A view from an old picture post card of the Short Mountain Slope of the Lykens Valley Coal Company, on the western side of Bear Gap, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, one of two slopes built to haul coal up from the mines. The 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 cars up from five levels below.
The men in the photo are not identified.
The photo was taken looking east. The slope went into the mountain in a northward direction.
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