FREEPORT COALFIELD MISCELLANEOUS
A 1920 article in The Coal Industry described Kinlock as "a plant which is built entirely of steel and concrete
and located on the Allegheny Valley division of the Pennsylvania railroad, that has been designed to remove coal at a depth
of 148 feet from the surface, the slope type of opening being used. The seam of coal that is mined is made up of the
upper and lower Freeport veins, and is about 7 feet thick, the two veins being separated by a layer of bone which is
removed by hand picking both in the mine at at the picking tables ... The Valley Camp Coal Company has built a town of
attractive appearance for the benefit of the miners and their families. The houses are all of the double-frame type and are
rented to the men at very reasonable prices. They are all supplied with running water from a spring and every precaution
is taken to conserve the health of the community. The town is located within 400 yards of the township school where
the children receive competent instruction. This school has been equipped with a large playground and the necessary
equipment at the expense of the company. The mine has one of the best baseball teams in the valley, and a playground and
picnic grove is located in a pretty valley at the rear of the company store."
Image courtesy of Ken C.
1950 picture taken at Valley Camp No. 5 mine. The mine worker shown is pulling a "trip" of loaded coal cars with the mine locomotive.
Image courtesy of Ken C.
Another vintage shot of the No. 5 mine of Valley Camp Coal Co. I'm not exactly sure where this mine was, but it was probably near New Kensington.
Image courtesy of Ken C.
A picture taken over 50 years ago of a portal into the Freeport seam at the Kutsch mine near Tarentum.
Google Street View image
Coal company housing at Cadogan, PA, a patch town right on the bank of the Allegheny River in Armstrong County. The Allegheny River Mining Company ran this coal mining operation.
Image courtesy of westdeertownship.com
Vintage picture of the Ford Collieries Company's Francis Mine, also known as Curtisville No. 2 coal mine, at Curtisville, PA. (Curtisville No. 1 was the Benjamin Mine, and Curtisville No. 3
was at Bairdford.)
Google Street View image
This was the superintendent's house at Curtisville No. 2.
Google Street View image
Curtisville No. 3 coal mine was at Bairdford. This part of the Bairdford coal patch town was where the Russian coal miners lived.
Image courtesy of Trip Advisor
Near Tarentum, PA a Freeport Coalfield mine has been preserved as a tourist attraction. It's called the Tour-Ed Mine, and it has been open for public tours
since 1970. However, it was originally the Avenue No. 2 Mine of the Allegheny Coal & Coke Company. (That company also operated an Avenue No. 1 Mine in nearby Brackenridge.)
Image courtesy of patonlinenewtime.blogspot.com
Polish club in the "patch town" of Harwick, PA. You know the story - Polish, Slovak, Italian immigrants came
to Pennsylvania to mine coal, blah, blah, blah. The Harwick mine was opened in the first decade of the 20th Century by the Allegheny Coal Company, and was closed
in 1970 by its final owner, Duquesne Light. An explosion in the mine in January 1904 killed 179 miners. After inspecting the disaster site a state mine
inspector wrote, "I had not thought it possible that a catastrophe so awful in proportions could occur in a mine like the Harwick, which was new and
reported to be relatively safe. The explosion was of a terrific force, the tipple, built of iron, was wrecked, and a mule was blown out and over the tipple from
the bottom of the shaft."
2017 image by author
Old wooden coal tipple near New Kensington.
2002 image by Ray Washlaski
Coal company patch houses at Kinlock, Pa. Valley Camp Coal Co.
closed the Kinlock mines in 1935.
2010 image by Ray Washlaski
This structure was once the coal miner's pay station
at Kinlock.
Circa 1930 Keystone Coal Catalog image
Wildwood preparation plant of the Butler Consolidated Coal Company. Located in Hampton Township, this was probably the last major coal mine to be devloped
in the Allegheny County portion of the Freeport Coalfield when it opened in 1928. There was never a coal company town associated with the Wildwood Mine. The miners lived in
already existing nearby communities. However, there were some serious management-labor confrontations, described in detail here.
Sept. 2023 image by author
Remains of the Wildwood mine in the 21st Century. The building on the left was the mine's bath house, and behind it was the mine office.
Actually, the machine shop is still in existence as well. Amazingly, it has been remodled into an athletic training and fitness facility (RAW Training).
Bing Maps image
It's fun to get out and explore the Pennsylvania countryside looking for coal mining history. But this picture shows
the darker side of the coal heritage landscape: Pine Run puking orange acid mine drainage into the Kiskiminetas River. The grey area up above the river was the former site of
Pine Run Coal & Coke Company's coal mine. Between the mine site and the river is the former Conemaugh Division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, now Norfolk-Southern.