The Maryland half of this coal field is on the north side of the North Branch of the Potomic River.
Low Volatile coal has been mined here for over a century. There were many company built towns along the river banks several
years ago, but most of these have returned to nature. The coal seams mined include the Upper Kittanning, which averages 4' in the
area, and the 6' Lower Kittanning seam. Large scale mining began around World War I, and attracted a sizeable number of immigrants from
Southern and Eastern Europe.
Coal company-built houses at the mining camp of Shallmar, MD. The town was named by
transposing the last name of the coal company's owner, Marshall. The Shallmar mine opened in 1917. According to a local resident, there were once 90 houses in Shallmar.
The Wolf Den Coal Company store at Shallmar, built in 1921. The man standing in the doorway, George, was a clerk in the store back in the day.
The home of the owner of Wolf Den Coal Company at Shallmar, MD. According to George, Wolf Den Coal Co. closed the Shallmar mine in the early 1950s,
but it was later reopened by B,B,&K Coal Co. in the 1960s. It is now abandoned, and the slate dump was recently reclaimed.
When I first entered the town of Kitzmiller, MD, I saw this restored coal car in front of the post office and I knew I was in a coal mining town.
Actually, Kitzmiller isn't a coal company-built town per se. It was a mill town before the coal boomed. But it is full of coal history. Many of the
local residents of Kitzmiller deny that a coal company built any of the homes in the town, but the owner of one of these homes said that Hamill Coal and Coke built these houses.
These houses in Kitzmiller were probably inhabited by miners of the Hamil Coal and Coke mine, which Kitzmiller citizens reckoned opened around 1900 and
closed around 1960. Here is the official website for Kitzmiller, MD.
Johnstown Coal and Coke Company store in Kitzmiller. That same company operated the Vindex mines and coal camp over the mountain from Kitzmiller.
There is a nifty little Coal Mining Museum in Kitzmiller. Here are a few of the many artifacts they have on display. There are also many books and photographs
for research and reference there, and there collection is growing all the time.
The Kitzmiller Coal Mining Museum also features this model of the Hamill Coal and Coke mine. The aerial tram
carried the coal across the river in buckets. If you would like to visit this museum call and make arrangements with George and Jackie at
(301) 453-3280, or write them at PO Box 428, Kitzmiller, Maryland 21538. Donations are not mandatory but are appreciated.
A modern coal preparation plant in the Potomic Coal Field is the Mettiki Plant, near Kempton, MD.
Coal being loaded in trucks at the Metiki coal processing facility. They are probably taking it to the power plant across the
river in West Virginia.
A few of the coal company-built houses remaining at Kempton, MD. I met a man there named Brad, and he said that there were over 100 houses in the mining camp at one time. He should know, for
he has lived in Kempton off and on since the 1930s. The two homes pictured here were part of a bosses row that excluded foreign-born miners and their families. They lived behind this row, up on
the hill. Brad recalled that the coal company charged two dollars rent per month for the houses. The company painted the houses once every two years, and they painted them different colors. There was a place in the alleys for Kempton residents to leave
their garbage, and the company would pick up the trash and take it to their dump somewhere past the town's boundary. Only the superintendent's house had indoor plumbing, but there was one water hydrant for every two houses located between the two houses that
it served. Of course, people had to carry the water back in the house for cooking or "Saturday Night Bath." The coal company also provided the service of cleaning out the outhouses once a year. They would bring a truck around and haul the refuse off in it, and
spread lime in the pit if needed. When the pit was at the end of its usefulness, the company would move your outhouse for you. The Kempton mining village also had street lights, and Brad said it was a model coal camp that was nicer than some others.
Here are the remains of the Kempton company store. In one vintage photo the store bore the sign "Buxton and Landstreet." However, the orignal owner of the Kempton mine and town was Davis Coal and Coke Company. Production began in
1913. Brad remembered that the mine at Kempton was in the Upper Freeport seam of coal, which "didn't let off a lot of smoke like Pittsburgh coal." He also stated that much of the coal went to the Maryland Steel Company near Baltimore. According to Brad, the shafts were 418 feet deep, and there were two hoists at the
Kempton tipple, one for the miners and one for the coal. In later years, the Compass Coal Company operated the Kempton mine. Despite claiming that there were enough coal reserves at Kempton to last over 25 years, in early April 1950 a notice
was placed in the window at the company store that the mines would close in a week. Brad said that none of the miners were expecting this. On April 15, 1950 the Kempton mine closed and the pumps, which were on 24 hours a day, were shut off. The mined flooded, Brad recalled, in only about 6 weeks. After
the mines closed people started leaving Kempton and, in 1952, the first Kempton Reunion was held, which continues to be an annual event to this day, although with fewer people attending. Today, the entire Kempton mine has been reclaimed, and the only thing left to mark
the spot of one of the most productive coal mines in Maryland is the vent cap over one of the shafts.
This extant building at Kempton, MD was a storage building for the company store and also served as a workshop and stable. The railroad ran right up to it, and this was the terminus of the Western Maryland
Railway. Brad remembered that some Kempton miner's drew scrip. Often, he said, miners would receive only a "red circle on their statement." By this Brad means that their was a zero on the paystub because the miners were in
hock to the company. In addition to the services provided at the company store, the coal company also kept a doctor in the town and gave him a nice home, and built an "Opera House" which also contained a barber shop and pool room and where
movies were shown. Sometimes an entertainer like Grandpa Jones would stop off in Kempton and give a performance at the "Opera House." This was also where UMWA Local 4113 held their meetings. Brad
said that there were many strikes, but they weren't as violent as in other coalfields.
Sign at a coal mine along the North Branch of the Potomac.