An old picture post card view of the sinking of the shaft in 1912 at the Lykens Valley Coal Company, Bear Gap, Dauphin County, Pennsylvania.
The wooden structure at left contained the machinery for the digging of a vertical mine shaft near the center of the Bear Gap. The intent was to burrow straight down and create five mining levels, each approximately 300 feet deeper than the one above it. Extending from the shaft would be tunnels from which the coal could be extracted and brought up on steam powered elevators through the shaft in coal cars. The coal cars would be pushed from the elevator onto tracks which would go to the breaker.
This mining method was chosen because using the slopes had become too expensive since the available coal was too deep.
At the same time, construction was taking place on other buildings at the mine site. Those buildings can be seen at the center of the photo.
The shaft was not completed until 1915 and the first coal came up through the shaft via elevator on 14 October 1915.
Two of the three men pictured standing to the left of the building at the right have been identified as John Russel and George H. Ibberson.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.