A photograph taken about 1930 of the Tunnel Ridge Colliery at right and at left a part of Mahanoy City, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, including a church steeple at left.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1997:
The Tunnel Ridge Colliery was located at the western end of the Mahanoy City borough on the south side of the Mahanoy Creek.
The colliery was opened by a water level tunnel driven 430 feet south to the North Dip Skidmore vein by George W. Cole in 1862. The first shipment of 27,837 tons of coal was made in 1863.
The water level workings extended over a large area in the Mammoth, Seven Foot, and Skidmore veins.
In 1865, the tunnel was extended to the Buck Mountain vein and in 1869 a slope was sunk 48 feet on the North Dip Skidmore vein.
George Cole operated the colliery until 1879 when it was purchased by the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company, which sank a tender slope in 1889. In 1891, it drove an airway 270 feet on the Holmes vein to an air shaft sunk 45 feet deep on which a large fan was erected.
In 1894, the workings from Tunnel Ridge were driven into the old abandoned Hillside Colliery workings and were mined at a section of Tunnel Ridge. The colliery was idle during 1895 and only the pumping continued.
In 1897, the Elmwood Colliery slopes were extended to the same level as the Tunnel Ridge levels and a tunnel was driven 333 feet across the basin from the elmwood South Dip Mammoth vein gangway to the Tunnel Ridge New Slope East Mammoth gangway. This connected the two collieries for transporting the Elmwood coal to the new slope. At the same time, a new breaker was built to prepare the coal from both collieries.
The new slope was sunk 816 feet through which all coal mined at the two collieries was hoisted in gunboats and the Elmwood breaker was permanently abandoned and the Elmwood Colliery was merged with the Tunnel ridge Colliery.
In 1899, an air compressor was installed for operating air locomotives. It replaced mule power.
In 1903, an underground slope was sunk 390 feet on the Skidmore Soup Dip.
In 1911, a water level tunnel was driven 900 feet north to the Lykens Valley veins and another water level tunnel driven 225 feet to the Buck Mountain vein.
In 1913, a fireproof hospital was built at the foot of the underground slope fourth level.
In 1915, the Lykens Valley Water Level Tunnel was extended 159 feet. The colliery continued until October 1931 when all mining ceased.
The total shipments from Tunnel Ridge Colliery were 8,719,016 tons of coal as of 1928.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, August 16 1997. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
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