An undated photograph showing “man cars” that were used to transport miners into the mines.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1998:
The Weston Colliery was located on the north slope of the Shenandoah Valley just north of Packer No. 3.
The colliery was opened by a water-level tunnel driven 3,807 feet north to the Little Buck Mountain Vein by the Locust Mountain Coal Company, which started driving the tunnel on March 18, 1913 and completed it in March 1914. The first shipment of 5,615 tons, was made April 11, 1914.
On January 1, 1913, Bair Snyder Jr. was granted a lease on the property by the Girard Estates, which was transferred by him to the Locust Mountain Coal Company, of which he was president and general manager.
In April of the same year, a large and well-equipped breaker was built on the site of the old Packer No. 3 Breaker, which was removed in 1906. In June of 1913, the stripping at the eastern basin of the Mammoth, Skidmore and Seven-Foot veins was started. Three large 70-ton steam shovels were used for excavating. The material was handled by 11 20-ton locomotives, 74 dump cars and three revolving steam shovels for loading the coal.
In 1915, the company installed a Bucyrus 175B-type electric drag line excavator weighing 255 tons. It had a 3.5-tard dipper on a boom 125 feet in length. Two eight ton electric locomotives were also placed in service.
Mining continued on an extensive scale and tunnels and gangways were driven on all veins covered by the lease. The colliery was one of the largest producers in the southern coal field, having a maximum shipment of 655,129 tons in 1923.
The Locust Mountain Coal Company continued operating the colliery to 1933 when, after all the equipment of recoverable value was removed, the colliery was abandoned, as it was exhausted.
A new lease for one year from July 1, 1933, covering the remaining coal on the property, was made to the Shenandoah Coal Company.
The total shipment from the Weston Colliery was 7,274, 782 tons as of 1928.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, June 20, 1998. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
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