The Locust Summit Central Breaker was built on the site of the Miriam Colliery slopes. It was the largest coal breaker site in the world when it was completed in 1931 – covering 32 square miles and 528 acres. The village of Miriam is located in the upper right corner of the photograph. The main line of the Reading Railroad with its depot is located in the lower right corner. The briquet plant is on the left by the tracks. The breaker could accommodate 980 coal cars and was capable of processing 12,500 tons a day.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1997:
Located west of Locustdale in Mount Carmel Township, Northumberland County, the Miriam Colliery was opened by a slope sunk 330 feet on the South Dip Mammoth Vein by the Locustdale Coal Company in 1867.
The first shipment of 35,410 tons was made in 1868.
The Locustdale Coal Company conducted the operation of the colliery on its own lands, and the officers were George Potts, president; Francis Jaques, treasurer; and Theodore D. Emory, secretary. The company operated the colliery until 1871, driving the gangways westward to its boudary at the west land line and eastward to a fault.
In 1871, Franklin B. Gowen, president of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, purchased the company lands. Stephen Harris was the agent and superintendent.
In 1873, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company took possession of the colliery and extended the slope to the second level – a total length of 884 feet from the surface – and sunk a new pump slope 1,180 feet east of the Mammoth Slope to the first level.
Powerful machinery was installed – including two new hoisting engines at the coal slope and one at the pump slope, with 20 new boilers 33 inches in diameter by 30 feet long.
The breaker was rebuilt and the old machinery replaced with more efficient appliances for the preparation of coal.
In 1874, a third slope was sunk to establish the depth of the basin, and in 1877, the hoisting and pump slopes were extended to the third level, a total length from the surface of 1,230 feet.
In 1877-1878, miners drove a tunnel 840 feet south at a point 1,050 feet west of the coal slope with the intention of later extending it across the basin to the North Dip Mammoth Vein, which was completed at a distance of 3,140 feet in 1891.
In Spring 1885, the breaker was destroyed by fire. It was replaced with a larger one with more modern machinery in November of that year. The Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company continued mining on an extensive scale until March 31, 1897, when they abandoned the colliery because it did not pay to operate it. Total shipment from the Miriam Colliery was 2,769,938 tons.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, March 15, 1997. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
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