UPPER YOUGHIOGHENY FIELD

There has been deep mining and strip mining in this coalfield, but nowhere near the scale of the Potomac and Georges Creek Coalfields. Mining has chiefly been in the Upper Freeport and Lower Kittanning seams of coal, but the Clarion and Bakerstown have also been mined. According to Vagel Keller's research, in December 1977 there were 28 deep mines in this coalfield. Most of the coal mining in the Upper Youghiogheny Coalfield was around the town of Crellin.

This historic store is still in existance at Crellin, MD. In addition to coal mining activities, Crellin was also the site of the Preston Lumber Company Mill, which was the largest sawmill in the state. I have also seen it listed as the Preston Lumber and Coal Company. The Kendall Lumber Co. also logged in the area. They developed the Preston Railroad to take their lumber to market, and mined the first coal at Crellin to fuel their locamotive. When the saw mill closed the coal mines continued.

I was told that these houses in Crellin were built by the coal company, probably the Stanley Coal Company, named for Stanley Ashby. The original Crellin mines closed around 1960. Later mining in the area ceased around the early 1990s. Another one of the coal companies that operated around Crellin was the Kray Coal Company an acronym for operators Kendall, Ream, Ashby and Yutzy. Thanks to both Dave Cathell and an unidentified gentleman sitting on his front porch in Crellin for this information.

Other short lived mining operations in the Crellin area were the Sheild Run Coal Company's Bachtel mine in the 1950s, and the Dorsey Coal Company's Ashby Mine, and also Bantam Coal Company's mine, in the 1960s. The Callis Coal Company's Callis mine, however, was operated from 1950 until 1970.