Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/55

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COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES

two counties were in operation the annual into thick layers in another. Thcj- plunge to production w as an average o f 20,000 tons. F o r a depth o f two thousand feet in one place each ton o f pig iron were required 3.25 tons below w ater level, and in a short distance o f ore, 2.05 tons o f coal and 1.59 tons o f lime­ rise mure than a thousand feet above (he sea. stone. In the Pottsville region, o f which Columbia beds arc a part, the coal lies in long, narrow COAL M IN IN G basins under the valleys of the streams, the Practically all the anthracite coal produced edges o f which rise to the tops of the moun­ in the world comes from an area o f 484 square tains and the centers sink several hundred m iles in northeastern Pennsylvania. In this feet below the surface. rt^ion 87 per cent of the total acreage o f coal Most of the mining is done by "stripping" lands is owne<] by eleven railroad corporations. o ff (he upper layers o f conglomerate rock T h e Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Com ­ w|hich arc characteristic of the hard coal re­ pany controls 6 3 per cent o f all the anthracite gions, and as the stratum o f coal sinks slopes coal in the United States, and more than h alf are run in the sam e direction until the bottom of the mines in Columbia county. T hese rail­ of the basin is reached. T h e coal is hauled roads own the mines, the rails and rolling stock, to the “ breakers” and there broken, sorted and the yard s and pockets in the cities, operate the freed from slate. Vast piles o f refuse or wholesaling companies and control the retail­ “ culm” liave accumulated in years around ers. T h u s they fix the price o f coal to the these breakers and render the scene gloomy consumer. and desolate. T he cost o f mining a ton o f coal in the Coal wa.s disrovered in B eaver township in Schuylkill region is 8 i.8 o. T h e roads owning 1826, but not till 1854 w as any attempt made the mines charge $ 1.5 0 a ton freight fo r house­ lo mine it. T h e Columbia Coal & Iron Comhold sizes o f coal transported to tidewater. jKinv w as formed in 1864 by Sim on P. Kase. T his is 30 per cent more than the rate fo r gen­ o f i)anville, and a railroad built to McCauley eral merchandise. Ctxil at the mine mouth is mountain. In 1867 shipments of the coal be­ ? 3-75 >on. T h e freight charge is $ 1 .5 0; gan and in 1869 the mines were exhausted and the railroad's wholesaling branch ch aises the railroad removed. T h e mines arc now twenty-five cents fo r handling, and the retailer operated by the B eaver V alley Coal Company, adds $ 1 .2 5 more, making the cost o f a ton o f and produced 4,000 tons in 19 13 . None of the coal to the householder $6.75 in N ew Y ork. companies here have ever made m ore than T h e United States government ow ns and bare operating cxjicnscs. as the coal is on the operates a coal mine at W illlston, N. Dak., extrem e tops o f M cCauley and Buck moun­ where the cost o f mining a ton is $ 1.7 8 . T his tains. in shallow strata and difficult o f access. T h e mines in Conyngham were opened be­ includes all charges except transportation. Although within the coal region of the east­ tween 1854 and 1867. Most of them are lo­ ern part o f Pennsylvania, Columbia county has cated on the lands of the G irard estate and few mines o f that precious mineral. These arc leased by the Reading and Lehigh V alley R ail­ located in B e av e r and Conyngham townships, road Companies. The principal mines now the latter being the only ones profitably open are the Continental and Rcpellier col­ worked. lieries at C en tralia; the M idvalley collieries There is a great difference in the soft and at A ristc s; and the M orris R idge and North hard coal mining r ^ io n s. In the form er the .Ashland collieries, below Centralia. beds tic tow down in the strata and are regu­ A ccording to the figures published by the lar in character and easily mined. B u t anthra­ State G w logical Commission in 1882 the total cite coal beds are contorted, turned over and production of the mines then in operation in jam m ed into strange and irregular forms. Columbia county w as 7 2 2 ,114 tons. Follow ­ Squeezed by enormous pressure in past ages, ing are the names of the mines, location and they disappear in one spot only to expand o|>crators; Same

I.eeation

Operator—iSSe

Tone

B a s t ................................... Bt$ Mine run.................... P. & R. Coal & Iron Co....................................... 90,161 Potts ................................ I/KuMdate ......................... P. & R. Coal & Iron Co....................................... ilazel Dell......................... Centralia ............................. I.. A. Riley & Co .................................................. 7.638 Coniinental.......................Centralia.............................!.ehiBh Valley Coal Co....................................... 16,w Monroe .............................Montana .............................A. I L Church....................................................... 35.oM I.ofcan................................ Centralia ............................ L A. Rjley & Co..................................................231.1(9 Centralia ...........................Centralia ............................ L. A . Riley & Co ................................................. 88,363 Rear G ty ...........................Centralia ............................ John Q. Williams................................................ 2900 Morris Ridge....................Centralia ............................May & Co............................................................ 55.490 North Ashland.................. Centralia ............................ P. & R . Coal & Iron Co...................................... ill,o j6