Regional Coal History Question?

A friend asked if I had a list of all past and present coal mines in/around the upper wyoming valley (pittston and north). She is most intrested in the past when coal was king. I told her I knew just where to post such a question. Don't let me down guys. If this topic has already been posted, just point me in the right direction.
edit: sorry posted in wrong area, please move to history section
Frank

I don't know if there is a "list" available anywhere as there were hundreds if not thousands of them. The breakers alone at the turn of the century numbered in the hundreds.

Nottingham Breaker Under Construction 1904? Plymouth, Pa. Not positive on the date and I have to look it up.


Edit actually i have quite a large collection of scans from 8X10's of breakers.

here's a link

http://www.coalcampusa.com/westpa/index.html

Frank--
Try this link, and click on Go to Contents Page link:
http://www.nehgis.org/

A wealth of information including production stats, pictures, etc.

Also, try this link (in German, but place names are in English):
http://www.der-foerderturm.de/penna/coa ... alerie.htm

Ashcat, that site is exactly what I was looking for, names, pictures, dates and tonnage, nice find.
thanks, frank

Glad you found it helpful.

What's the interest here PelletstoCoal ? The images I have are very hard to come by and I'd be willing to share if they were for a educational product or something of that sort. I have a bout 40 of them like the ones above, ir there is specific breakers she is looking for I might have it. I'll be posting them in the KB when I get the chance, AFAIK the copyrights are no longer relevant because of the age. Most are about 100 years old.

Just for personal intrests on her part. She just got the internet and i think she was surfing for info regarding coal mine, mining history. She grew up with a mine in her backyard and her father, grandfather etc..worked for the mines in some way or another and now that history is vanishing with development.

If you do post the old pictures somewhere, let me know, i would take a look at yesteryear.

thanks

frank

You might want to check out http://undergroundminers.com if you have not already. Chris Murley who runs that site and "mike" are both members here, I'm surprised they haven't chimed in.

I had heard in recent years that the anthracite deposits in the US were nearly depleated. Reading the Blaschak website, it states that the anthracite coal supplies now come from abandoned and destroyed mines. From some of the threads on this site (which, by the way, is really amazing for someone who's never been around the coal industry), it is said there are only very few PA counties which have the anthracite deposits. So, is it true that most deposits/mines have been mined out?

Also, what is a tipple (sp?)?

And what type coal did they use to fuel steam engines? Whatever was most available?

The only coal I've ever been around is bituminous and that is why, I'm thinking, that no one burns coal around here, anymore. In fact, you can't even find a coal dealer anywhere close, even though coal was mined as close as 60 miles. I tried to find some for an Otter River Grand wood cookstove, but no luck.

Hope that these aren't too many questions for one post.

slu wrote:I had heard in recent years that the anthracite deposits in the US were nearly depleated.So, is it true that most deposits/mines have been mined out?

Also, what is a tipple (sp?)?

And what type coal did they use to fuel steam engines? Whatever was most available?

A lot of mines and breakers are disappearing, but the anthracite coal supply is still there. Estimates range from 200-800 years worth at the current rate of consumption, so it will be around long after oil and gas are gone.

A tipple is the thing that loads rail cars with coal.

Mostly bituminous, but obviously if anthracite would be easier to get it would be used.

coaledsweat wrote:

slu wrote:I had heard in recent years that the anthracite deposits in the US were nearly depleated.So, is it true that most deposits/mines have been mined out?

Also, what is a tipple (sp?)?

And what type coal did they use to fuel steam engines? Whatever was most available?

A lot of mines and breakers are disappearing, but the anthracite coal supply is still there. Estimates range from 200-800 years worth at the current rate of consumption, so it will be around long after oil and gas are gone.

A tipple is the thing that loads rail cars with coal.

Mostly bituminous, but obviously if anthracite would be easier to get it would be used.

Thank you for the answers.

Slu the estimate I read on PA DEP's site puts reserves at something like 17 Billion tons of anthracite in the ground and of that 6 billion is recoverable. at current recovery rates it will last like millenniums. Assuming the estimate is correct and also assuming 5 tons per coal for your average 2000 sq. ft. home that can heat 48 million homes for 25 years... unless I missed a zero somewhere.

Plenty there they only need the demand which there is and someone to go in get it then process it. Two issues the anthracite industry faces is not enough raw product occasionally but more importantly even if there was an abundance of raw product there are not enough facilities to process it.

a tipple is where the mine cars or gunboat would be hoisted up out of the mine and dumped into rr cars, trucks, or in our case on the ground. we then load it with a front end loader into triaxle trucks. theres still about a dozen active underground anthracite mines in pa however the bulk of anthracite comes from the strippins. heres a pic of our mine where 6 of us are mining 3 veins of anthracite, the 7 foot, the skidmore and the mammoth bottom split.