Back to Home
Feb. 2, 1906
Early Mining Operations in the Valley
"The Baltimore Coal Co., with Alexander Gray as general manager, had a mine located on Coal Creek, near what is now Five Points, was among the first and largest in the vicinity of Wilkes-Barre. The coal was run by gravity in mine cars to Gray's Basin, which was just east of Market street, about in the rear of Brown's block, and there loaded it into canal boats and shipped to market, mostly as lump coal. The only small sizes shipped were hammered through cast iron perforated plates and broken by hand hammers through the perforations, then screened by revolving screens turned by man or horse power.
"During the early forties Samuel Holland opened a mine at Warrior Run and hauled the coal to Hanover Basin, just below Butzbach's Landing, and shipped it from there to market by canal. He also operated a mine at Port Griffith. He was a man of great enterprise but failed because he was a generation ahead of his time.
"Herman B. Hillman, father of Baker Hillman, was also a heavy operator near Midvale, and Jamison Harvey, Freeman Thomas and William L. Lance were among the early operators at West Nanticoke. Col. Lee of East Nanticoke, who afterwards sold his land to Parrish, Stickney & Conyngham for $l,600,000, was one of the early shippers of coal. The principal men at Plymouth were Abija and John Smith, William C. and Fuller Reynolds, Shupp and Nesbitt, Preston and Reynolds, John J. Shonk and Samuel French, and others whose names I cannot recall.
"The old Blackman mine, now the Franklin mine, was operated by Jonathan Jones, an uncle of Edwin Jones, president of the Vulcan iron Works. This coal was sent to market via the Ashley planes and Lehigh Canal.
"About 1847 Mordecai and Hillard came from Charleston, S. C., and purchased the Bowman and Beaumont land and commenced developments. They built the Hillard block at the corner of Main and Union streets, also the large grist mill on Union street. O. B. Hillard was killed a few years later by being caught between a trip of coal cars and a pile of stock coal near the Baltimore mine.
"Among the early operators at Pittston were Lord and John L. Butler of Wilkes-Barre, the Bowkleys, the Prices, Griffiths, Tomkins and Johnsons and others. The largest shippers were the Butlers, Bowkleys and Johnsons.
"All the coal up to 1850 was mined by drifts and tunnels above water level. There were a number of small mines operated for local consumption. On the West Side, at Mill Hollow, was Raub's and Ziba Hoyt's; at or near Blind Town (Larksville) were Elias Hoyt and Harry Pace; on the east side of the river was A. C. Laning, on Hollenback's land back of the Baltimore mine, where we drove the teams into the mines and loaded the coal from the face of the chambers. This mine caught fire and burned for many years. John Jamison at the old Spring House on the mountain had another mine which is now being stripped of surface by the Red Ash Coal Co. There was another extensive opening at Ross's old red mill at Solomon's Gap, and William Preston's mine near Sugar Notch, and others along the streams down the valley. All of these were worked at water level, where the veins of coal were exposed by the streams cutting through the coal measures.
"About 1853 the rolls and breakers were introduced with screens to separate the different sizes of coal. About this time, too, they commenced sinking shafts and working below water level, which made an entire revolution of the coal business. Among the notable men who came to the front about this time were such prominent figures as Charles Parrish, William L. Conyngham, Joseph Stickney, Harry Swoyer, Thomas Brodrick, Lewis Landmesser and many others. The most notable figure of all the men engaged in the development of the coal industry in the vicinity of Wilkes- Barre was Charles Parrish." [J. Bennett Smith - Daily Record, Feb. 2, 1906.]
