CASSELMAN FIELD

The Casselman Coal Field may be the most obscure and insignificant coalfield that I have ever visited. Evidently the Upper Freeport seam outcrops along the Casselman River. The Upper Kittanning and Lower Bakerstown seams are also present. There has been mining of coal on both sides of the river since at least the 1940s, but there were probably "country bank" mines earlier than that. I don't believe that there has been any mining in the Casselman Field in a long time, and the locals look at one like he or she is crazy when one inquires about the coal mining heritage of central Garrett County. I am not aware of any coal company towns in the Casselman Field. There was one named Niverton in Pennsylvania just a few miles north of Grantsville, which is the largest town in the coalfield. Another historic town, Jennings, was built by a timber company. The coalfield's railway, the Castleman (sic) River Railroad, was abandoned in the late 1950s and has been removed.

One can look out across the Casselman Valley from almost any point and not see any evidence of past coal mining.

At the southern edge of the field the remains of a "country bank" coal mine has been restored. This was the Brant Mine, a small family operation started by Delphia Brant in the early 1920s. A few years of mining in the 24-inch seam of coal caused Mr. Brant's death from silicosis. After his death in 1926 the mine probably was abandoned.

Although this car dump is more than likely recreated, it is possible that the staff of Deep creek State Park used some of the original hardware. The rails that have been arranged between the mine and the tipping dump are probably original as well. During the mine's operation the underground coal car probably dumped the coal through a chute into a wagon or truck to be taken down the dirt road to a shipping point. The coal could have been sold to nearby customers as house coal.

On a more authentic note here is the remains of an underground coal car that is probably still sitting just where Delphia Brant left it when he quit working his mine.