Lykens Valley: History & Genealogy
  • Home
  • About
  • Categories
    • Commerce
    • Communications
    • Education
    • Entertainment
    • Farming
    • Genealogy
    • Government
    • Labor
    • Memories
    • Military
    • Mining
    • Organizations
    • Religion
    • Resources
    • Sports
    • Transportation
  • Civil War Blog
  • PA Historian
  • Contact

Coal Castles – Taylorsville Colliery (1850-1957)

A photograph from around 1900 of a row of miners’ patch houses which cost about $1,000 to build and between $6 and $8 a month to rent.

From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1997:

The Taylorsville Colliery was located directly north of the Glendower Colliery in the Heckscherville Valley at the headwaters of the West Branch of the Schuylkill River.

The original openings were two drifts driven on the South Dip of the Mammoth Vein by Gorman & Company in 1850 and mined by that company until 1855.

In 1855, Taylor & Atwood sank the slope 250 feet below water level on the “Daniel” Bottom-Split Mammoth Vein and mined it to 1860, when succeeded by George Spencer and John McGinnis, who operated the colliery until 1863.

In 1863, Taylor & Jones came into possession of the colliery and continued mining to 1865.  The colliery was in poor condition due to neglect and operations were suspended.  Gorman & Winterstein then took over the colliery and put it in good condition.

In 1865, John McGinnis again operated the colliery until 1869, when a squeeze on the gangway occurred and the colliery was abandoned and allowed to fill with water.

In 1870, Thomas H. Shollenberger removed the water in the Taylorsville Slope and, in 1871, built a new breaker and extended the coal slope to a depth of 840 feet and the pump slope 1,140 feet.

In 1872, the colliery was purchased by the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company, which operated it in conjunction with the Glendower Colliery.

In 1904, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company sank the Buck Mountain Slope 1,040 feet and tunneled to the bottom-split Mammoth Vein, abandoning the hoisting and pump slopes.

In 1909, the Glendower Breaker was abandoned, so the coal was transported nearly 3.5 miles over mine car track to the Pine Knot Breaker for preparation.

The Taylorsville Colliery was abandoned April 17, 1933.

Total shipments of the colliery were 533,149 tons to 1874.

_______________________________________________

Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, December 27, 1997. Obtained from Newspapers.com.

Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

May 20, 2023 Norman Gasbarro

Post navigation

Ashland – Miners Hospital West Ward → ← Joliett – United Methodist Church, 1972

Email notification of new posts

Places

Ashland Bear Gap Berrysburg Dalmatia Elizabethville Erdman Fisherville Gordon Gratz Halifax Halifax Township Hegins Hegins Township Herndon Hubley Township Jackson Township Killinger Klingerstown Lenkerville Loyalton Lykens Lykens Township Matamoras Mifflin Township Millersburg Muir Orwin Pillow Pine Grove Porter Township Reinerton Sacramento Shamokin Specktown Spring Glen Tower City Tremont Upper Paxton Township Valley View Washington Township Wayne Township Wiconisco Wiconisco Township Williamstown Williams Township

Categories

  • Commerce
  • Communications
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Farming
  • Genealogy
  • Government
  • Labor
  • Memories
  • Military
  • Mining
  • Organizations
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • Sports
  • Transportation
  • Unidentified

Categories

  • Commerce
  • Communications
  • Education
  • Entertainment
  • Farming
  • Genealogy
  • Government
  • Labor
  • Memories
  • Military
  • Mining
  • Organizations
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • Sports
  • Transportation
  • Unidentified

RSS Feeds

  • RSS - Posts
  • RSS - Comments

Copyright 2016-2024, Norman Gasbarro, Philadelphia, PA

Site Created by Brian Tomlin

Archives

Powered by WordPress | theme Layout Builder
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d