A photograph taken on February 5, 1889 of the old wood breaker at the Girard Colliery. Small boiler houses are at left.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1997:
The Girard Colliery was located south of Girardville on the south side of Mahanoy Creek. It was opened by a water-level tunnel driven 480 feet south to the South Dip Mammoth Vein by Cornelius Garretson in 1863, and the first shipment of 13,717 tons of coal was made in 1864. Garretson mined the tunnel 2,800 feet until it reached its boundary in 1867.
In 1867, his lease was assigned to Theodore Garretson and James Beaty, who operated the colliery to 1876. They sank a shaft 174 feet deep and, in 1869, sank the slope 124 feet on the North Dip Holmes Vein.
In 1873, a water-level tunnel was driven 320 feet south to the Buck Mountain Vein and gangways were driven east and west in a poor, slatey vein that was abandoned because it was unprofitable.
During the same year, Garretson and Beaty sank a new slope 330 feet to a third level on the South Dip Holmes Vein to replace the old slope.
On October 31, 1876, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company leased the colliery.
In 1884, the tender slope was abandoned on the North Dip of the Holmes Vein.
In 1886, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company extended the South Dip hoisting slope to the basin and a second slope was sunk on the same vein 215 feet east, to be used as the new tender slope. The colliery was idle for two years for improvements and mining was resumed in 1888. Also during this time, the breaker was rebuilt and new pumps with eight additional boilers were added.
On November 25, 1895, operations at the colliery were suspended and it was allowed to fill with water.
On January 1, 1899, the colliery was leased to W. R. McTurke & Company, which reopened it.
In 1901, miners drove a water-level drainage tunnel at the Holmes Slope, which had been slushed and reopened to the first level.
In 1909, a slope was sunk 331 feet on the Holmes Vein and, by 1911, preparations were made for removing the water from the lower levels of the old workings.
By 1914, the water was successfully tapped and removed. The McTurke Coal Company operated the colliery until September 26, 1921, when it failed. A new lease was made with the Girardville Mining Company, which was organized by the creditors of the McTurke Coal Company. The colliery was placed in the hands of the Madeira Coal Company, which operated it until October 31, 1921.
On November 1, 1921, the Wentz Coal Company bought the stock in the Girardville Mining Company and continued operating under the Girardville Mining company name.
In February 1923, the lease was transferred to the Hazel/Brook Coal Company.
The total shipments from Girard Colliery were 4,552,561 tons as of 1928.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, November 8, 1997. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.