A view from an old picture post card of the Lykens Valley Slope of the Lykens Valley Coal Company, on the eastern side of Bear Gap, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, one of two slopes built to haul coal up from the mines. A large wheel under the housing was steam powered. Coal cars were pulled to the top and then released allowing gravity to send them to a nearby breaker, where refuse was removed and the coal sized in preparation to be sent to market.
This slope was in operation from 1870 to 1915 and was replaced with a shaft containing elevators to hoist the coal cars up from five levels below.
The men in the photo are not identified.
The photo was taken looking west. The slope went into the mountain in a northward direction.
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