885
2-Aug-1913East BrooksideTower City, PASchuylkill20  Explosion1913
21-Jan-1935GilbertonGilberton, PASchuylkill13  Explosion1935
10-Aug-1870Heins and GlassmireMiddleport, PASchuylkill9  Hoisting Accident1870
27-Mar-1952Holmes SlopeMinersville, PASchuylkill5  Inundation1952
9-May-1889Kaska WilliamMiddleport, PASchuylkill10  Hoisting Accident1889
24-May-1882KohinoorShenandoah, PASchuylkill5  Explosion1882
20-Apr-1892LytleMinersville, PASchuylkill10  Inundation1892
2-Oct-1871Parrish No. 9Branch Dale, PASchuylkill5  Explosion1871
1-Mar-1977Porter TunnelTower City, PASchuylkill9  Inundation1977
29-Aug-1870Preston No. 3Girardville, PASchuylkill7  Hoisting Accident1870
6-May-1926Randolph CollieryPort Carbon, PASchuylkill5  Explosion1926
23-Oct-1891RichardsonGlen Carbon, PASchuylkill7  Asphyxiation1891
19-Feb-1847SpencerPottsville, PASchuylkill7  Explosion1847
27-Apr-1938St. Clair No. 1 SlopePottsville, PASchuylkill8  Explosion1938
23-Jul-1892York FarmPottsville, PASchuylkill15  Explosion1892

Sources

  1. ↑ Anthracite Coal Mining Region of Northeastern Pennsylvania




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Comments: 11

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Schindler-204 Mike Schindler
Hello, I just found this page, and pretty much many of the related topics on WT amazingly after so many years working on my Anthracite Coal mining family from Lycans/Wiconisco/Williamstown area. I will look for a link to add my name as member of this page, or at least send information I have found like the Coal mine fires in the Short Mountain Coalery--or the 1877 Lykens Coal Mine Fire.

Short Mountain Fire, Jan. 1877 https://www.newspapers.com/article/harrisburg-daily-independent-short-mount/91622267/

There is no end to stories of PA coal miners/mining similar to what they used to say about the 8 million stories about NYC--if you are old enough to remember those from the early days of TV shows.

For starters I will follow mining disasters. I was thinking of creating a page for the 1877 fire alone. My GG grandfather was actually promoted to "fire boss" at the short mountain coal mine. I think it was a new position created after that big fire to try to ensure it would not happen again.

posted by Mike Schindler
Craig-4574 Sandy (Craig) Patak
Hi Mike -

A great way to get involved with this OPS is to add the sticker (or category) to profiles.

Also, the Great Fire of 1877 would be something I would discuss with the Disasters Project, specifically, the Fire Disasters Team and/or the Industrial Disasters Team.

All of the mine disasters listed in the above table point to the Disasters Project as they are not a OPS.

Sandy

posted by Sandy (Craig) Patak
edited by Sandy (Craig) Patak
Smith-121775 Butch Smith
The Lykens Valley is an area that I don't know a whole lot about,I've traveled through there,know there's coal in the area and I've heard a few stories from the area. I don't know how much information you would have but I can imagine there are quite a few people that could be added,it might be a good idea to start a separate page for the area then link it to the OPS page like I did with the other patch towns.
posted by Butch Smith
edited by Butch Smith
Schindler-204 Mike Schindler
Thanks Butch, I was thinking about just making a seperate page. Maybe I can group the Lyens Wiconisco and Williamstown mines of Dauphin county together. My relatives worked in most of those mines. And It's time for me to head to the state archives a couple of miles away where I can easily get copies of mining records.
posted by Mike Schindler
Smith-121775 Butch Smith
I think that would work good,then just add the page to the list of towns on this page.I'm not real familiar with how many mines were in the area,I did look earlier and it looks like Lykens itself has around 2000 people. I would imagine they moved the coal to the river and then down the river on barges like the upriver mines did. I had seen a page for the area on the internet too that had a lot of info and newspaper clippings from the area,the Penn St library has a lot of mine records that you can access online. Before long I'm figuring in starting another page or two for some mines upriver that I recently found some info for too. Let me know if you need anything and good luck.
posted by Butch Smith
Laura Bodenschatz
Hi - This one place study was very interesting to see! I’m wondering if the title in the index can be modified to say “hard coal” the way this actual page does. I ask because many of my ancestors are from the soft (bituminous) coal region of Pennsylvania and I’d love one day to work with others to create a parallel one place study for that region.
posted by Laura Bodenschatz
Smith-121775 Butch Smith
I think it can,I might have to get some assistance with it but I will look into it.
posted by Butch Smith
[Living Moore]
Azure,

The one place study is added as manager. Can we archive these messages so the page is cleaner? Thank you, Sheryl

posted by [Living Moore]
edited by [Living Moore]
Robinson-27225 Azure Robinson
Ok, I think this is the last One Place Study that I'll bother you about! This one needs the project as co-manager as well.

Thanks! az

posted by Azure Robinson
Smith-121775 Butch Smith
Just a suggestion but if the name of this one needs to be changed it would be more accurately named the Pa Hard Coal Region to distinguish the difference between this and the soft coal Region of southwestern Pa.
posted by Butch Smith
Robinson-27225 Azure Robinson
I think it will be ok, the sticker works. Thanks, Butch!
posted by Azure Robinson

Categories: Pennsylvania Coal Region One Place Study | Community, Place Studies | One Place Studies | Pennsylvania, Place Studies