KLONDIKE COALFIELD
A coal field opened around 1900 to mine a rich, thick section of the
Pittsburgh seam that, after proper preparation, produced a good quality of coke, hence the many beehive coke yards in the
Klondike Field. Developement continued into the 1920s, but in that decade the coke plants began to close as more and more coal
from the Klondike Field was shipped to by-product plants. Much coal was shipped by barge on the Monongahela River, which gave
this field an advantage over rail-dependent fields such as Connellsville. At the beginning of the 21st Century most large mines
have closed, CONSOL's Dillworth being the most recent.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, in an article dated June 7, 1903 titled "Coke Fields Will Profit," stated, "The region in Fayette County which will soon
be opened by the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie and friendly roads is rich beyond compute in coal fields. Thousands of coke ovens are scattered over the county
in groups of a hundred or so, which takes the coal directly from the mines and manufacture it into coke. The revenue resulting from this business is
so great that the area is scarcely known by any other name than the Klondike of the coke regions."
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