UNION MINING COMPANY AND COMPANIES ASSOCIATED WITH IT.
The Union Mining Company, the New York Mining Company, the Barton and Georges Creek Valley
Coal Company, and the Potomac Coal Company, for all of which the Black, Sheridan, and
Wilson
Company are the selling agents, operate the Union Mine No. 1, just north of Frostburg;
Union Mine No. 2, a mile north of Frostburg; Carlos Mine No. 1, near Carlos; Carlos Mine
No. 2, near Carlos; and the Potomac mine near Barton.
Union No. 1.The plant of Union mine No. 1, operated by the
Union Mining Company under lease from the Consolidation Coal Company, is situated on a
siding of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad at the head of the valley of Jennings
Run and on the northern limits of the town of Frostburg and not far from the northern end
of the Georges Creek coal basin. The coal worked is the " Big Vein,"which in
this part of the region is ordinarily between 8 and 9 feet thick. In 1902 275 men were
employed and 27 horses used for hauling, and the maximum daily output of the mine was 1150
tons of coal. The entrance to this mine is a drift a mile long through the old New Hope
mine. A gravity plane 1200 feet long with 1-1/4-inch rope is in operation in the mine, and
tandem teams of horses transfer the mine cars from the plane a mile inside of the mine
mouth to the tipples and return the empty cars to the plane.
Two tipples, side by side, load the coal into the railroad cars. One of these tipples
dumps the coal onto a plain chute for shipping run of mine coal, the other passes the coal
over a screen and separates the stock from the lump, loading the two grades of coal into
separate railroad cars. Both tipples are of the ordinary T-rail pattern with back balance
weight attached, and at the tipple loading run-of-mine a Townsend pin-puller is used. The
mine is self-draining and is ventilated by a fan 16 feet in diameter having a capacity of
18,000 cubic feet per minute and supplied by a 35-horsepower return-tubular boiler. The
gauge of mine car tracks is 4 feet which is the greatest width of track used in the
region. The mine cars weigh 2040 pounds empty and contain 3i gross tons of coal when
loaded. The coal is mined exclusively by pick-work.
Union No. 2.On the east side of the Cumberland and
Pennsylvania Railroad and the valley of Jennings Run, two miles northeast of Frostburg,
the New York Mining Company operate their Union mine No. 2. In 1902 this mine was capable
of producing 1400 tons of coal daily and employed over 400 men. The coal mined is the
" Big Vein," about 8 feet thick with a slate band between the two benches, and
is mined exclusively by pick-work. The mine has a double drift opening. Thirty-five horses
are used for underground haulage and the coal is brought to the surface by tandem teams.
The tipple, a Mitchell dump, on a siding or back switch of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania
Railroad is close to the mouth of the mine. The drainage is natural. The mine is
ventilated by two fans of 12 and 16 feet diameter, one supplying exhaustive and the other
compressive ventilation. .The gauge of mine track is 4 feet. The mine cars weigh 2040
pounds and are built to contain 3£ tons of coal.
Carlos Nos. 1 and 2.At the end of the Carlos branch of the
Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad a mile and a half west of the axis of the coal basin
the Barton and Georges Creek Valley Coal Company operates Carlos mines Nos. 1 and 2, the
entrance to which is a slope in the " Big Vein " near the western edge of its
outcrop. In 1902 the mines had a maximum daily output of 1100 tons of coal and 350 men
were employed in operating them. The coal is brought to the surface up a slope 2400 feet
long by a double 14 x 18-inch haulage engine winding a wire rope an inch in diameter on a
drum (54 x 48
inches). A gravity plane 1200 feet long connects the mine with the tipple. For underground
haulage two gravity planes 800 and 500 feet long respectively and 27 horses are required.
No pumps are needed as the mines are naturally drained and no mining machinery is used.
The ventilation is accomplished by two fans, which force air into the workings. The
diameters of the fans are 16 and 10 feet respectively and their combined capacity is 3000
cubic feet of air per minute. The hoisting engine and fans are supplied with steam by
three boilers, two of which are of a locomotive type and have a rated capacity of 50
horsepower each, and the third is upright and of 20 horsepower rated capacity. The gauge
of mine car tracks is 4 feet and the mine cars weigh 2040 pounds when empty and hold 3-1/2
tons of coal.
Potomac mines.In 1903 the Potomac Coal Company opened a
drift mine in the Franklin or " Dirty Nine-foot" vein on the south side of the
valley of Moores Run, three-fourths of a mile east of Barton. The mine is developed to
produce nearly 100 tons of coal per day and gives employment to about 25 men. Three mules
are used. A short, steep gravity plane of three rails connects the entrance of the mine
with its tipple on the Union Mining Company's (48-inch gauge) railroad. Over this tipple
the small mine cars, holding about a ton of coal when topped, are dumped into larger cars
containing about three tons of coal. The latter are run by a small locomotive to the
tipple of the Union Mining Company's.old Potomac and Barton " Big Vein " mines,
on a siding of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad, one-quarter mile below Barton.
The tipple is an old-fashioned rolling saddle that empties the tramway cars sidewise into
the railroad cars by rolling the former over on their sides. In this mine the bottom bench
of the " Dirty Nine-foot " seam is worked. The bench varies from 22 to 36 inches
in thickness. The mine is opened by a double-entry system. The rooms are intended to be 14
feet wide. In entries holes for shooting down the top are drilled in a thin layer of coal
and the roof is blown down to give sufficient head room for men and mules. Until the
present year the Potomac Coal Company operated a mine in the Bakerstown or "
Four-foot" vein on the south side of Moores Run just west of the mine just described.
This mine in 1902 employed 75 men, worked 7 mules, and had a maximum output of 300 tons of
coal daily. At present this mine is idle. A fan 20 feet in diameter, used compressively,
ventilated the works and an 80-horsepower horizontal tubular boiler supplied the power to
drive the fan. Small mine cars (1500 pounds capacity) were dumped over the tipple of the
mine into the tram-road cars and transferred by the locomotive to the Potomac tipple. The
mine lies just above the water-level of Moores Run and is naturally drained. The room and
pillar system of mining is used. The rooms are 15 to 20 feet wide with a pillar of equal
thickness between them.
THE GEORGES CREEK COAL AND IRON COMPANY.
The Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company now operate four drift mines in the Pittsburg seam
or " Big Vein " and have lately opened two mines in the Upper Sewickley or Tyson
seam. The " Big Vein '' mines operated are Mines No. 1 and 4, a mile north of
Lonaconing; Mine No. 3 or Pine Hill, one and a half miles northeast of Lonaconing; Mine
No. 12, two miles northeast of l.onaconing; Mines No. 9 and 10 or Columbia, two and a half
miles above Lonaconing. The Tipper Sewickley mines are No. 1G and No. 17. " Big Vein
" Mines No. 1 and No. 4 of the Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company lie on the west
side of the Georges Creek valley three-fourths of a mile north of the corporate limits of
the town of Lonaconing. The entrances to the two mines are close together. No. 1 mine has
connections with and tipples on both the Cumberland and Pennsylvania and the west branch
of the Georges Creek and Cumberland railroad. The coal from No. 4 mine is loaded only into
railroad cars upon the tracks of the former road. In 1902 the daily capacity of mines No.
1 and No. 4 was 850 tons, and 170 men and 8 horses were employed. The coal is brought from
the interior of the mines
to the surface by a double tail-rope system operated by a stationary engine on the surface
having four drums 6 feet in diameter and 3 feet wide and winding a J-inch hemp-center
steel-wire rope. The engine is supplied by a 150-horsepower return-tubular boiler. At the
mouth of the mines the tail-rope is disconnected and the loaded care run themselves by
gravity down an eight per cent grade to a landing near the tipple on the Cumberland and
Pennsylvania Railroad, whence they are run by hand into the tipple. The empty cars, after
being dumped, run from the tipple by gravity back towards the mines. The track on which
they return is long enough to hold 30 empty cars at a time. This track is constructed with
a sufficient grade so that the front car of each " trip " of 30 empty cars to be
pulled into the mine will run to the place where the main pulling rope disconnected from
the " trip " of loaded cars can be attached to it. When mine cars from mine No.
1 are to be run to the tipple on the Georges Creek and Cumberland Railroad the tail-rope
is disconnected from the front end of the " trip " of loaded cars when it
reaches the mouth of the mine and in place of it one end of a " cutoff " rope or
long link is attached to the front end of the " trip." The " cut-off "
rope passes out the center of the track to a " bull wheel" near the tipple,
around this wheel and returns along the side of the track to the mouth of the mine. The
tail-rope, which is disconnected from the " trip," is attached to the other end
of the " cutoff " rope, and the tail-rope then pulls the " trip " of
cars to the tipple on the Georges Creek and Cumberland Railroad, taking the pulling-rope,
which is still attached to the other end of the " trip," with it.
When the " trip " of empty cars is brought back to the mouth of the mine by the
pulling-rope, both ends of the " cut-off " rope are brought back to the mouth of
the mine where it is disconnected from the trip " and tail-rope and the latter is
replaced on the hind end of the " trip "going into the mine. The " cut-off
" rope is thus left in position for connecting into the haulage system when needed.
The main tipple of mines No. 1 and No. 4 on the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad is a
Mitchell tipple with an iron basket attachment. The coal is first dumped into the basket
and then the basket
containing the coal is lowered into the railroad cars, the main object of the basket being
to prevent breakage of the coal and therefore obtain a greater percentage of lump coal.
The basket is suspended by a wire rope wound around a drum. The weight of the coal from a
mine car dumped into the iron basket causes the basket to descend, the drum is turned and
another wire rope with a weight attached is wound upon a drum of larger diameter on the
same shaft as the smaller drum. When the basket has been lowered to the desired height it
is opened by chains which connect it with the framework of the tipple.When the coal is
emptied from the basket the weights attached to the rope of the larger drum wind the
basket rope upon the smaller drum again and lift the basket up to the level of the floor
of the tipple. The basket is controlled by a brake band on the larger drum which is
operated by a lever. In addition to the Mitchell tipple the dump has also a chute for
loading box cars. On the Georges Creek and Cumberland Railroad the tipple for loading the
coal from mine No. 1 is of the ordinary frame back-balance pattern. The entrances to mines
No. 1 and No. 4 are close together and are very nearly at the center of the coal basin.
Mine No. 1 reaches the coal that lies on the western slope of the basin and is
self-draining while No. 4 is in that part of the " Big Vein " coal lying in the
center of the basin and on its eastern slope. The grades in the latter mine are very
irregular even on the general line of strike of the coal basin where one would expect to
find a nearly uniform water-level grade. Mine No. 4 is partly drained by a connection with
the Consolidation Coal Company's drainage tunnel and at present no pumps are needed for
draining either of these mines. Two fans of Guibal pattern of 12 and 20 feet diameter
respectively
furnish exhaustive ventilation to mines No. 1 and No. 4. The fans are supplied by steam
from the same boiler that supplies the stationary haulage engines. The gauge of the mine
car tracks used at these two mines is 3 feet and the cars weigh 1800 to 2000 pounds when
empty and have a capacity of 2£ tons of coal. No coal-cutting or mining machinery is used
in either of these mines or in any other of this company's mines in the Georges Creek
region. The " Big Vein " coal is from 10 to 11 feet thick in these mines.
Mines No. 9 and 10.On the east side of the Georges Creek
valley between Midland Junction on the Georges Creek and Cumberland Railroad and the town
of Midland is a series of drift openings known as mines No. 9 and 10 of the Georges Creek
Coal and Iron Company. The capacity of the mines is 160 tons per day and 40 men are
employed. The " Big Vein," about 10 feet thick, is mined from these drifts and
the coal is shipped by the Georges Creek and Cumberland Railroad. The coal is brought to
the tipple by two gravity planes 900 and 700 feet long. The main drift is at the extreme
southern point of the coal outcrop on the hill above Midland Junction. The longer plane
connects this opening with the tipple. The surplus power of the longer plane is utilized
to bring loaded mine cars from two openings which are lower than the main opening up an
incline to the top of the plane. A wire rope is connected with the rear end of the loaded
<; trip " going down the plane. The rope then passes around a bull-wheel and down
the incline to the openings at the foot of the incline where the end of the rope is
fastened to the car to be brought up. The rope is carried down the incline by the empty
car, the rope acting as a brake to the car in its descent down the incline. The shorter
outside gravity plane is used to bring the coal from another drift close to the town of
Midland to the tipple and a tram road 700 feet long connects the drift with the plane.
The tram road has a grade of l% per cent in favor of the loads and the cars are hauled
over it by horses. The main mine has an inside gravity plane 900 feet long as well as an
inside incline for lowering cars. The grade of the latter incline is not over 8 per cent
and a single bull-wheel serves to run down the loaded cars and bring up the empty ones,
the two being connected
with a wire rope which passes around the wheel. A brakeman rides on each " trip
" and the cars are controlled entirely by the brakes. Two cars are run in a "
trip " on both the outside and inside planes and usually the same number of cars are
run at once on the inside and outside inclines. The gauge of the mine car tracks is 3 feet
6 inches and the mine cars weigh 1800 to 2000 pounds and are loaded to hold 2£ tons of
coal. The drainage and ventilation are both natural. The coal is mined exclusively by
pick-work. The usual room and pillar system of mining is used. The cover of the coal is
not great and rooms are driven 14 feet wide with point lines 40 feet apart.
Mine No. 3 or Pine Hill mine.Three-quarters of a mile to
the east of the openings of mines No. 1 and ISTo. 4 and on the opposite side of the valley
and railroads from them is mine No. 3 of the Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company, also
known as Pine Hill mine. The coal worked is the " Big 'Vein," which is from 10
to 11 feet thick and has the same average section as the coal in mines No. 1 and No. 4.
Seventy-five men and 7 horses are employed to produce a daily output of 250 tons of coal.
At No. 3 mine the coal bed lies high up on the hill on the eastern rim of the coal basin
and a rather steep gravity plane 1200 feet long connects the openings of the drifts with
the tipple on the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad. Two loaded cars descending bring
two empty ones to the top of the plane. The grades of the coal bed within the mine are
irregular and in many places, especially near the eastern outcrop, very steep and two
inside gravity planes, one 600 feet long the other 1200 feet long are necessary to land
the loaded mine cars inside of and near the mouth of the mines. From there they are
transferred by horses to the top of the outside plane. The drainage and ventilation are
natural. The great difference in the elevations of the eastern outcrop and the western
outcrop of the coal at the mouth of the drifts produces a natural draught more than
sufficient for the requirements of the mine. The room and pillar system of mining is
employed. The cover on the mine is not as heavy as of mines No. 1 and No. 4 and in mining
smaller pillars are left between the rooms, the latter being 14 feet wide with centers 40
feet apart so that a pillar of coal of about 25 feet is left between them.
In the workings of this mine along the eastern outcrop of the coal bed the grades are so
steep that the loaded mine cars have sometimes to be let down to the headings with a
wire-rope passing around a bull-wheel near the face of the room. The mine car tracks of
this mine have a gauge of 3 feet 6 inches and the empty cars weigh 1800 to 2000 pounds and
are loaded to carry 2-1/2 tons of coal. The tipple is of the ordinary back-balance pattern
with Townsend automatic pin-
puller and dumps sidewise into the railroad cars. The tipple has also an incline for
raising props and mine timber, the surplus power of the loaded cars coming down the
gravity plane being utilized to lift a mine car of props from the prop yard to the
top of the tipple. This is accomplished by connecting the car to be raised by a wire-rope
to the rear end of the empty " trip " going up the plane. When the car of props
or timber reaches the top of the tipple the " trip " is stopped, the rope
disconnected both from the car and the " trip." One end of the rope is then
fastened to a double drum turning on one axle built beneath the tipple and the rope is
wound back upon the drum by a weight which operates it. When the car is to be let down the
short incline to be loaded with timber this rope is connected to it and the descent of the
car is controlled by a
brake band applied to the larger drum. As the car descends it winds the rope upon the
smaller drum and lifts the weight that in its descent winds back the pulling rope upon the
larger drum.
Mine No. 12 of the Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company is a
drift mine in a detached area of the " Big Vein " that lies oil the east side of
the Georges Creek valley near the eastern rim of the coal basin, midway between mines No.
3 and No. 9 of the same company. The mine is connected with the Georges Creek and
Cumberland Railroad over which the coal from it is shipped, by a 4-rail gravity plane 2200
feet long. The tipple is of the usual plain chute type common
to the region. This mine was opened and coal first shipped from it in 1903.
Upper Sewickley or Tyson seam mines.Mine No. 16 of the
Georges Creek Coal and Iron Company is a drift opening in the upper half of the Upper
Sewickley, Tyson, or " Three and a half- foot " seam on the hillside just above
the opening of the drift of mine No. 1 (" Piig Vein"). A retarding conveyor and
washing plant for this mine has just been put in operation. The mine was opened in 1903
and the output is as yet limited. The plant of this mine, which has just been built,
consists of three 150-horsepower horizontal tubular boilers. A 238-horsepower engine
drives an electric generator, which in turn supplies the power for two stationary electric
motors, one of which (of 40-horsepower) operates the endless rope of the retarding
conveyor, the other a 30-horsepower motor runs the machinery that washes and elevates the
washed coal from the washer to the storage bins. The coal is brought from mine No. 16 to
the tipple by the retarding conveyor 1000 feet long. At the lower end of the conveyor the
coal passes over a screen. The lump coal is loaded directly into the railroad cars and the
screened coal is transferred by a screw conveyor to the washer. The washed coal is
elevated into the storage bins from which it is loaded into cars on a siding of the
Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad as it is needed for shipment. The electric generator
also supplies power for a four-ton electric motor for haulage in mines No. 16 and No. 17.
The mine will be equipped with a 12-foot Guibal fan, which will also ventilate mine No.
17. Mine No. 17 is a drift into the same coal bed as mine No. 16 and its entrance is on
the hillside just above the mouth of the old drift of the Georges Creek Coal and Iron
Company's " Big Vein " mine
No. 4i. A short, steep gravity plane connects the mine with its
tipple on the Georges Creek and Cumberland Railroad and a tramway 2200 feet long joins it
with the retarding conveyor near mine No. 16. A four-ton electric motor transfers the coal
from the mine to the conveyor over the tramway. The tipples of mines No. 16 and No. 17 are
entirely independent of those used for loading coal from the " Big Vein " mines
in their vicinity. A temporary wooden stack is used for ventilation. The interior workings
of mines No. 16 and No. 17 will eventually meet and the haulage and ventilating systems of
mine No. 16 will be extended into this mine. A panel system of mining is employed in both
mines No. 16 and No. 17. Rooms are driven in sets or panels of ten as the side entries
advance. Each panel is separated from the next by a barrier pillar. The pillars between
the rooms are drawn as soon as the rooms of each panel are up. After the pillars are drawn
the haulage ways are retained by the necks of the rooms and a protecting stump which is
left below the return airway of each set of entries. The mine car tracks of mines No. 16
and No. 17 have a gauge of 42 inches and mine cars weighing 1000 pounds are used. Some of
these are built entirely of iron but the bodies of the larger number of them are wooden.
THE CUMBERLAND BASIN COAL COMPANY.
At Barrellsville the Cumberland Basin Coal Company operates two mines in the lower Coal
Measures. They also operate two mines across the State line in Somerset county,
Pennsylvania. The latter mines are drifts in the " Rock Vein " and " Big
Vein " coal beds. This company began opening these mines in 1902.
The McGlone and Stafford mines, as the mines in the lower
Measures are called, are openings in the coal beds known locally as the Brookville or
Bluebaugh and Clarion or Parker veins respectively, and are on the southeast side of the
valley of the north branch of Jennings Run, half a mile northeast of Barrellsville. In
these mines is worked the coal of the two lowest workable coal beds known in the region.
The mines are on the eastern rise of the Georges Creek coal basin syncline and close to
the point where that syncline passes out of Maryland into Pennsylvania. The Stafford mine
is a drift opening while the entrance of the McGlone mine is a short slope down from the
level of the Clarion or Parker seam into the Brookville or Bluebaugh which is about 30
feet below the former seam at that locality. The slope strikes the Brookville coal bed
just above
the water-level line of the north branch of Jennings Run. The entrances of both mines pass
through the workings of old mines which were worked many years ago before the " Big
Vein " was commercially worked, and after passing through the old workings the
development of the mine is by a series of double headings driven slightly to the rise of
the line of strike of the coal beds. The coal from both mines is hauled by mules to a
tipple which serves for the shipment of the output of both. The tipple is located across
the north branch of Jennings Run from the mines on a siding of the Cumberland Basin Coal
Company's railroad a half mile from the junction of the latter with the Cumberland and
Pennsylvania Railroad. The mines
are naturally drained into the north branch of Jennings Run and their ventilation is
assisted by wooden stacks.
THE GEORGES CREEK AND BALD KNOB COAL COMPANY.
The Georges Creek and Bald Knob Coal Company during 1904 opened some drift mines in a
detached area of " Big Vein "
which formerly belonged to David Brailer. The mines of this company lie at the extreme
northern end of the Georges Creek coal basin about two miles north of Mt. Savage. Three
seams of coal have been opened and are ready for shipment, A steam locomotive delivers the
loaded mine cars from the entrance of the mine to the head of a gravity plane down which
they are run to the tipple situated on a spur of the Cumberland Basin Coal Company's
railroad. The mines are naturally drained and ventilated.
THE BORDEN MINING COMPANY.
Through their shaft at Borden Shiift station on the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad
the Borden Alining Company formerly operated a considerable area of the " Big Vein
" which lay on the west side of the railroad, and in the center and on the western
slope of the basin, while on its western outcrop the same company also worked the "
Big Vein " through the drift of the Bowery mine. The main " Big Vein " coal
territory owned by this company in the vicinity of these two mines has been worked out and
the company is not operating either of them now. W. A. and Howard Hitchins lease from the
Borden Mining Company and operate the Borden mine, a drift in the outcrop of the "
Big Vein " at the northern end and western edge of the basin. The mine has its tipple
on the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad close to the tipple of the Frost mine and
across the valley of Jennings Run and nearly opposite the tipples of Union mine No. 1. The
coal is brought from the mine to the tipple over a long tram road and gravity plane.
THE SRADDOCK COAL COMPANY.
The Braddock Coal Company in 1903 made an opening in the Rock Vein seam which is generally
identified as the equivalent of the Upper Freeport coal. The opening is a double drift on
the north
side of Braddock's Run a short distance east of Clarysville. The tipple is on the Eckhart
branch of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad and the coal is taken across the valley
of Braddock's Run in buckets by an aerial tramway rope-haulage system. The loaded mine
cars are first emptied into a storage bin near the mouth of the mine. From the bin the
coal is loaded into buckets and transferred across the valley to the tipple as needed for
shipment. The rope and bucket system is worked by an engine and boiler located near the
mine. The mine has two entrances, one for loads to come out of
the mine, the other for empty cars to return into it.
THE FROSTBURG COAL MINING COMPANY.
The Morrison mine, now operated by the Frostburg Coal Mining Company, is situated at
Morrison station of the Cumberland and fktel House
Railroad on the east side of the railroad and east of the axis of the coal basin. Two coal
beds, the Upper Freeport and Bakerstown, are worked by drifts and the coal brought to one
tipple. The openings in the lower or Upper Freeport seam is 140 feet from the tipple and
just high enough above it to afford an easy grade in favor of the loads from the mine to
the tipple. In 1901 the maximum capacity of this mine was 100 tons of coal per day and 35
men were employed in it. In 1902 the upper coal bed was opened, and in 1903 the output was
from both seams. A three-rail gravity plane connects the upper coal bed with the tipple.
This upper coal bed is the one formerly worked by the Union Mining Company at their
Potomac mine and in the mines of the Moscow-Georges Creek Coal Company at Barton, the
lower coal bed passing under the level of Georges Creek between Barton and Morrison. The
thickness of the upper coal bed varies in this mine from 2-J to 4 feet.
In these mines five Ingersoll-Sergeant coal-mining machines are used at times but usually
only three of them are in operation at once. The coal-mining machines are operated by
compressed air, which is supplied to them at a pressure of about 85 pounds to the square
inch by an Ingersoll-Sergeant straight-line compressor with steam cylinder 22 x 24 inches
and 22£ x 24£ air cylinder. The compressor is intended to run ten mining machines. The
lower mine is ventilated by a fan 10 feet in diameter which forces the air into the mine.
A 100-horsepower return-tubular boiler 1G feet long and 6 feet in diameter
supplies steam to the air compressor and fan. The upper mine is naturally ventilated,
assisted by a wooden stack at the opening on the north side of the wheel-house at the head
of the plane. Both mines are naturally drained. The Deepwell pump (6x12 inches, capacity
500 gallons per hour) is used for cooling the compressor. The tipple is built of wood 20
feet high, of the pattern common to the region, with an additional chute beneath the main
chute for loading box cars. When the lower chute is used the bottom of the upper or main
chute is lifted out. The mine cars weigh 1000 pounds and have a capacity of 1900 pounds of
coal. The gauge of mine car tracks is 42 inches.
THE PIEDMONT AND GEORGES CREEK COAL COMPANY.
The Piedmont and Georges Creek Coal Company operates Washington mine No. 1, between
Eckhart and Hoffman; Washington mine No. 2, at Eckhart; and the Tacoma mine, near
Franklin. Washington mine No. 1 of the Piedmont and Georges Creek Coal Company is operated
by the above company under a lease from the Consolidation Coal Company. The mine is a
drift in the outcrop of the " Big Vein " on the south side of Braddock's Rim
between Eckhart and Clarysville.
Washington mine No. 2 is operated by the same company under a lease from Charles Leatham
(New York Mining Company?). The mine is a drift in the outcrop of the ' Big Vein
" at Eckhart, The Tacoma mine of the Piedmont and Georges Creek Coal Company is a
drift opening in the Lower Kittanning or " Six-foot" seam on the west side of
the coal basin and of Georges Creek, on a lease from Mr. E. J. Roberts and others. The
tipple is on a siding of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad a half-mile south of
Franklin station, just across the railroad from the tipple of the mines
of the Cumberland and Piedmont Mining Company. The entrance to the drift is 104 feet from
the tipple, a tram road connects the two and the elevation of the coal bed above the
siding necessitates a chute 74 feet to the railroad to convey the coal from the tipple to
the railroad. At the beginning of 1902 eighty-five men were employed and 6. mules were
used in operating the mine, and the maximum daily oui- put was 275 tons of coal. The coal
is mined by pick-work exclusively and the haulage effected by mules. A furnace ventilates
the mine and a syphon of 2-inch pipe assists in draining it. The mule cars when empty
weigh 1100 pounds and contain 1£ tons of coal. The gauge of mine car tracks is 42 inches.
The coal in this mine is about 6 feet thick with a streak of bone coal a few .inches thick
near the top and a streak of sulphur in places near the middle of the seam with occasional
rock faults and " clay veins." The usual room and pillar system of mining is
employed. The rooms are driven 14 feet wide with pillars 25 to 30 feet wide between them.
THE MIDLAND MINING COMPANY.
The Enterprise mine on a spur of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad, a half-mile
northeast of Midland, is operated by the Midland Mining Company (under a lease from the
Consolidation Coal Company). The seam mined is the " Big Vein," which has about
the same thickness as in the mines of Ocean JSTo. 1. The coal is mined by two drift
openings driven into the outcrop on the west side of Neff's Run. Seventy men and 7 horses
were employed in the mine in 1902 and the maximum daily output of coal at that time was
240 tons. The loaded mine cars are hauled by horses from the mines to the tipple over a
tramway 4000 feet long. The company is now installing a wire-rope haulnge plant consisting
of a single-drum 85-horsepower hoisting engine by which the loaded cars will be lifted to
the surface up an incline 1200 feet long. The coal is mined by hand pick-work. The mines
are self-draining and no artificial appliances are used for ventilation. The gauge of mine
tracks is 3 feet. The mine cars weigh when empty 1780 pounds and have a capacity of 2-1/2
tons loaded. A plain tipple, having an iron T-rail back-balance, loads the coal sidewise
into the railroad cars.
In 1903 the Midland Mining Company also opened a coal bed on Federal Hill
a mile or more south of Mt. Savage on the Winfield Trumble tract. The coal in this mine is
about four feet thick. This coal is claimed by some to be the lower bench of the Pittsburg
bed, while others consider it to be one of the beds between the Pittsburg and the
Franklin, or possibly the Franklin bed. Mules haul the coal over a tramway from the main
opening to the head of a gravity plane, 1300 feet long, which delivers it to the tipple.
The latter is on a siding of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad between Morantown
and Mt. Savage.
THE PHOENIN AND GEORGES CREEK MINING COMPANY.
About a mile above Franklin station on the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad on the
west side of the railroad and of Georges Creek is the tipple of the Phoenix and Georges
Creek Mining Company. This tipple is on a siding of the Cumberland and Pennsylvania
Railroad. The siding branches from the main track and crosses Georges Creek one-quarter of
a mile below the tipple. Both the " Big Vein " (Phoenix mine) and the "
Four-foot" or Bakers- town coal beds (Eckhart mine, a new mine opened in 1904) are
operated by this company with drift openings and the coal from both is brought to the one
tipple. A three-rail gravity plane 800 feet long connects the opening in the Bakerstown
coal bed with the tipple, and another three-rail gravity plane 1575 feet long brings the
coal in " trips " of two cars from the " Big Vein " mine to the top of
the
lower plane, to which it is transferred and lowered, one car at a time, to the tipple. The
improvements for this operation were put in in 1902. The coal is mined by the room and
pillar system, the rooms being 12 feet wide with 50 feet between points or centers. Props
11 feet long are used in the upper mine in the " Big Vein." No mining machinery
is used. The coal beds operated by this company lie on the western pitch of the basin and
the mines are naturally drained and ventilated. The cars used are of more modern
construction and different from those common to the region. The sides are held together by
strap-iron " binders " passing around the outside of the body of the car. The
cars used in the " Big Vein " mine have a capacity of 2£ tons of coal and when
empty weigh 1300 pounds. The gauge of tracks is 42 inches. The cars used in the Bakerstown
seam are of similar construction to those used in the " Big Vein " mine. The
tipple is the ordinary back-balance with frame trestle supports, and dumps the coal
sidewise into the railroad cars.
THE PIEDMONT-CUMBERLAND COAL COMPANY.
This company operates two mines on the eastern side of the Georges Creek valley and coal
basin. The coal from both mines is loaded over one tipple situated on a side-track of the
Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad nearly a mile above the point where the Georges Creek
empties into the north branch of the Potomac river. The " Big Vein " lying near
the top of Hampshire Hill is worked at the Hampshire mine. The Lower Kittanning coal bed
which lies not over 100 feet above the level of Georges Creek is also mined. A locomotive
brings the coal over a long, narrow-gauge railroad from drift openings in the outcrop of
the " Big Vein " on the northeastern side of Hampshire Hill to the top of a
steep and long three-rail gravity plane down which it is run to the tipple. A short
three-rail gravity plane parallel with the longer one connects the mine in the "
Six-foot" seam with the tipple, the entrance to the latter mire being close to the
top of the short plane.
THE MOSCOW-GEORGES CREEK MINING COMPANY.
The Moscow-Georges Creek Mining Company in 1902 opened and operated a drift mine in the
Bakerstown or "Four-foot" coal bed on the east side of the Georges Creek valley,
a half-mile above Barton. The tipple of this mine, known as Moscow No. 2, adjoins the
tipple of the Moscow mine of the Piedmont Mining Company and on the same set of sidings of
the Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad as the latter. The ventilation and drainage are
both natural. The coal is mined by pick-work. A short tramway connects the mine with the
tipple. The coal bed lies slightly above the necessary tipple height, to overcome which
the tipple has a long chute. The tipple is of the ordinary back-balance pattern and the
tipple structure and
chute are of wood. The mine is at present idle on account of the workings going to the dip
and the consequent inconvenience and expense of drainage.
The same company have also reopened the Pickell mine, renaming it Moscow No. 1, in the
" Four-foot" seam on the west side of the Georges Creek valley immediately
opposite the last-named mine. They have built a tipple but have not quite completed their
connections with the Cumberland and Pennsylvania .Railroad. The mine is now opened to ship
450 tons a day. The coal of the " Four-foot " bed in the mines of this company
varies in thickness from 26 to 34 inches. The Moscow-Georges Creek Company have also
opened a drift into the outcrop of the old " Big Vein " Pickell mine, and
connected it with their tipple on the west side of the valley by a gravity plane 1950 feet
long. The company intends to build another plane from the top of the new plane to reach a
knob of " Big Vein " that lies higher up on Pickell Hill.
THE CUMBERLAND-GEORGES CREEK COAL COMPANY.
On the west side of Georges Creek and of the coal basins one-half mile above Franklin
station the Cumberland-Georges Creek Coal Company has a tipple on a siding of the
Cumberland and Pennsylvania Railroad and operates the Penn mine, a drift in the Bakerstown
or "Four-foot" coal bed. The thickness of the coal (in the mine) varies from 2^
to 3 J feet. A three-rail gravity plane 1300 feet long and a tram road from the top of the
plane to the drift connects the mine with the tipple. In 1902 the mine employed about 50
men and shipped about 100 tons of coal per day. Two mules were used inside and on the
outside tramway. An opening has also been made in the " Six-foot" bed close to
the tipple and at, or slightly below, the water-level of Georges Creek, but this mine is
not operated at the present time. It is the intention of the company to operate four mines
over the one tipple. The one on the " Six-foot" coal bed at water-level to be
called the Franklin mine, the one in the Upper Freeport or " Three-foot" seam
next above called the Mooredale mine, the Penn mine which is now worked in the "
Four-foot" seam, and the Ferndale mine in the Franklin or 3£-foot seam above the
" Four- foot." When in full operation it is expected that the daily capacity of
the four mines, the coal from which will be dumped over this tipple, will be 1500 to 2000
tons. The coal in the drift now operated is mined by pick-work. The mine is self-draining
and the ventilation is natural. A wooden air-stack without fire is used to produce a
difference of level between the inlet and outlet of the air. The
tipple is of framework covered with corrugated galvanized iron and has two chutes loading
the coal endwise. The sidings are long enough to contain 30 empty and 30 loaded railroad
cars. The gauge of mine car tracks is 42 inches. The mine cars weigh when empty about 1200
pounds and hold one ton twelve hundred weight of coal.
THE PIEDMONT MINING COMPANY.
The Moscow mine of the Piedmont Mining Company is a drift opening in the outcrop of the
" Big Vein " on the east side of Georges Creek and the coal basin. The tipple of
the ordinary style of plain wooden structure, is on a side-track of the Cumberland and
Pennsylvania Railroad, a half-mile above (northeast of) Barton. A gravity plane 1100 feet
long connects the mine with the tipple. Fifty-one men were employed in 1902 and three
horses used for haulage purposes to produce a maximum output of 500 tons per day. The
drainage and ventilation are both natural and the coal is mined by pick- work exclusively.
The gauge of mine car tracks used is 42 inches and the weight of cars averages 1817 pounds
with a carrying capacity of 2 to 2-1/2 tons of coal. The Bakerstown or "
Four-foot" coal bed has also been opened but is not mined to any extent.