A photograph taken about 1885 of a primitive locomotive passing in front of an old wooded coal breaker.
From a series of articles that appeared in the Pottsville Republican and Herald in 1998:
The original opening of the York Farm Colliery was made by a drift driven by Dr. McFarland in 1814. There is no record of the length of time the mine was operated, but in 1836 George Potts began sinking a slope on the Black Mine (Peach Mountain) Vein. The slope was sunk to the first lift, a distance of 240 feet.
The original cost of engine and slope including 460 yards of gangway driven in faulty coal was $15,000.
Continuing the gangway 200 yards further west of the slopes, good coal was obtained and it was continued without faults for more than 1,000 yards.
In 1837, 33,000 tons were mined from this colliery and shipped on his lateral railroad down Market Street in Pottsville to the Mount Carbon Railroad. This railroad was constructed at a cost of $9,000, with an additional cost of $7,000 for 500 feet of landing and dock at the basin of the canal on Railroad Street, and one-half mile of track costing $1,500, with the additional costs of breaker, houses and improvements. The total cost before shipping any coal was $100,000.
In 1837, a tunnel was driven north to the Tunnel Vein.
The colliery was operated without any change of operators until 1857, when abandoned because the breaker burned down, which forced George Potts into bankruptcy.
The original slope was located north of the Peoples Railway and in line with 14th Street. Later, because of trouble with the town council with the mine car tracks on Market Street, a second slope was sunk 1,700 feet west of the first slope. It had a length of 750 feet at the time of its abandonment.
The colliery was reopened in 1889 by the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, which continued the operation to 1899, when it was finally abandoned.
The Salem, Rabbit Holes, Tunnel, Peach Mountain and Tracy veins were worked. The Peach Mountain and Tunnel were the more persistent veins worked.
The York Farm store and office was located at Center and Mauch Streets, with its warehouse along the canal on Mauch Chunk Street.
Total shipment from the colliery was 482,199 tons as of 1857 and 989,011 tons as of 1928.
The capital invested in 1852 was $68,000.
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Article by Frank Blase, Historian, Reading Anthracite Company Historical Library, Pottsville Republican & Herald, July 3, 1998. Obtained from Newspapers.com.
Corrections and additional information should be added as comments to this post.