A photograph of the side view of a new and improved 21-foot mine fan with wrought iron fan casing which replaced the old wooden type.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1998:
The Hartford Colliery was located south of Mahanoy City on the south side of Mahanoy Creek.
The colliery was opened by a tunnel driven south 160 feet to the North Dip Buck Mountain Vein by Thomas Gorman & Son in 1859 and they mined for local consumption until 1863.
In 1863, Bordman, Rataburn & Phillips purchased the colliery and made improvements that increased the shipments from 1,073 tons in 1863 to 21,845 tons in 1864, when it shipped by a railroad then completed to the colliery. It continued operating to 1865, when succeeded by William F. Patterson and Company, which operated as The Hartford Coal Association to 1870, when it became involved in financial troubles and suspended operations.
In 1870, Henry Eshelman and William F. Patterson leased the colliery, spent $25,000 in improvements, and operated it under the new name of the North Star Colliery. In 1871, they tunneled 340 feet south to the Mammoth Vein and mined several veins cut in the tunnels to 1874, when they failed. The gangways at that time had advanced a total distance of 10,000 feet.
In 1874, The Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company took possession of the colliery and, after making improvements and repairs and driving a tunnel 975 feet south across the basin to the Mammoth and Buck Mountain veins, leased the colliery to Richard Phillips and Company. The new company extended the improvements in 1875 by driving a tunnel south to the Skidmore Vein and continued the operation until 1877.
In 1877, Reynolds Robert & Company succeeded in operating and, in 1880, the works were driven into the Tunnel Ridge Colliery workings. The mining continued until 1884, when the colliery was abandoned.
The total shipment from Hartford Colliery was 328,135 tons.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, February 14, 1998. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.