The Potts Colliery Breaker is pictured at center, with the wooden rock line on the left of center. The Primrose Slope is at top center and the Mammoth Slope is on the upper right, behind the breaker. At the top of the mountain is the fan house, with the new cleaning plant at top left and the shops and offices at left center.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1997:
Locustdale Colliery was located on the Big Run Creek at Locustdale at the intersection of Schuylkill, Northumberland and Columbia Counties.
The colliery was opened by two drifts east and west on the South Dip Mammoth Vein by George M. Potts in 1857. The first shipment of 26,401 tons of coal was made in 1858 and increased to 60,000 tons in 1859.
In 1858, the first steam fan was used there for mine ventilation. It was invented by Louden Beadle, superintendent for Potts and Company.
Potts and Company continued to mine the east water level until 1862, when it was abandoned.
In 1861, miners sank the Mammoth Slope 530 feet to the first level and drove a tunnel 350 feet south to the Primrose Vein.
In 1854, the Locust Dale Coal Company was organized. George H. Potts was elected president; Francis Jaques, treasurer; and Theodore Emory, secretary. George H. Potts, George B. Upton, J. Wiley Edmunds, Addison Child and S. Endicott Peabody were directors.
Under the new management, the west water-level gangway was driven 6,800 feet in 1871.
The slope was extended 376 feet to the second level and a tunnel was driven 800 feet north to the Mammoth Vein north basin. Also that year, the tender and pump slopes were sunk east of the hoisting slope to the same level.
In 1871, F. B. Gowan, president of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company, purchased the colliery for the Laurel Run Improvement Company, and it was operated by Stephen Harris as agent until 1873.
In 1873, the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company took possession and changed the name to the Potts Colliery.
In 1880, the second-level gangway was driven 8,900 feet east, where it connected with old south dip Wadleigh Slope, which gave a second outlet for the colliery.
In 1883, a new bull engine with a 50inch cylinder and 120-inch stroke, new masonry foundations and building was erected on the site of the old one. Also, a 2,250 feet-long narrow gauge railroad was built and six dump cars to convey the culm. A pump with 5,300 feet of column pipe was installed at the creek to supply water, and 725 feet of cast-iron troughs were used to take the slush to the openings.
In May 1884, the colliery was suspended due to the encroachment of a fire. All creeks were turned in and the working were flooded below the water-level gangway. On October 21, 1888, miners started to remove the water and on August 16, 1889, the water was completely removed. This fire started in 1862 and by 1875 had extended to other parts of the mine.
In 1890, the Mammoth Vein slope was extended 307 feet to the third level, a total of 1,213 feet from the surface.
In 1891, the Primrose tender and pump slopes were sunk 1,094 feet to the same level as the Mammoth Slope and connected with the slope by a tunnel driven 374 feet north in which a brick dam 20 feet thick was built.
On April 25, 1893, another fire started on the third-level gangway and again the creeks were turned into the colliery to flood the mine. The water was removed on October 16, 1893.
In 1895, the Primrose Tunnel was extended 920 feet north to the Mammoth Vein back basin.
In 1902, a strike occurred that suspended operations from May 12 to October 23.
In 1913, a tender slope on the Diamond Vein from the surface to the fifth level was sunk. The colliery mined the veins extensively from the Buck Mountain to the Tracy and it was considered one of the leading collieries in the Middle Coal Fields.
The Potts Colliery closed down January 6, 1955. Total shipments from the Potts Colliery to 1928 were 10,209,6121 tons of coal.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, February 22, 1997. Obtained through Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.