An undated interior view of a gangway showing an unidentified miner standing beside a coal car.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1997:
The Preston No. 3 Colliery was located just west of the Girardville borough line along the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad main line and south of Mahanoy Creek.
The original opening was a drift driven west on the North Dip Mammoth Vein by Buckley, Moody & Company in 1857. In 1862, the company had driven 1,300 feet of gangway, when it was succeeded by John Jones & Company, which operated until 1864.
On March 16, 1864, the Preston Coal Company was chartered. Its officers and directors were: Henry D. Moore, president; George J. Forest, vice president; H. P. Rutter, secretary and treasurer; Henry D. Moore, William G. Moorhead, Forest, William J. Hunter Jr. and J. Hicks Conrad, directors.
The Preston Coal & Improvement Company leased the colliery to Buckley, Moody & Company, which drove a water-level tunnel 170 feet south to the North Dip Holmes Vein, and 450 feet of gangway west.
In 1871, William Kendrick & Company leased the colliery and sunk a slope 100 feet to the water-level gangway, extending it 275 feet to the first level. That company mined to 1872.
In 1872, the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company came in possession of the colliery through the purchase of the lands of the Preston Coal & Improvement Company and it sank the tender slope to the same level as the hoisting slope. The Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company spent $200,000 on improvements and developments, driving a tunnel 300 feet south from the first level to the South Dip Mammoth Vein in 1873. In 1878, it extended it across the basin 570 feet to the North Dip Mammoth Vein, which was mined eastward 3,000 feet to its boundary, and westward to where it connected with the Preston No. 4 Colliery workings.
The Preston No. 4 Colliery (Hunters Tunnel) was consolidated with Preston No. 3 in 1876.
In 1889, the hoisting and tender slopes were extended 270 feet to the second level, a total length of 645 feet.
In 1891, from the second level, 350 feet west of the slope, a tunnel was driven 1,200 feet south through the basin and saddle to the North Dip Mountain Vein, intersecting the Buck Mountain Vein.
In 1897, the Mammoth Vein gangways reached their boundaries and, in 1902, the colliery was abandoned as it was exhausted.
The total shipment of coal from Preston No. 3 and Preston No. 4 collieries was 1,367,046 tons.
_______________________________________________
Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, December 13, 1997. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.