Short Mountain Colliery: Timeline 1910-1919
1910:
Purchased new water heater for Bull boiler house.
Constructed coal pockets for Bull boiler house.
Erected new ash conveyor at Bull boiler house.
Erected new mine water tanks and trough for breaker supply.
Purchased new transit.
Erected consolidated water heaters for both Bull and new boiler house.
Proposed new breaker.
Preparing to sink Basin Pillar Slope, No. 2 Counter, No. 3 West, Big Vein.
Completed pump house, bottom No. 4 Slope.
Making pump house No. 4 Slope extension.
Purchased new pump at No. 4 Slope extension.
Purchased white ash coal slope engine.
Purchased Little Giant air drill.
Suspension 73 days due to slow market.
1911:
Extensive alterations to No. 4 breaker.
Erected lumber storage building close to general shop.
Erected new air compressor building – concrete blocks – 4th air compressor in 3rd building, south of No. 1 Shaft on same level; purchased Ingersoll Rand air compressor.
Erected eastside fan, No. 3, concrete block building at west end of Big Lick Mountain.
Purchased No. 13 steam locomotive.
Erected pea coal storage with conveyor at the retail to discontinue storage yard at Millersburg.
Draeger Rescue Apparatus completed.
Erected safety-lamp building, concrete, fireproof, close to No. 1 Drift on Short Mountain.
Driving No. 1 Drift test slope.
Made 7 fireproof stables inside.
Erected No. 4 fan for White Ash.
Purchased engine for No. 1 Basin slope
January – 29 degrees below zero.
Suspension and railroad embargo: 82 days.
1912:
New shaker addition for washery.
Erected conveyor line at washery with trough; along highway.
Extensive breaker repairs – 4th breaker.
Additional battery of boilers removed from Williamstown and Bull engine house enlarged.
Erected brass foundry building.
New breaker – 5th completed at Short Mountain – started August 12, 1912; it was finished in February 1913 and sorted its first coal on March 1st.
Only 155 wooden cars in use, began buying steel cars.
Erected new motor house between air compressor building and small power plant at No. 1 Shaft level.
Built breaker slate plane.
Erected No. 4 fan, Bear Swamp.
Purchased electric fan blower for inside of mines.
Erecting hoisting engine and making engine room in the Whites Vein Basin Slope.
Pump room and erecting of big Goyne pump completed.
No. 1 Shaft, began sinking March 12, 1912. First cars delivered in 1915.
Seven week strike totaling 43 days and one day suspension.
Six week wreck on Short Mountain Slope.
1913:
Erected new slate conveyor north of washery.
Additional battery of boilers from Williamstown for new boiler house.
Purchased cellar oil tanks for supply store.
Purchased second Ingersoll Rand air compressor.
Razing No. 4 breaker and separator.
Erecting concrete pockets at retail yard.
Sinking: East side air slope; Whites Vein Basin Slope, No 4. Extension, No. 4 Slope; trial slope in the Big Vein East, bottom of Bear Gap Slope, completed 1914.
Supsension: 13 and 4/9 days. Also idle 5 days for Old Home Week.
1914:
Boiler raised and fire boxes placed under them.
New air line to White Ash.
Erected new fan, engine house and air shaft, east end of Short Mountain and south of air compressor.
Erected steel trestle for boiler coal tracks, new boiler house.
Wooden cars entirely discarded.
Mine car wheel from present pattern in use 7 years and will be continued. The American Car and Foundry Wheel.
Pennsylvania Railroad placed large railroad car scales west of Lykens, doing away with scale at both collieries.
Placed steel timber at No. 4 Level Whites Vein West, No. 4 Slope.
Placed motor route in old No. 1 Level, Whites Vein East.
First Red Shale gangway in No. 3 Level, No. 1 Shaft. Called the No. 7 Counter Whites Vein East, No. 4 Slope.
Bore hole for drainage of shaft tunnels.
Completed plane, Whites Vein East, old No. 1 Level. This plane will abandon Lykens Valley Slope.
Driving raise on Whites Vein Basin Slope.
Suspension: 61 and 4/9 days. One day strike.
1915:
Erected heater house for washery.
Purchased 3 Wilmot jigs. A buckwheat, pea and stove.
Placed new style of grater in boilers.
Purchased a 10 horsepower electric hoist for haulage on the rock bank.
Erected inside foreman office and hospital near No. 1 Shaft.
Fire at bottom of No. 4 Slope, East Big Vein. It was discovered by Joseph West. The colliery was idle for 2 days starting November 8th.
Electrified haulage on No. 5 Level.
Sinking: East side air slope; Basin Slope, Whites Vein, No. 4 Slope; Trial Slope, Pat Martin, White Ash; No. 1 Shaft finished May 1.
Suspension of 93 days.
1916:
Built cross conveyor at food of old conveyor at washery.
September 12th, an engineer pulled a loaded car over the new sheave wheel at No. Shaft.
March, the Bear Gap Slope territory was finished.
Placed hospitals at the No. 1 and No. 5 Levels in the No. 1 Shaft.
Strike, 17 days missed and suspended for 19 days.
1917:
April – The United States declared war on Germany.
Purchased new cylinder for washery engine from Goyne brothers.
Rebuilt No. 8 steam locomotive.
Purchased chassis for first auto ambulance.
Placed new steam rock dump west of breaker. The first car dumped July 10th.
Built blacksmith shop for Dolan aside concrete ambulance house.
Erected combined bath, ambulance and lamp house, at the west end of the Big Lick Mountain.
Erected chute to load ashes in railroad cars from old slush bank, east of breaker for Railroad Company.
Purchased ash handling device for new boiler house.
Rebuilt 2 older style motors.
Erecting turbo generator building and machinery aside of Ingersoll Rand air compressor.
Completed plane from Bear Gap Slope section to No. 5 Level, No. 1 Slope.
Rock airway driven at No. 1 Level East to discontinue fan on west end of Big Lick Mountain.
Electrified No. 3 Level, Red Shale Gangway for haulage.
Purchased first electric pump and placed it in 1921 at No. 2 Level, No. 10 Slope.
Drive new fan way from close to the top of No. 10 Slope to surface and ran an electric cable down.
Miners began to leave the mines as early as 2:00.
Sinking: No. 9 Rock Slope; No. 10 Rock Slope; No. 2 Basin Slope, to 7th and 8th lifts.
Strike of 10 days and idle for 4 days during an incident where miners were trapped underground.
1918:
November 11th, Armistice signed between Germany and the Allies.
Purchased No. 14 Vulcan locomotive, 10” x 16.”
Experimenting to burn pulverized fuel, which finished in November 1921.
Alterations and addition to general office building in Lykens, finished in February 1919. Placing high tension pole line between Short Mountain Colliery and the Williamstown Colliery through Bear Valley.
Drove No. 10 Rock Slope in White Ash Measures to first lift and placing electric hoist.
Drove No. 9 Rock Slope from No. 5 Level, which is the bottom of No. 1 Shaft.
September, 3 days of strikes for wage increases.
October: Spanish Flu epidemic (Global Pandemic)
1919:
April 18th, the washery was destroyed by fire. Immediately, efforts began to construct a new one.
July 18th, ground was broken for the new Division Power Plant.
Placed outside plane from Bear Gap Tunnel Level to top of No. 1 Shaft.
No. 10 Rock Slope in operation first week of year.
No. 32 Plane driven. This would be the last plane driven at the colliery.
Suspension for 14 days.
Celebration for the homecoming of World War soldiers, idle 4 days.
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Originally posted by Jake Wynn on PAHistorian Blog, 14 May 2013.
The post card shown here is from a family collection and was first posted on Ancestry.com on 5 September 2008.