An undated photograph taken at the Bear Valley Colliery near Shamokin, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania: Bear Valley breaker boys, wearing their colliery-issue safety goggles, are pictured in front of the all-wood breaker.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1997:
BEAR VALLEY COLLIERY
The Bear Valley Colliery was located in Northumberland County, 3.5 miles southwest of Shamokin.
The colliery was operated by a water-level tunnel driven south 1,200 feet to the North Dip Twin Veins of the Mammoth by the Shamokin and Bear Valley Coal Company in 1863. The first shipment of 6, 352 tons of coal was made in 1864 when the lessees, Booth, Loeb & Foltz, failed due to no money and a disagreement of partners. It was then operated by the Shamokin and Bear Valley Coal Company until 1870.
in 1870, Heim, Goodwill and Company leased the colliery and operated it to 1873, when the Philadelphia and Reading Coal & Iron Company purchased the Bear Valley lands. It started to sink the No. 1 shaft, 12 by 22 feet with four compartments, under the supervision of Gen. Henry Pleasants, chief engineer for the company. It was completed to a depth of 319 feet to the rough vein in 1874.
From the shaft a tunnel was driven 135 feet south to the North Dip of the Mammoth Vein, intersecting the Holmes Vein at 81 feet with gangways driven east and west.
After being fully developed, the colliery was leased to Heim and Goodwill, which operated the tunnel colliery in connection with the shaft until 1878, when it suspended operations.
During the same year, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal and Iron Company began operating the two collieries as one unit. It continued to develop the colliery until January 1883, when a fire was discovered in the West Mammoth shaft level that suspended all work. The collier was flooded and pumped to resume work September 4, 1883.
On September 22, 1884, another fire developed in the manway and the colliery was forced to shut down until January 12, 1885.
in 1906, the No. 2 shaft was sunk 1,002 feet to the Buck Mountain Vein and, in 1907, two tunnels were driven.
In 1909, a single-track slope was sunk on the No. 5 vein from the east-west water-level gangway.
On February 5, 1910, another fire was discovered west of the shaft and the Mammoth Vein workings were closed until August 1912.
In 1911, the company built a railroad track 7,900 feet in length to a new rock slope in the North Dip Veins.
In 1913, electric haulage was installed in the No. 1 shaft and, in 1917, a single-track slope was sunk 920 feet on the Buck Mountain Vein.
All mining ceased June 19, 1939.
The total shipments from Bear Valley were 10,318,980 tons as of 1928.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, October 18 – 19, 1997.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.