A photograph from September 1931 of miners on their way to work in the mine. None of the individuals in the photo are identified by name.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1998:
The Colorado Colliery was located east of Girardville on the south side of Shenandoah Creek.
The colliery was opened by a water-level tunnel driven south 360 feet to the North Dip Mammoth Vein at an elevation of 170 feet above the creek level by George Huntzinger and Jeremiah Seitzinger in 1861. The first shipment of 22,430 tons was made in 1865.
Huntzinger and Seitzinger continued the operation to 1867, when the Philadelphia Coal Company came into possession, making improvements to the breaker and opening the Skidmore Vein above water level.
In 1871, the company sank a slope 270 feet on the North Dip Top-Split Mammoth Vein to the first level at the inside end of the tunnel. The amount of capital invested in these improvements was $150,000.
In 1874, the Lehigh Valley Coal Company purchased an interest in the colliery and continued mining under the old name. A 7-ton locomotive was put into service, replacing mule power in the water-level tunnel.
In 1876, a second slope was sunk to the level of the No. 1 slope workings and mining continued to 1879.
In 1881, the Lehigh Valley Coal Company leased the colliery and began operating it as Packer No. 1 Colliery. In 1885, it abandoned the breaker and began transporting coal to the Pack No. 5 breaker for preparation.
In 1889, the Packer No. 1 workings at the western end were connected with the Packer No. 5 shaft with a tunnel driven from the Holmes Vein to the Mammoth Vein workings.
On July 28, 1891, a fire occurred in the No. 1 slope between the water level and the surface. The head frame, ropes, slope timbers, coal and debris fell into the slope, but a cage was placed at the water level landing that prevented fire in the slope below the cage. The fire was extinguished in 46 hours but two months was required to repair the damage.
About 1892, the colliery became a section of the Packer No. 5 Colliery.
The total shipments from the Colorado Colliery were 1,538,254 tons to 1886, when the totals were included with those of Packer No. 5 Colliery.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, May 30, 1998. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.