Image courtesy of Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State Fayette
This remarkable photograph is of the coke works at Shamrock in 1963, a fairly late date for beehive coke production in Western Pennsylvania. The fence
behind the ovens kept the smoke off of New Salem Road.
Image courtesy of Coal and Coke Heritage Center, Penn State Fayette
Another view of the Shamrock coke ovens. These ovens supposedly went cold for good in 1967. They are mentioned
in Muriel Sheppard's "Cloud By Day" and are among the best known coke yard ruins in Fayette County.
Nov. 2003 image by author
The above-mentioned ovens today - dormant and overgrown. The word is that the Max Nobel family owned them, the same family that owned the coke yard at Shoaf.
Nov. 2003 image by author
Although they haven't been fired in over 30 years, some of the ovens at Shamrock are still in good condition. They were actually built by the Fayette Coke Company, the first operator of the Shamrock coal
mines and coke yard, around 1900.
Nov. 2003 image by author
A good example of the trunnel hole, or "eye," at the top of a typical beehive oven. This was where the coal was poured in.
Nov. 2003 image by author
Most of the Shamrock patch is gone. This house is one of seven remaining company-built houses that existing at the time I took this photo. That may be vintage company-installed siding, too.
Nov. 2003 image by author
The owner of this house believed that it was constructed in the early 1920s.
She gave me this picture of the house as it looked when she purchased it many years ago.
