A photograph taken around 1900 of three miners relaxing on the gangway track. The miners are wearing an early version of safety lamps on their canvas hats.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1998:
The Girardville Colliery was opened by drifts on the South Dip Buck Mountain Vein that were driven east and west from the Raven Run Creek by James J. Connor and Joseph D. Patterson in 1861.
The first car of coal was sent to market on May 30, 1862, and was consigned to the mayor of Philadelphia, Alexander Henry, who transferred it for use to the committee that was providing refreshments to the soldiers passing through the city on their way to the front.
Connor and Paterson continued mining the Buck Mountain Vein by driving a number of drifts at consecutive high levels until 1866, when the firm was dissolved by the withdrawal of Joseph Patterson.
The operation was continued by Connor & Son to 1869, when it was purchased by Agard, Moodie & Company due to the retirement of Connor from the business.
In 1869, Agard, Moodie & Company was granted a lease from the Girard Estates and continues to mine the six drifts on the Buck Mountain and Mammoth Veins.
In 1872, it sank a slope 438 feet on the Mammoth South Dip Vein and also built an extensive breaker. Upon its completion, the old breaker was removed.
The Mammoth Vein opened at the breaker level and was driven over a mile in length in 1871. These valuable improvements cost $200,000.
In 1873, a pump slope was sunk 750 feet east of the coal slope.
Agard, Moodie & Company continued the operation until 1876 when, on August 12, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company came in possession and started working the colliery on September 16. It made it a section of its Hammond Colliery.
Total shipments from the Girardville Colliery were 1,101,012 tons of coal to 1875. After that date, the tonnage was included with that of the Hammond Colliery.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, April 11, 1998. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.